Trekking in the Karakorum Mountains is a wonderful experience, but trekking to the Concordia / Concordiaplatz is a journey for life. The Baltoro / Baltoro Valley is home to hundreds of peaks, including four 8000s: K2 (8611 m – mountain of mountains), Broad Peak (8047 m), Gasherbrum I (8068 m) and Gasherbrum II (8035 m).

The trek is located in the heart of the mighty Karakoram and offers breathtaking views of the snow-capped mountains. Galen Rowell described Concordia as the ” Throne Room of the Mountain Gods”.
You’ll have a special day off at Concordia Square to experience and immerse yourself in the hidden beauty of the surrounding panoramic peaks, and to explore the K2 Base Camp if you’re fit enough for the round trip. The fascinating view around the whole Concordia is outstanding.

While the Concordia for climbers represents the last stopover in front of the respective base camps at the eight-thousanders, he is already the destination of the trip for the trekking tourists, where they usually spend two nights and a day trip z. B. to the K2 base camp before they make their way back. This takes place either as the way over the Baltoro to Askole, or via the Vigne Glacier and the 5940 m high Gondoghoro Pass to Hushe.

The Concordiaplatz (Konkordiaplatz) is the place in the central Karakorum, where the Baltoro Glacier and the K2 / Godwin-Austen Glacier merge. This place is also called the heart of the Karakoram. It has a diameter of over three kilometers and is located at an altitude of about 4600 m above sea level. He belongs to the Northern Pakistani areas. The border with the Chinese-controlled Shaksgam Valley runs over the mountains to the east of the course, which are among the highest in the world, including four eight-thousanders.

The name of the course comes from William Martin Conway, who was remembered during his Karakoram expedition in 1892 at the Konkordiaplatz in the Swiss Alps, where also merge several streams of ice. But there is also another derivation. After that, the researcher felt reminded at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. In both cases, however, the name of the place goes back to Conway.

The nutrient area of ​​the Baltora glacier is located between the mountains Chogolisa and Baltoro Kangri. From there the often referred to as the Upper Balto glacier flows about two kilometers wide ice flow with a slight slope 15 kilometers in a northwesterly direction. Shortly before the Concordiaplatz it widened by the inflow of the Vigne glacier, which flows from the northwest side of the Chogolisa towards north-northeast.

The Godwin Austen Glacier has its accumulation area between the Wind of the Wind (also Windy Gap or Skyang-La) and the Skyang Kangri northeast of the K2, flows along the southeast side of the second highest mountain of the earth ten kilometers in a southwest direction and then turns exactly South, and flows as about 1.5 kilometers wide Talgletscher west of Broad Peak over a length of nine kilometers in the direction of Concordiaplatz.

The 6256 m high Marble Peak is the northwestern cornerstone of the Konkordiaplatz
Some smaller glaciers also open at the Concordiaplatz in the Baltoro: From the west side of the Gasherbrum IV comes the Western Gasherbrum Glacier. A few hundred meters to the north, the Falchan Glacier, which feeds on the southwest side of Broadpeak, flows into the Concordiaplatz.

The combined ice and boulders flow as Baltorogletscher still about 35 km to the west. At the glacier tongue of the Baltoros springs the Braldu, who soon after picks up the meltwater of the Biafo glacier and later flows into the Shigar, which finally drains at Skardu into the Indus.

The Miter Peak is the southwestern cornerstone of Concordia square.
As you march over the Balto glacier you can see the west wall of Gasherbrum IV, which overlooks the eastern side of Concordiaplatz. In the northeastern corner – between Baltora and Godwin Austen Glacier – is the 6256 m high Marble Peak. Opposite it is the 6010 m high Miter Peak framed by Baltoro- Upper Baltoro- and Vigne-Glacier as “Talwächter over the Concordiaplatz”.

From the Concordiaplatz numerous mountains can be seen. Looking north to the Godwin Austen Glacier, it inevitably falls to the 8611 meter high pyramid of the K2 , from there clockwise to the peaks of Broad Peak and the western mountains of the Gasherbrum Group (G IV, GV, G VI and G VII) behind which the eight-thousanders of Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I are concealed. The 7312 m Baltoro Kangri towers over the Upper Balto glacier to the south and the numerous six-thousander peaks between the upper Baltoro- and Vignegleans are towered above by the 7665 m high Chogolisa with its horizontal summit ridge. The view to the west down the Baltoro meetsMiter Peak, Masherbrum, the Trango Group, the Muztagh Tower, the Marble Peak and finally the mountains west of the Godwin-Austen Glacier, which includes the Skil Brum

(Wikipedia)

The Baltoro Glacier is a glacier in the highest part of the eastern Karakorum. It is located in Baltistan, the eastern division of the territory of Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan. With a length of 62 kilometers and an area of ​​524 km ² including the side glaciers, it is one of the largest valley glaciers in the world.
Larger settlements are far away. Despite the difficult accessibility, it is possibly the most visited glacier in the area. One reason for this is that with the K2 and the highest peaks of the Gasherbrum Group, all four eight-thousanders of the Karakorum are in its immediate vicinity. On the other hand, the valley of the Baltoro is considered to be probably the most spectacular mountain valley in the world. (wikipedia)

The Baltoro Glacier and the K2 Base Camp are the most popular trekking and mountaineering regions in Pakistan. For a good reason, you will find eight of the 30 highest mountains in the world at the end of this glacier . Rows of steep pinnacles, granite towers, glistening glaciated mountains and snow-capped domes over the mighty glacial streams make it perhaps the most magnificent mountainous landscape in the world.