Flying the Baltoro Glacier
- 7 Summits 7 Flights
- Jun 4
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 9
Scouting the Next Big Paragliding Feat in Pakistan
The wind began to pick up. Surrounded by some of the planet’s highest peaks, I took a breath and started running. I felt the familiar pull-back of my glider as it caught the gust of wind, and edged toward the resistance, paddling my feet forward. Then I was swept up.
After decades of dreaming about this adventure, I had finally made it to the Baltoro in Pakistan, a paragliders playground.
My mission was to fly the Baltoro, explore the confluence, and glide over the summits of Broad Peak, K2, and the surrounding valleys. The inspiration to venture to Pakistan came from seeing folks like John Sylvester, Horacio Lorenz, Tom de Dorlodot, Antoine Girard, and many others pioneer these previously nu-flyable skies.
Antoine flew to the summit of Broad Peak, which stands at just over 8,000 meters. In contrast, Tom, Horacio, and Ramon Morillas flew to K2 at around 7,500 metres. They continued to complete an incredible flight around the whole of the Baltoro Glacier, and touched all the iconic 8,000-metre peaks in the area, which they aptly named “The Baltoro Grandslam.”
It all just looked too good to be true, and I had to try it.
So, to make my dream a reality, we (a group of SA Pilots, namely Jeremy Holdcroft, Andy De Clerk, Scott Baker, and our token Brit Richard Barber) set out on a two-month trip to Hunza Valley and the town of Karimabad, followed up by a month on the Baltoro.
From Left to right - Andy (ADK), Richard ( Barbs), Scott ( Scotty), Pierre (Cunttie), Jeremy (Jem)Hunza Valley
The Journey In
We first flew into Islamabad, the gateway to the mountains. From there, we took a smaller prop plane to Gilgit, sitting about 4 hours out from our final base camp of Hunza Valley and Karimabad.
The drive in was mesmerizing — a stark desert mountain landscape dotted with little gems of green at each village and town. This is the ancient, original Silk Road, and my journey along this pathway conjured up tales of Marco Polo and the mighty Khan Empire that ruled this side of the world centuries ago.
We stayed and acclimated for three weeks, flying and immersing ourselves in the surrounding 7,500m peaks, including Lady Finger, Spantic, and Ragaposhi, and a trip out to Rush Lake and a night out at 5,000m. We met fantastic locals from the Hunza Paragliding Club, Sajid Sherazi and friends, who organized our permits. Many steps and feasts were shared in the valleys of this surreal landscape.
Reaching Baltoro
After acclimatizing to Hunza and the surrounding 6,000 / 7,000-metre peaks, we moved on to the Baltoro side of the trip. This took us deep into the basin that homes the base of these legendary 8,000-metre giants, such as K2, Broad Peak, the Gaishabums, Trango towers, and Muztagh tower, to mention a few.
I was particularly excited about this area with its iconic peaks dripping in mountaineering history.
After a long 6/7-hour ride from Karimabad, we reached Skardu — the base town before entering the Baltoro region and the official start of our trip. Here, we met up with our ground organizers/logistics managers, Jasmin Tours, whom I can highly recommend.
They organized and provided all items necessary for base camp, such as tents, meals, and the very important oxygen supply. A big thanks to Scott for organizing and getting the bottled high-pressure O’s up to base camp; this was crucial for refilling our smaller flying bottles for when we hopefully went above 6,000 / 7,000 meters.
The trip starts from Skardu with a drive through to Askole, about 5 hours of "adventure road”. From there, you embark on a two-day trek to the base camp at Paju, which sits at the base of the glacier proper. This is the last bit of the landscape’s greenery, which consists of poplar trees and a natural spring gurgling down through the campsite.
From here, we hoped to fly through to the confluence, Broad Peak, K2, and others — weather permitting, of course. The launch site stands at around 4,000 meters. It takes about an hour's walk to reach, with the takeoff being a very steep scree slope.
Prepping for the Skies
The current record for height reached in a paraglider sits with Antoine Girard at 8,407m, reaching the top of Broad Peak in 2021, having launched from Paju.
On reflection, the hardest thing was getting one's mind into the right gear to fly in these overwhelming mountains. Mental prep was for me a big part of the ritual, and “checking" in with oneself. Physically, it is draining, and we found during our 15 days on the Baltoro that we were actually relieved when the weather was deemed un-flyable, and we could chill, recharge, and recenter.
That said, the weather can be very unpredictable, with some teams in the past only flying twice in 20 days. We were very lucky in that we managed 4 flights in 10 days on the glacier, but unfortunately, we did not get the altitudes we felt we needed to push on to the confluence and Broad Peak.
Those first few minutes, the butterflies are rampaging through your stomach, and then as you immerse yourself, you let instinct take over and fly, soaking in the views and the beautiful surroundings you find yourself in, it all starts to feel natural, and that it is meant to be.
The emotions at the peak moment — exhilaration, exhaustion, and the surreal beauty of floating near the world’s second-highest peak.
The Descent & Reflections
The flying is comparable to the Alps, just on a grander scale. Stick to the sunny sides, and you can generally find the thermals on the ridge lines and mountain tops.
Navigation is pretty easy as you are following the very large and dominant Baltoro glacier. The only thing to remember is that once you have flown 45km plus up the valley, don't leave it too late to get back home, as landing out on the glacier would be a rough, especially the large boulders that one would have to negotiate on landing between the Confluence and Paju.
The flying itself was beautiful and surreal, mind blowing to the point of nearly inducing a heart attack, the glacier and surrounding peaks large and intimidating. We managed four reasonable flights up the Baltoro, but never reached much higher than 6,500 meters. On one of the days, we managed to touch 7,000 meters, with Jeremy getting up to around 7,100m, but that was directly above take off.
As we ventured up the valley, the ceiling dropped. When we reached the Muztagh Tower, we were scratching around 6,000 meters, which sounds high, but the glacier is literally 800 meters below you at this point. It’s certainly not a place you want to try to land, so we felt uncomfortable jumping the next valley to Marble Peak (which was completely covered in snow with no exposed rock for thermal heating).
But since we were here for three weeks (including the travel in and out), we were able to experience some incredible flying conditions. And we made the most of it. One fine day, we flew down to Askole and then back up the Muztagh Tower, flying both sides of the valley. A true paragliding dream!
We had four flights during our time here, and every time, we had to face altitude issues, or lake there of. That said, in hindsight, maybe we should have gone for it - who knows what could have happened.
Things to consider
Physical and mental endurance are needed to stay in the air at extreme heights.
Preparation for flying is more mental than anything else. These are big mountains and a vast, unfriendly terrain. If something goes wrong, a rescue is 24 hours plus, not 10-30 minutes like the Alps.
Buddy flying is a must; in case you get into trouble, your buddy can see where you are and if you've gone down. Good radio communication is a game-changer. I found the terrain so big that your mate would get absorbed into the terrain, and even if relatively close was actually hard to see and find in the very large landscape (or maybe I'm in denial and just need glasses).
Glider choice - I flew with my Nova Xenon 18 - https://www.nova.eu/en/gliders/xenon/ which I was very comfortable with, one must consider
Your time in the glider and that you are totally familiar and comfortable with the wing.
Weight of the glider and harness system if you doing Vol Biv.
And size, as there are lots of add on's when flying these big mountains from additional clothing, Sleeping system, Oxygen systems, food and a proper emergency kit, adding on another 5 to 10 Kg over and above your normal flying pack.
Before take off, this is what one would more or less go through:
Radio on and charged, and checked with Buddies
Vario and camera, on and plugged in to the back-up batteries
Garmin tracker on
Rout planned checked with buddies - A, B, and C scenarios
Harness back protector inflated
Check emergency food and first aid
Back up secured
Boots done up, not too tightly, with thick socks
Pee Tube on and fitted correctly
Down pants and thermal layers
Down jacket present
Oxygen canulas on and in position
Balaclava on
Buffs on, Beanie on, Helmet on
Harness on and done up correctly, speed bar connected
Second buddy check
Oxygen on charged and working, canulas snug, and O2 is flowing on demand
Ski goggles on
Gloves and Mits
Good To Go
A final D.F.U to ones self and mates (Don't Fuck Up!)
Spread the glider out on takeoff and, with a hop and a prayer, take off into Big sky, mountains, and air.
Other than a few hiccups and some uncertainty, we were very fortunate with the weather and conditions. The experience was absolutely amazing, and I can’t wait for another trip in the future!
We'll be back very soon to try our luck again!
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