The Route: A five-week, 180-mile trek from the Hushe Valley to the Hunza via 18,318-foot Gondogoro La, through Concordia, and on to K2 base camp. From there you'll cross two rubble-strewn glaciers to reach Snow Lake and then descent to the Hunza's rice paddies and popular groves.

When to go: July-August

Difficulty: Difficult

Travel advisory: If Gondogoro La is impassable, you'll have to drive from Hushe to Askole and pick up the route at the Biafo Glacier, bypassing Concordia and K2 base camp entirely.

High/low points:

• Catching your breath (and a bath) at Baintha camp, a grass-and-wildflower oasis in the rock-and-ice desert of the Biafo Valley.
• Dodging rockfalls as you pick your way over Gondogoro La, where two porters were killed last year by an avalanche.