We had booked for 6 persons a trek including K2 Base Camp and Gondogoro La pass. We were expecting to have a limited team (guide, cook, assistant cook, horsemen) and a few pack animals and workhorses. It turned out that the agency Baltistan Tours had allocated more than 30 porters to our expedition, allegedly because only porters can cross Gondongoro La pass. That figure decreased progressively due to the reduced loads along the trek. The leaving porters used to present themselves in front of our tent to receive tips, although we had agreed at first stage with the guide that tips would only be paid at the end, based upon our satisfaction with the services provided by the agency. Due to initial flight delays, we were left with 12 days to complete the trek. Anticipating potential weather degradation, which would have hindered the crossing of Gondogoro Pass, we asked the guide of Baltistan Tours to merge some legs of the trek. He refused, arguing that the Ministry of Tourism was imposing some daily legs for the porters. It took us 7 days to reach K2 Base Camp, although it could have been done in 4/5 days. Several legs were very short, ending by lunch time. When reaching Concordia Base Camp, several porters and the guide himself implied that we should go directly to Gondogoro La the following day, ignoring literally the itinerary agreed with the agency in Skardu. We had to insist to go first to K2 Base Camp which turned out to be the highlight of that trek. Then, one member of the expedition got sick, which forced all of us to rest one day at Concordia Base Camp. The guide did not show much empathy and had no medicine to provide to help that member. The next day, it started snowing in the morning, the guide said it would not be possible to cross the Gondogoro La pass although the rescue team said the contrary. The porters did not seem equipped (shoes, crampons) adequately. We were forced to come back using the same legs than on the way up, which was very disappointing since we could not discover the green valleys of Hunza. Overall, I think that the trek to K2 Base Camp is overrated and not very adventurous. Agencies do everything they can to lengthen the duration of the trek, making it pretty commercial and turning it into a mass tourism trip. Furthermore, there was much pollution around the camp sites and along the path (caused also by the Pakistani army!). Overall, I deplore the lack of flexibility (daily legs) from Baltistan Tours, the lack of transparency (high number of porters) and the high cost of the trek. The guide maybe knew well the mountains but did not share much information about the Balti culture, the geology in the area, the fauna, the flora, etc. That experience did not reach the beauty and intensity of previous treks achieved in Afghanistan,...
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