On the next day, we start a 4-day trek to reach the snowline. We are accompanied by almost 50 porters, cooks … we are the first and unique group before (end of) June, and everyone wants to work. It is a cheerful, hard working group. We are supposed to pitch our tents ourselves, but they are always put up when we reach the camp. The first day is pretty grey but all the following ones are sunny at least for a few hours. Note that we gain at most 3-400m altitude per day but the GPS indicates at least an additional 300m due to the endless ups and downs (confirmed by my gpx analysis tools, which also checked the distances).
First tests of the solar panel which performs excellently: it charges at 100mA with very grey sky and 300, even up to 500mA when the sun comes out; no problem to keep everything charged all the time, the AA batteries even suffer a bit from being too often overcharged.

The map showing this trek is Here.

Day 1: 18km from Askole (3040m) to Jula (3050m)
A day with little altitude gain. The lunch break is at Korophon at the foot of the Biafo glacier --- where ends the Great Karakorum Traverse (hopefully, my next visit in the region). In the afternoon, the path climbs up to a ledge above the river, sometimes carved into the rock – with a strong smell of sulfur and full of tiny pieces of garnet. There are 2 options for reaching Jula camp: today, we choose to wade through the Dumordo River as it is much shorter, easy, and not even very cold.

Day 2: 21km from Jula to Payu (3400m)
The second day continues on mostly smooth, sometimes a bit stony terrain, sometimes close to the riverbed and sometimes a bit above until we reach Payu which lies in a little forest – the only one of the valley – made from willows, birch and popular trees, and of course there are also roses, juniper and seabuckthorn which is almost everywhere. Towards the end of the day, we get in sight of the famous Trango towers (Castle and Cathedral), Lobsang Spire and their impressive granite walls, just above our head are Paju Peak and Uli Biaho Tower, but we cannot really see them from here, and many more beautiful rocky as well as snow-covered peaks; most of them don’t even a name on the map.

Day 3: 15km from Payu to Khoburtse (3840m)
The day starts with blue sky and wonderful views on (still the same) mountains. After a short flat walk, we reach the foot of the Baltoro Glacier from where it is a steep climb through the moraine with views on the tremendous “mouth” to upper part of the glacier. From there, we can also see the famous Nameless Tower in the Trango Group. Looking back, we have now excellent views on Uli Biaho Tower and Paju Peak.
All afternoon, we follow the mainly sandy left bank of the glacier; the greyish sand together with the now completely grey sky provide us with a somewhat gloomy atmosphere, especially at the glacier lake just below the camp; the lake has almost disappeared, letting behind a strangely carved sandy ground.

Day 4: 12km from Khoburtse to 1st camp on snow (4150m)
After some moments of moonlight in the early night, in the morning everything is beautifully white, covered by (a bit of) snow. From now on, the path is increasingly snow-covered, and as the night was warm, at every step there is a risk of sinking knee-deep into it. It takes us 3 instead of 2 hours to reach the Urdukas military camp where we are welcomed with tea --- which we appreciate a lot. During the break at the camp, the sky starts clearing up, and we continue with beautiful views and sun. Soon, there is enough snow for our pulkas, and it is time to say good-bye to the porters, who have to go all the way back before the night …