At Haiderabad the Shigar Valley forks, with the Braldo Valley (through which you get to Askole, the start of all the well-known treks – Concordia, Gondogoro La, Biafo-Hispar) to the east and the Basha Valley to the north. Following the latter, you get to Arandu, the start of this trek. It takes about 6 hours to get here from Skardu by jeep. Directly behind the village is the snout of the Chogolungma glacier. The British explorer Thomas Godfrey Vigne, the first European to visit Baltistan, called this the grandest spectacle that he had seen on the whole of his travels. You cross the snout of the Chogolungma before you walk up the valley on the true left side of the big glacier. The path is easy. The mountain scenery might not be as spectacular as in the Baltoro and Biafo areas but the landscape is immensely picturesque. As this valley is rather infrequently visited you hardly ever meet any other tourists on this trek. Spantik and Malubiting, both over 7000 metres high, can be seen towering up at the end of the valley, and to the right and left of the glacier snow-covered 6000- metre-peaks (among them Haramosh) dominate the view. This trek recommends itself to visitors who do not have much time, who enjoy mountain solitude and like walking off the beaten track, who prefer an easy walk to the strenuous treks in the Baltoro/Biafo area, and/or who want to get acclimatized. On the Chogolungma trek you do not get above 4000 metres unless you climb a vantage point.