Snow Lake is a high altitude glacial basin over 16km wide located at the head of the Biafo and Hispar glaciers. These glaciers meet at the Hispar La. This makes this system the greatest concentration of glacial ice outside Antarctica. These rivers of ice connect two ancient mountain kingdoms. This is Hunza in the West and Baltistan in the East. As this region is so remote it serves as the last stronghold for many animals. There are Himalayan bear, ibex, markhor and the snow leopard.
This region has long fascinated explorers of the Himalaya. The first foreign visitor, Martin Conway, gave Snow Lake this name in 1892. He described this area as "beyond all comparison the finest view of mountains it has ever been my lot to behold."  The mountaineer, Eric Shipton, described this region as ‘the last blank on the map'. 
Towering high above these glaciers are high peaks of the Karakoram. These include Kanjut Sar (7,760m), Distaghil Sar (7,885 m) and Makrong Chhish (6,607m). There is the Latok group (Latok I: 7,145m, Latok II: 7,108 m, Latok III: 6,949m, Latok IV: 6,456m) and Baintha Brakk/The Ogre (7,285m). The Ogre was first climbed in 1977 by Britons Doug Scott and Chris Bonington. They had an epic descent with Scott breaking both of his legs and took a week to reach Base Camp. 
The trek starts by following the K2 Base Camp trail and then on the first day turns West onto the Biafo Glacier. The trail for the next few days follows loose rocky moraine ridges on the glacier. The campsites at Namla, Mango and Baintha are in grassy areas behind lateral moraines. From Baintha camp we walk on the glacier and follow the wide ice highway. This makes the walking easier than the loose rock earlier in the trek.
Having reached the highest point of our journey on Hispar La at 5,151m we descend into Hunza. When we arrive at Hunza village we complete the traverse. The Hunza region has a language and culture very different to Baltistan.