On Wednesday, US-based broadcaster CNN curated a list of 25 destinations worth visiting in 2025, which includes Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

Thousands of tourists and foreign climbers visit the region annually for expeditions on various peaks, paragliding and other activities.

“The Gilgit-Baltistan region in the Karakoram Mountains isn’t the easiest place to get to — flight schedules can be unreliable, roads can be blocked off seasonally — but it has more tantalising peaks than a lemon meringue pie,” CNN Travel said this week.

“It’s home to five of the 14 ‘eight-thousander’ peaks recognised as the world’s highest. That includes K2, the world’s second-tallest mountain but No. 1 in terms of difficulty and danger.”

CNN Travel said that hiking in GB “makes the Himalayas look like a traipse in Central Park” but added that travelling alone is “not an option”.

Though 2024 saw a surge in mountaineering expeditions in GB, nine mountaineers were killed while attempting to summit various peaks, according to the Alpine Club of Pakistan.

Five of these climbers were from Japan, one from Russia, one from Brazil and two were from Pakistan.

On July 3, 2024, a Japanese climber died after falling into a crevasse while descending the 7,027-metre Spantik Peak, also known as Golden Peak, situated in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Nagar district.

Nagar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ataur Rehman told Dawn.com that a Japanese expedition team — comprising Naka Jimatoshiya, Onishi Hiroshi, Izumi Ryoma and Matsumoto Shuji — already summited the peak after starting their journey from Hoper Valley earlier.