The trek, being organized by the Army Mountaineering Institute, will involve a 40 km climb up the glacier to the Kumar post. Participants, that include five female participants, will cross heights of over 18,000 feet on the way to the staging post that is used by the army for acclimatizing soldiers for postings on the Saltoro ridge.

The idea behind organizing the trek, which is being made an annual feature, is to `reaffirm India’s claim’ on the region. Despite protests by Pakistan when the glacier was opened for civilian expeditions last year, Islamabad even issued a formal protest note to New Delhi days last year, the army has made it clear that adventure tourism activities on the glacier would be made a regular feature.

In the last six months, three foreign expeditions and several joint military expeditions have taken place in the Karakoram region.