Khunjerab Pass ( elevation ) is a high mountain pass in the Karakoram Mountains in a strategic position on the northern border of Pakistan's Gilgit – Baltistan region within the region of Kashmir and on the southwest border of the Xinjiang region of China.

The Khunjerab Pass is the highest paved international border crossing in the world and the highest point on the Karakoram Highway.

The geography of Pakistan () is a profound blend of landscapes varying from plains to deserts, forests, hills, and plateaus ranging from the coastal areas of the Arabian Sea in the south to the mountains of the Karakoram range in the north.

For example, the coastal area along the Arabian Sea is usually warm, whereas the frozen snow-covered ridges of the Karakoram Range and of other mountains of the far north are so cold year round that they are only accessible by world-class climbers for a few weeks in May and June of each year.

* The Karakoram Highway is the highest paved international road in the world.

The southern border is formed by the northernmost ridges of the Karakoram Range, with Mayakovskiy Peak (), Karl Marx Peak (), Engels Peak (), and Concord Peak () stretching west to east along the border to Afghanistan.

* Highest international highway: The Karakoram Highway, between Pakistan and China, is at an altitude of 4, 693 m / 15, 397 ft.

The region is almost uninhabited, has no permanent settlements, and receives little precipitation as the Himalayas and the Karakoram block the rains from the Indian monsoon.

Upon independence in 1947, the government of India used the Johnson Line as the basis for its official boundary in the west, which included the Aksai Chin From the Karakoram Pass ( which is not under dispute ), the Indian claim line extends northeast of the Karakoram Mountains through the salt flats of the Aksai Chin, to set a boundary at the Kunlun Mountains, and incorporating part of the Karakash River and Yarkand River watersheds.

The Johnson Line is not used west of the Karakoram Pass, where China adjoins Pakistan-administered Gilgit – Baltistan.

The Karakoram, or Karakorum (;, Kārākōrama ; ), is a large mountain range spanning the borders between Pakistan, India and China, located in the regions of Gilgit – Baltistan ( Pakistan ), Ladakh ( India ), and Xinjiang region, ( China ).

The Karakoram is home to the highest concentration of peaks over 8000m in height to be found anywhere on earth, including K2, the second highest peak of the world ().

The Karakoram is bounded on the northeast by the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and on the north by the Pamir Mountains.

The southern boundary of the Karakoram is formed, west to east, by the Gilgit, Indus, and Shyok Rivers, which separate the range from the northwestern end of the Himalaya range proper as these rivers converge southwestward towards the plains of Pakistan.

Due to its altitude and ruggedness, the Karakoram is much less inhabited than parts of the Himalayas further east.

A significant part, 28-50 % of the Karakoram Range is glaciated, compared to the Himalaya ( 8-12 %) and European Alps ( 2. 2 %).

The naming and division of the various subranges of the Karakoram is not universally agreed upon.

Muztagh Tower ( also: Mustagh Tower ; Muztagh: ice tower ), is a mountain in the Baltoro Muztagh, part of the Karakoram range on the border of the Gilgit – Baltistan region of Pakistan and the Xinjiang Uygur region of China.

The Sarpo Laggo Glacier ( Sarpo Laggo: young husband ) is a glacier in the autonomous region Xinjiang of China, in the Karakoram mountain range of the Himalayas.

It is however easier to approach the glacier from the Chinese side, starting a long hike at Kashgar on the Karakoram Highway and finally passing K2's northern base camp.

Not far to the north is the western end of the Karakoram range.

Gasherbrum I is part of the Gasherbrum massif, located in the Karakoram region of the Himalaya.

At, Gasherbrum II is the third highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, located in the Karakoram range of the Himalaya.

Early European travellers, including William Moorcroft and George Hayward, started using the term for the range of mountains west of the pass, although they also used the term Muztagh for the range now known as Karakoram.

* Der Große Brockhaus, Leipzig 1928-1935: " Dach der Welt, Bezeichnung für das Hochland von Pamir ", i. e., " roof of the world, term describing the Pamir highlands ", and ( in translation ): " Pamir highlands, nodal point of the mountain systems of Tien-Shan, Kun-lun, Karakoram, the Himalayas and Hindukush, and therefore called the roof of the world.

The term Dard is due to Herodotus who described a land of the Dardikae in the areas forming Hindu Kush and Karakoram.

Gasherbrum I was designated K5 ( meaning the 5th peak of the Karakoram ) by T. G.

The upper Jurassic is represented by the Spiti black shales, and stretches from the Karakoram to Sikkim.

The first documented bouldering advocate may have been Oscar Eckenstein, a British engineer and innovative climber who wrote about bouldering, and in the 1890s conducted an informal bouldering competition for natives in Askole, a village in the Karakoram mountains.

Well-known venues for granite climbing include Yosemite, the Bugaboos, the Mont Blanc massif ( and peaks such as the Aiguille du Dru, the Mountains of Mourne, the Adamello-Presanella Alps, the Aiguille du Midi and the Grandes Jorasses ), the Bregaglia, Corsica, parts of the Karakoram ( especially the Trango Towers ), the Fitzroy Massif, Patagonia, Baffin Island, Ogawayama, the Cornish coast and the Cairngorms.

The roadway across the pass was completed in 1982, and has superseded the unpaved Mintaka and Kilik Passes as the primary passage across the Karakoram Range.

Karakoram Highway: the high road to China.

The Gilgit – Baltistan, formerly called Northern Areas, are a group of territories in the extreme north, bordered by the Karakoram, the western Himalayas, the Pamir, and the Hindu Kush ranges.

The Northern Areas has five of the world's seventeen highest peaks along with highest range of mountains the Karakoram and Himalayas.

The Pakistan-India ceasefire line runs from the Karakoram Pass west-southwest to a point about 130 kilometers northeast of Lahore.

The northern highlands include parts of the Hindu Kush, the Karakoram Range, and the Himalayas.

It connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range, through the Khunjerab Pass.

The boundaries at its two extremities, Pangong Lake and Karakoram Pass, were well defined, but the Aksai Chin area in between lay undefined.

Aksai Chin was easily accessible to the Chinese, but access from India, which meant negotiating the Karakoram mountains, was more problematic.

The Himalayas are bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain.

In the southwest, the Karakoram range form the de facto border ( Line of Actual Control ) between Aksai Chin and Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The boundaries at the two extremities, Pangong Lake and Karakoram Pass, were well-defined, but the Aksai Chin area in between lay undefined.

By 1892, China had erected boundary markers at Karakoram Pass.

This border, along the Karakoram Mountains, was proposed and supported by British officials for a number of reasons.

The Karakoram Mountains formed a natural boundary, which would set the British borders up to the Indus River watershed while leaving the Tarim River watershed in Chinese control, and Chinese control of this tract would present a further obstacle to Russian advance in Central Asia.