Gurla Mandhata | |
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Highest point | |
Elevation | 7,728 m (25,354 ft) [1] Ranked 34th |
Prominence | 2,788 m (9,147 ft) [1] |
Listing | Ultra |
Coordinates | 30°26′09″N81°17′45″E / 30.43583°N 81.29583°E [1] |
Geography | |
Location | Tibet Autonomous Region, China |
Parent range | Nalakankar Himal, Himalaya |
Climbing | |
First ascent | 1985 by Cirenuoji, Jiabu, Jin Junxi, K. Matsubayashi, Song Zhiyu, K. Suita, Y. Suita, T. Wada [2] |
Easiest route | West flank: snow/ice climb |
Namu Nani | |||||||||
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Chinese name | |||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 納木那尼 峰 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 纳木那尼 峰 | ||||||||
Literal meaning | [phonetic from Tibetan] | ||||||||
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Naimona'nyi | |||||||||
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Tibetan name | |||||||||
Tibetan | གནས་མོ་སྣ་གཉིས མེ་མོ་ ན་ ཉི་ | ||||||||
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Gurla Mandhata,also Naimona'nyi or Namu Nani, is the highest peak of the Nalakankar Himal,a small subrange of the Himalaya. It lies in Burang County of the Ngari Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China,near the northwest corner of Nepal. It is the 34th-highest peak in the world (using a 500-metre prominence cutoff). It is also notable for being well within the interior of the Tibetan Plateau (most peaks of similar height –except notably Shishapangma,the world's 14th-highest peak –lie nearer to or outside the edge of the Plateau) and relatively far away from other peaks with heights greater than 7,500 metres. It sits roughly across Lake Manasarovar from the sacred peak of Mount Kailash.
Gurla Mandhata is a romanization of the Hindi name गुरलामन्धाता,Sanskrit :गन्धमादन. It supposedly derives from a pass near the mountain [3] and the legendary prehistoric Indian king Mandhata of the Raghuvaṃśa branch of the Solar Dynasty,who supposedly conquered the earth and passed the mountain on his way to the sacred lake Manasarovar beside the axis mundi Mount Kailash. In some versions of the story,the mountain is his body,transformed after death. [4]
Naimona'nyi is the Tibetan pinyin romanization of the Tibetan name གནས་མོ་སྣ་གཉིས།. The Wylie transcription of the same name is Gnas Mo Sna Gnyis. The name is also sometimes written as མེ་མོ་ན་ཉི་,Nemo Na Nyi. The American Alpine Journal has explained the name as deriving from naimo (supposedly meaning "traditional Tibetan medicine"),na ("black"),and nyi ("slab" or "slabs") [5] but Chinese sources say it instead means "Mountain of Our Lady" or "the Goddess". [6] This is sometimes mistakenly translated as "Fairy" [7] via the Chinese word 仙 ,which actually refers to a Taoist immortal or similar minor deities rather than a western fairy.
Namu Nani is the atonal pinyin romanization of the Chinese name written 納木那尼 峰 in traditional characters or 纳木那尼 峰 in simplified ones,transcribed NàmùNàníFēng with its tones. The name is a transcription into Chinese of the Tibetan name,with the addition of the final character 峰,meaning "peak".
In 1905,T. G. Longstaff made an attempt on the west face of Gurla Mandhata with two alpine guides and six porters. After suffering a 900 feet (270 m) fall during an avalanche,they turned back around 7,000 m (23,000 ft) upon finding fresh snow was falling too heavily to reach the summit with their provisions. [2] [4] This was a strong achievement for the time,especially for such a small group;at that time no summit of over 7,000 m had yet been climbed and Longstaff's height represented a world altitude record.
In 1935,the Viennese student Herbert Tichy made a trip to the holy mountain Kailash while disguised as an Indian pilgrim. On the way,he attempted Gurla Mandhata with one of his porters,Kitar. They reached a height of 23,400 feet (7,100 m) before being turned back by fresh snow and bad weather. [8]
In 1955,the mountain was the intended destination of the inaugural Welsh Himalayan Expedition led by Sydney Wignall. [9] The expedition was sponsored by the Liverpool Daily Post and intended to summit Gurla Mandata and plant three flags:the Welsh Dragon,the flag of the recently-overthrown Chinese Republic,and the Jolly Roger. [9] Before the climb could begin,the group was captured by the Chinese military,who imprisoned and tortured the climbers for two months under the belief they were CIA spies. (Wignall had in fact offered to spy for India.) [9]
The first successful ascent was by a joint Sino-Japanese team led by Katsutoshi Hirabayashi in May 1985,reaching the peak via its north face. [5] Since that time,there have been six additional successful ascents and two failed attempts on the peak. [10]
In 1997,an attempt was made to ascend the peak via the then-unclimbed[ dubious – discuss ] North Face route by Quinn Simons,Soren Peters,and their guide,Charlie Fowler. The team made a valiant effort,climbing high on the mountain,but after severe storms and other difficulties had to retreat. Their descent ended in a fall of some 450 m (1,500 ft) down the North Face of the peak. Fowler was slightly injured,while Simons and Peters both suffered extreme frostbite on their extremities. [11]
The standard ascent route climbs the western flanks of the mountain ascending the Chaglung'mlungha Glacier to the summit plateau. Most teams choose to approach the mountain overland by jeep from either Lhasa,Tibet,or Kathmandu,Nepal. However,an alternate approach begins in the mountain hamlet of Simikot,Nepal,in the remote Humla district of west Nepal and follows the Karnali River northward,crossing into Tibet (China) in the village of Sher. Jeeps then take climbers north through Taklakot (Burang) to basecamp on the mountain.
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Mount Kailash is a mountain in Ngari Prefecture,Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies in the Kailash Range of the Transhimalaya,in the western part of the Tibetan Plateau. The peak of Mount Kailash is located at an elevation of 6,638 m (21,778 ft),near the western trijunction between China,India and Nepal.
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Lake Manasarovar,also called Mapam Yumtso locally,is a high altitude freshwater lake near Mount Kailash in Burang County,Ngari Prefecture,Tibet Autonomous Region,China. It is located at an elevation of 4,600 m (15,100 ft),near the western trijunction between China,India and Nepal. It overflows into the adjacent salt-water lake of Rakshastal via the Ganga Chhu. The sources of four rivers:Indus,Sutlej,Brahmaputra,and Karnali lie in the vicinity of the region.
An unclimbed mountain is a mountain peak that has not been climbed to the top. Determining which unclimbed peak is highest is often a matter of controversy. In some parts of the world,surveying and mapping are still unreliable. There are no comprehensive records of the routes of explorers,mountaineers,and local inhabitants. In some cases,even modern ascents by larger parties have been poorly documented and,with no universally recognized listing,the best that can be achieved in determining the world's highest unclimbed peaks is somewhat speculative. Most sources indicate that Gangkhar Puensum on the Bhutan–China border is the tallest mountain in the world that has not been fully summited. Gangkhar Puensum has been off limits to climbers since 1994 when Bhutan prohibited all mountaineering above 6,000 m (20,000 ft) due to spiritual/religious beliefs.
Jomolhari or Chomolhari sometimes known as "the bride of Kangchenjunga”,is a mountain in the Himalayas,straddling the border between Yadong County of Tibet,China and the Paro district of Bhutan. The north face rises over 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) above the barren plains. The mountain is the source of the Paro Chu which flows from the south side and the Amo Chu which flows from the north side.
Namcha Barwa or Namchabarwa is a mountain peak lying in Tibet in the region of Pemako. The traditional definition of the Himalaya extending from the Indus River to the Brahmaputra would make it the eastern anchor of the entire mountain chain,and it is the highest peak of its own section as well as Earth's easternmost peak over 7,600 metres (24,900 ft). It lies in the Nyingchi Prefecture of Tibet. It is the highest peak in the 180 km long Namcha Barwa Himal range,which is considered the easternmost syntaxis/section of the Himalaya in southeastern Tibet and northeastern India where the Himalaya are said to end,although high ranges actually continue another 300 km to the east.
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The Nalakankar Himal is a small subrange of the Himalayan range located in southern Tibet and the northwest corner of Nepal,lying south of Lake Manasarowar. Its southern boundary is defined by the Humla Karnali,a tributary of the Karnali river,one of the major rivers in western Nepal. This river separates the range from the Gurans Himal to the south and the eastern Kumaon to the southwest. To the east,the pass known as Lapche La marks the dividing point between the Nalakankar Himal and the Chandi Himal. To the north and northwest,the range gradually transitions into the northern foothills of the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau.
Purang County or Burang County (Tibetan:སྤུ་ཧྲེང་རྫོང;Chinese:普兰县) is an administrative division of Ngari Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China. The county seat is Purang Town,known as Taklakot in Nepali. The county covers an area of 12,539 square kilometres (4,841 sq mi),and has a population of 9,657 as of 2010.
Mount Nyenchen Tanglha is the highest peak of Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains,which together with the Gangdise range forms the Transhimalaya.
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