Namcha Barwa | |
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![]() Namcha Barwa from the west, from Zhibai observation platform | |
Highest point | |
Elevation | 7,782 m (25,531 ft) [1] Ranked 27th |
Prominence | 4,106 m (13,471 ft) [1] Ranked 19th |
Listing | Ultra |
Coordinates | 29°37′45″N95°03′21″E / 29.62917°N 95.05583°E [1] |
Geography | |
Country | China |
Region | Tibet Autonomous Region |
Division | Nyingchi |
County | Mêdog |
Parent range | Namcha Barwa Himal |
Climbing | |
First ascent | 1992, China–Japan expedition |
Easiest route | SSW ridge on rock, snow and ice |
Namcha Barwa or Namchabarwa (Tibetan : གནམས་ལྕགས་འབར་བ།, Wylie : Gnams lcags 'bar ba, ZYPY : Namjagbarwa; Chinese: 南迦巴瓦峰, Pinyin: Nánjiābāwǎ Fēng) 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). [2] It lies in the Nyingchi Prefecture of Tibet. It is the highest peak in the 180 km long Namcha Barwa Himal range (also called the Namjagbarwa syntaxis or Namjagbarwa Group Complex), 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 (Hengduan Mountains on the China–Myanmar border) actually continue another 300 km to the east.
Namcha Barwa is in an isolated part of southeastern Tibet rarely visited by outsiders. It stands inside the Great Bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo River as the river enters its notable gorge across the Himalaya, emerging as the Siang and becoming the Brahmaputra. [3] Namcha Barwa's sister peak Gyala Peri at 7,294 metres (23,930 ft) rises across the gorge 22 kilometres (14 mi) to the north-north-west (NNW).
Namcha rises 5,000–6,800 metres (16,400–22,300 ft) above the Yarlung Tsangpo. [4] [5] After 7,795-metre (25,574 ft) Batura Sar in the Karakoram was climbed in 1976, Namcha Barwa became the highest unclimbed independent mountain in the world, [6] until it was finally climbed in 1992.
In addition to being one of the highest mountains in the world, Namcha Barwa is the third most prominent peak in the Himalayas after Mount Everest and Nanga Parbat. [1] [7]
Frank Kingdon-Ward described in the 1920s "a quaint prophecy among the Kongbo Tibetans that Namche Barwa will one day fall into the Tsangpo gorge and block the river, which will then turn aside and flow over the Doshong La [pass]. This is recorded in a book by some fabulous person whose image may be seen in the little gompa [Buddhist monastery] at Payi, in Pome."(126-7) [8] (See Beyul for the reason behind the prophecy and Padmasambhava or another Tertön for the "fabulous person whose image may be seen in the little gompa"). [9]
Namcha Barwa was located in 1912 by British surveyors but the area remained virtually unvisited until Chinese alpinists began attempting the peak in the 1980s. Although they scouted multiple routes, they did not reach the summit. [10] In 1990 a Chinese-Japanese expedition reconnoitered the peak. [11] Another joint expedition reached 7,460 metres (24,480 ft) in 1991 but lost member Hiroshi Onishi in an avalanche. [12] The next year a third Chinese-Japanese expedition established six camps on the South Ridge over intermediate Nai Peng (7,043 metres or 23,107 feet), reaching the summit on October 30. [13] Eleven climbers reached the summit. [6] U.K. Alpine Club's Himalayan Index lists no further ascents. [14]
The Himalayas, or Himalaya is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 peaks exceeding elevations of 7,200 m (23,600 ft) above sea level lie in the Himalayas.
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet (China), Northeastern India, and Bangladesh. It is known as Brahmaputra or Luit in Assamese, Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, and Jamuna River in Bengali. It is the 9th largest river in the world by discharge, and the 15th longest.
The geography of Tibet consists of the high mountains, lakes and rivers lying between Central, East and South Asia. Traditionally, Western sources have regarded Tibet as being in Central Asia, though today's maps show a trend toward considering all of modern China, including Tibet, to be part of East Asia. Tibet is often called "the roof of the world," comprising tablelands averaging over 4,950 metres above the sea with peaks at 6,000 to 7,500 m, including Mount Everest, on the border with Nepal.
The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, also known as the Yarlung Zangbo Grand Canyon, the Tsangpo Canyon, the Brahmaputra Canyon or the Tsangpo Gorge, is a canyon along the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the deepest canyon in the world, and at 504.6 kilometres (313.5 mi) is slightly longer than the Grand Canyon in the United States, making it one of the world's largest. The Yarlung Tsangpo originates near Mount Kailash and runs east for about 1,700 kilometres (1,100 mi), draining a northern section of the Himalayas before it enters the gorge just downstream of Pei, Tibet, near the settlement of Zhibe. The canyon has a length of about 240 kilometres (150 mi) as the gorge bends around Mount Namcha Barwa and cuts its way through the eastern Himalayas. Its waters drop from about 2,900 metres (9,500 ft) near Pei to about 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) at the end of the Upper Gorge where the Po Tsangpo River enters. The river continues through the Lower Gorge to the Indian border at an elevation of 660 metres (2,170 ft). The river then enters Arunachal Pradesh and eventually becomes the Brahmaputra.
The geology of the Himalayas is a record of the most dramatic and visible creations of the immense mountain range formed by plate tectonic forces and sculpted by weathering and erosion. The Himalayas, which stretch over 2400 km between the Namcha Barwa syntaxis at the eastern end of the mountain range and the Nanga Parbat syntaxis at the western end, are the result of an ongoing orogeny — the collision of the continental crust of two tectonic plates, namely, the Indian Plate thrusting into the Eurasian Plate. The Himalaya-Tibet region supplies fresh water for more than one-fifth of the world population, and accounts for a quarter of the global sedimentary budget. Topographically, the belt has many superlatives: the highest rate of uplift, the highest relief, among the highest erosion rates at 2–12 mm/yr, the source of some of the greatest rivers and the highest concentration of glaciers outside of the polar regions. This last feature earned the Himalaya its name, originating from the Sanskrit for "the abode of the snow".
The Kali Gandaki Gorge or Andha Galchi is the gorge of the Kali Gandaki in the Himalayas in Nepal. By some sources, it may be one of the deepest gorges in the world.
The Friendship Highway is an 800-kilometre (500 mi) scenic route connecting the capital of Tibet, Lhasa, with the Chinese/Nepalese border at the Sino-Nepal Friendship Bridge between Zhangmu and Kodari. It includes the westernmost part of China National Highway 318 (Shanghai-Zhangmu) and crosses three passes over 5,000 m (16,400 ft) before dropping to 1,750 m (5,700 ft) at the border.
Gyala Peri is a 7,294-metre (23,930 ft) peak just beyond the eastern end of the Himalayas at the entrance to Tsangpo gorge. It is part of Nyenchen Tanglha Shan, although it is sometimes included in Namcha Barwa Himal of the Himalayas.
Assam Himalaya is a traditional designation for the portion of the Himalaya range between the eastern border of Bhutan, on the west, and the Great Bend of the Tsangpo River, on the east. The highest peak of this range is Namcha Barwa. Other high peaks include Gyala Peri, sister peak to Namcha Barwa; Kangto, and Nyegyi Kansang. The area is still poorly surveyed in general, and little visited by outsiders. It is located in the eastern side. The name "Assam Himalaya" is misleading, as some parts of this range are in southeastern Tibet, while other parts are in Bhutan and the Indian regions and states of northern Assam, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh.
The Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains are a 700-kilometre (430 mi) long mountain range, and subrange of the Transhimalaya System, located in Tibet and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
Mount Nyenchen Tanglha is the highest peak of Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains, which together with the Gangdise range forms the Transhimalaya.
Pome County or Bomê County is a county of Nyingchi Prefecture in the south-east of the Tibet Autonomous Region. Historically known as Powo or Poyul, it was the seat of a quasi-independent kingdom until the early 20th century when troops of the Dalai Lama's Lhasa government integrated it into the central Tibetan realm. The population was 25,897 in 2004.
The new town of Lhatse or Lhatse Xian, also known as Quxar (Tibetan: ཆུ་ཤར་, Quxia, or Chusar, is a small town of a few thousand people in the Tibet Autonomous Region in the valley of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Lhatse County, 151 kilometres southwest of Shigatse and just west of the mountain pass leading to it. Lhatse is 4,050 metres above sea-level. Lhatse recorded the highest temperature of 28.9 °C in locations above 4,000 meters above sea level.
The Yarlung Tsangpo, also called Yarlung Zangbo and Yalu Zangbu River is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the longest river of Tibet and the fifth longest in China. The upper section is also called Dangque Zangbu meaning "Horse River."
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Tibet:
The Yarlung Valley is formed by Yarlung Chu, a tributary of the Tsangpo River in the Shannan Prefecture in the Tibet region of China. It refers especially to the district where Yarlung Chu joins with the Chongye River, and broadens out into a large plain about 2 km wide, before it flows into the Tsangpo River. It is situated in Nedong District of the Shannan Prefecture and includes the capital of the prefecture, Tsetang, one of Tibet's largest cities, 183 km southeast of Lhasa.
Namcha Barwa Himal, also known as Namjagbarwa syntaxis or Namjagbarwa Group Complex, is the easternmost section of the Himalaya in southeastern Tibet and northeastern India. This section spans 180 km from the headwaters of the Siyom River on the international border NE into Tibet to the canyon of the Yarlung Tsangpo, where the Himalaya are said to end, although high ranges actually continue another 300 km east.
The Bailey–Morshead exploration of the Tsangpo Gorge was an unauthorised expedition by Frederick Bailey and Henry Morshead in 1913 which for the first time established the definite route by which the Tsangpo River reaches the sea from north of Himalaya, through the Tsangpo Gorge.
Kangri Karpo, also spelt Gangri Garbo, is a mountain range in eastern Tibet, located primarily in Nyingchi Prefecture as well as a portion of Qamdo Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The mountain range lies to the east of the Himalayas and to the west of the Hengduan Mountains. The mountains are geographically a southern extension of the eastern Transhimalayas.
Kalurong or Kalaxung is a mountain located in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It is a part of Lhagoi Kangri belt, which is a heteroclite juxtaposition of subranges that is compressed between the Yarlung Tsangpo river to the north and the Assam Himalaya to the south.