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Thursday, August 28, 2008

The World’s 10 Highest Mountains (8666 views)

1. Mount Everest/SagarMatha/Chomolungma
Mount Everest, also called Sagarmatha (Nepali: सगरमाथा meaning Head of the Sky) or Chomolungma, Qomolangma or Zhumulangma (in Tibetan: ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ, in Chinese: 珠穆朗玛峰 Zhūmùlǎngmǎ Fēng) is the highest mountain on Earth, as measured by the height of its summit above sea level, which is 8,848 metres (29,029 feet). The mountain, which is part of the Himalaya range in High Asia, is located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal, and Tibet, China. In 1856, the Great Trigonometric Survey of India established the first published height of Everest at 29,002 ft (8,840 m), although at the time Everest was known as Peak XV. In 1865, Everest was given its official English name by the Royal Geographical Society upon recommendation of Andrew Waugh, the British Surveyor General of India at the time. Waugh was unable to propose an established local name due to Nepal and Tibet being closed to foreigners at the time, although Chomolungma had been in common use by Tibetans for centuries. The highest mountain in the world attracts climbers of all levels, from well experienced mountaineers to novice climbers willing to pay substantial sums to professional mountain guides to complete a successful climb. The mountain, while not posing substantial technical climbing difficulty on the standard route (other eight-thousanders such as K2 or Nanga Parbat are much more difficult), still has many inherent dangers such as altitude sickness, weather and wind. By the end of the 2007 climbing season, there had been 3,679 ascents to the summit by 2,436 individuals. This means climbers are a significant source of tourist revenue for Nepal, whose government also requires all prospective climbers to obtain an expensive permit, costing up to US$25,000 per person. Everest has claimed 210 lives, including 15 who perished during a 1996 storm high on the mountain. Conditions are so difficult in the death zone that most corpses have been left where they fell, some of which are visible from standard climbing routes.

2. K2/Qogir/Godwin Austen
K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth (after Mount Everest). With a peak elevation of 8,611 metres (28,251 ft), K2 is part of the Karakoram segment of the Himalayan range, and is located in the Northern Areas of the Pakistani Kashmir region, on the border between Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan, and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China. K2 is known as the Savage Mountain due to the difficulty of ascent and the fact that for every four people who reach the summit, one dies trying. Among the Eight-thousanders, K2 has the second-highest climbing mortality rate after Annapurna.

3. Kangchenjunga
Kangchenjunga (Nepali:कञ्चनजङ्घा Kanchanjaŋghā) SewaLungma (Limbu language) is the third highest mountain in the world (after Mount Everest and K2), with an altitude of 8,586 metres (28,169 ft). Kangchenjunga translated means “The Five Treasures of Snows”, as it contains five peaks, four of them over 8,450 metres. The treasures represent the five repositories of god, which are gold, silver, gems, grain, and holy books. Kangchenjunga is also called Sewalungma in local Limbu language and considered sacred in Kirant religion. Three of these five peaks (main, central, and south) are on the border of North Sikkim district of Sikkim, India and Taplejung District of Nepal, while the other two are completely in Taplejung District. Nepal is home to the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area Project run by the World Wildlife Fund, in association with HMG in Nepal, the sanctuary is also home to the Red Panda and other snow animals, birds and plants. India’s side of Kangchenjunga also has a protected park area called the Khangchendzonga National Park.

4. Lhotse
Lhotse (in Nepal officially ल्होत्से, in China officially Lhozê; Tibetan in Wylie transliteration: lho rtse; Chinese: 洛子峰, Pinyin: Luòzǐ Fēng) is the fourth highest mountain on Earth (after Mount Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga) and is connected to Everest via the South Col. In addition to the main summit at 8,516 metres (27,940 ft) above sea level, Lhotse Middle (East) is 8,414 metres and Lhotse Shar is 8,383 metres. It is located at the border between Tibet (China) and Nepal.

5. Makalu
Makalu (in Nepal officially मकालु;in China officially Makaru; Chinese: 马卡鲁山, Pinyin: Mǎkǎlǔ Shān) is the fifth highest mountain in the world (8,485 m; 27,838 ft) and is located 22 km (14 mi) east of Mount Everest, on the border between Nepal and China. Makalu is an isolated peak whose shape is a four-sided pyramid. Makalu has two notable subsidiary peaks. Kangchungtse, or Makalu II, 7,678 m (25,190 ft), lies about 3 km (2 mi) north-northwest of the main summit. Rising about 5 km (3.1 mi) north-northeast of the main summit across a broad plateau, and connected to Kangchungtse by a narrow, 7,200 m saddle, is Chomo Lonzo, 7,804 m (25,604 ft).

6. Cho Oyu
Cho Oyu (or Qowowuyag; in Nepal चोयु, Tibetan in Wylie transliteration: jo bo dbu yag; Chinese: 卓奧有山, Pinyin: Zhuó’àoyǒu Shān) is the sixth highest mountain in the world (8,188 m; 26,864 ft). Cho Oyu lies in the Himalayas and is 20 km west of Mount Everest, at the border between China and Nepal. Cho Oyu means “Turquoise Goddess” in Tibetan.

7. Dhaulagiri
Dhaulagiri (धौलागिरी) is the seventh highest mountain in the world (8,167 m; 26,795 ft). It forms the eastern anchor of the Dhaulagiri Himal, a subrange of the Himalaya in the Dhawalagiri Zone of north central Nepal. It lies northwest of Pokhara, an important regional town and tourist center. Across the deep gorge of the Kali Gandaki to the east lies the Annapurna Himal, home to Annapurna I, one of the other eight-thousanders. Dhaulagiri means “White Mountain”.

8. Manaslu
Manaslu (मनास्लु, also known as Kutang) is the eighth highest mountain in the world (8,163 m; 26,781 ft), located in the Mansiri Himal, part of the Nepalese Himalayas. Manaslu is derived from the Sanskrit word Manasa and is translated as “Mountain of the Spirit”. Manaslu is the highest peak in the Gorkha district and is located about forty miles east of Annapurna, the tenth highest mountain. The mountain’s long ridges and valley glaciers offer feasible approaches from all directions, and culminate in a peak that towers steeply above its surrounding landscape, and is a dominant feature when viewed from afar. Manaslu was first climbed on May 9, 1956 by Toshio Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu, members of a Japanese expedition.

9. Nanga Parbat
Nanga Parbat (Urdu: نانگا پربت) is the ninth highest mountain on Earth (8,126 m; 26,660 ft). Nanga Parbat means “Naked Mountain” in Urdu, parbat deriving from the Sanskrit word parvata (पर्वत) meaning “mountain, rock”, and nanga from the Sanskrit word nagna (नग्न) meaning “naked, bare”. Known as the “Killer Mountain,” Nanga Parbat was one of the deadliest of the eight-thousanders for climbers in the first half of the twentieth century; since that time it has been less so, though still an extremely serious climb. It is also an immense, dramatic peak that rises far above its surrounding terrain.

10. Annapurna I
Annapurna I was the first 8,000-metre (26,200 ft) peak to be climbed. Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, of a French expedition (including Lionel Terray, Gaston Rébuffat, Marcel Ichac, Jean Couzy, Marcel Schatz, Jacques Oudot, Francis de Noyelle), reached the summit on 3 June 1950. (See the documentary of the expedition “Victoire sur l’Annapurna” by Marcel Ichac). Its summit was the highest summit attained on Earth for three years (8,091 m; 26,545 ft), until the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. (However higher non-summit points—at least 8,500 metres (27,900 ft)—had already been attained on Everest in the 1920s.) The south face of Annapurna was first climbed in 1970 by Don Whillans and Dougal Haston, members of a British expedition led by Chris Bonington which included the alpinist Ian Clough, who was killed by a falling ice-pillar during the descent.

Source: Wikipedia, Google Images