Expeditions in Nepal
"Meantime let us count our blessings- I mean
those thousands of peaks, climbed and unclimbed,
of every size, shape and order of difficulty,
where each of us may find our own Mt. Everest." -
Hw Tilman- Mount Everest 1938
In lofty Nepal they are a world unto themselves
and here, in the 'Abode of the snow', time and
space have meanings unlike anything that humans
have ever encountered. They are difficult to
describe; reality and fantasy overlap.
The Nepal Himalayas extend approximately 1000
kilometers between the Kangchenjunga massifs at
the east, to the Karnali River at the west,
accounting for a third of the entire Himalayan
mountain system. They were not accessible to the
outside world world until the modern frontiers
of Nepal were drawn at the conclusion of the
British-Nepalese War of 1814-16.
Apart from one or two incursions across the
border by various travelers and mountaineers,
Nepal and its mountains remained relatively
unknown until 1949.
When the door to Nepal was re-opened in the mid
20th century, two factors made it attractive for
climbers and explorers. First, it was new
territory teaming with high peaks, many of them
giants that had been observed only from afar;
and second, of the 31 Himalayan peaks that
exceeded 7,600 meters, 22 studded the Nepalese
Land-scape, including eight of the worlds 14
highest. The golden decade of mountaineering ran
from 1950 to 1960. After Nepal was opened to
outside visitors in 1949. Those ten years of
pioneer achievement, combining reconnaissance
and climbing were impressive. All the peaks
above 8,000 meters within the Nepal Himalaya
were climbed.
The world's 14 highest Peaks
Name |
Height |
Location |
First Ascent |
Everest |
8850m (29,035ft) |
Nepal |
1953; E.Hilary, T. Norgay |
K2 |
8611m (28,250 ft) |
Pakistan |
1954; A. Compagnoni. L.Lacedelli |
Kanchenjunga |
8586m (28,169ft) |
Nepal |
1955;G.Band, J.Brown |
Lhotse |
8516m (27,940 ft) |
Nepal |
1956; F.Luschsinger, E.Reiss |
Makalu |
8463m (27,766 ft) |
Nepal |
1955; J.couzy, L.TerraryK |
Cho-Oyu |
8201 m (26,906 ft) |
Nepal |
1954;s.Joechler, H.Tichy, P.Dawa Lama |
Dhaulagiri |
8167 m (26,795 ft) |
Nepal |
1960; K.Diemberger, P.Diener, M.Dorji |
Manaslu |
8163 m (26,781 ft) |
Nepal |
1956; T.Imanishi, G.Norbu |
Nanga Parbat |
8125m (26,660 ft) |
Nepal |
1953; H.Buhl |
Annapurna |
8091 m (26,545 ft) |
Nepal |
1950; M.Herzog, L.Lachenal |
Gasherbrum I |
8068 m (26,470 ft) |
Pakistan |
1958; A.Kaufman, L.Lachenal |
Broad Peak |
8068 m (26,470 ft) |
Pakistan |
1957; H. Buhl, K.Diemberger |
Gasherbrum II |
8035 m (26,360 ft) |
Pakistan |
1956;S.Larch, f.Moravec, H.Willenpart |
Shisapangma |
8013 m (26,291 ft) |
China |
1964; H.Ching & nine climbers. |
|
NEPAL
EXPEDITIONS
