HIMALAYA AND NEIGHBOURS

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Last updated - Sunday, 16-Aug-2009 00:47:55 EDT

Once mountains get hold of you, they don't let go- ever.

For four decades ago I have been trapped by them. Himalaya and its neighbours the Zanskar, the Karakoram, the Trans Himalaya and their appendages The Dhauladhar, the Pir Panjal, to their north and south.   Then there are the little ruffles of the Shivaliks in the NW and the slightly higher waves of the Patkai in the NE. Repair to them to repair yourself.

 

This web site has information about the Himlaya and neighbouring regions in India and occasionally of some tracts in adjacent countries.

The Himalaya extend from the Great Bend of the Indus in the NW around Nanga Parbat in Pakistan to the Great Bend of the Brahmaputra in the NE around Namche Barwa in Tibet. Abutting them to their North and South are many interesting areas. In the NW is Ladakh and Zanskar to the North of the Himalaya. In between are the Himalaya of Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan stretching till the Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh in the North east of India. In the NE are the states of Sikkim, Arunachal, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura. 74% of this area is mountainous. In SE of Nagaland is the most southerly point in the sub continent where snow falls. That's Nwemauk Taung (3837 m) or Saramati, which has a border pillar No. 138 placed on top of it.

Bame Duniya, meaning the Roof of the World, is an ancient Persian description of the knot where the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and the Hindu Kush meet around the border of Tajikstan and Khyrgystan.

 

The three pictures span the entire 4000  or so kms of an unbroken chain of the most awesome, formidable, magnificent and exquisite mountains that ever spanned any globe in the firmament.

The first picture is of the Bame duniya and the Pamir Knot taken by me from the flight from Tashkent in Uzbekistan to Bishkek in Kyrghystan.

The second is an immense view stretching from the Nun (23,410') and Pinnacle Peak (22,810') in the Zanskar Himalaya (India) in the foreground to Nanga Parbat (26,620') also in the Himalaya and at the Great Bend of the Indus. To its west the highest peaks in the vague distance are the Hindu Kush peaks of Tirich Mir (7690 m (25230 ft) and Noshaq Mir (7492 m). The former is in Chitral, Pakistan and the latter in Afghanistan's Qala Panja. To the right and east are the Broad Peaks (26,414 & 26,017'), Masherbrum (25,660'),  K2 (28,250') and Gasherbrum (26,470') and many others. All around them is literally a sea of peaks, and this is just a small percentage that form the Himalaya and others from the NE to the NW. And, within them are valleys in which dwell many peoples. This picture was taken by me on a flight from Srinagar to Leh.

The third is the end of the great chain of mountains that started from Bame Duniya. This is of the tri junction of Burma, China and India in the very North East of India. The river is Lohit, which rises as Zoyul in the Kangri Karpo mountains seen in the distance. Within this range are the peaks of Chombo (Chinese names: Ruoni or Bairiga) 6882m in height and in the southeast of the range from the south of which, above Modung, the Lohit or Koyul emerges to the NNW of Rima or Zayul in Tibet. The most prominent peaks in the western part of the Kangri Karpo range is a group of five peaks over 6000m around Kone Kangri (6347m) from which the river Dibang emerges above Bruini.

 

This then is a brief description of the Greatest Mountian Chain in the Universe.

Inside are old and present day routes, photo albums and some pages of information about people in the NE and NW of India who could help.

Romesh Bhattacharji

rbhatto@yahoo.co.in or rbhattoo@gmail.com
India. Mobile-9868279350

Click here to see some pictures taken in the Himalaya & their neighbours. Feedback welcome.