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PAKISTAN’S MAGICAL LAND OF MOUNTAINS
Pakistan’s northern frontier is a stunning land of
mountains.
Eighty four thousand square kilometers (33 thousand square
miles) and 9 percent of Pakistan’s total area of 888 thousand square
kilometers (350 thousand square miles), stretching from the Arabian Sea through
the length of 18 hundred kilometers to the unbelievable lofty heights of the
land of the mountain goods, the world’s third pole-into a polar environment of a
strange remnant of some primeval ice age of the biggest glaciers outside the
polar regions, this is the true roof of the world.
Here meet all three of the world’s highest mountain
ranges- the mighty Himalayas, the grandiose
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Karakoram and the breath taking Hindu Kush-with their
literally hundreds of mountains in the high test concentrations of dizzying
peaks-five of the 14 over 8000 meter peaks including the second highest mountain
in the world, the K-2 and 121 peaks over 7000 meters (23 thousand feet) within a
radius of 180 kilometers (112 miles)
It is a land where the majestic K-2 stands at the head of
the Godwin Austin glacier in an amazing smooth, black pyramid at a height of
8,616 meters (28,250 feet) in the theatre of the awesome Concordia, with the Gasherbrum
1 (hidden peak) at 8086 meters- the second highest Karakoram peak and 11th
highest in the world, the Broad peak of this mighty amphitheatre of the four Karakoram
peaks is the mammoth Baltoro glacier, which is 62 Kms long with a surface area of
1219 square Kms. Besides the Baltoro the Hisper (53 km long) joins the Biafo to
form an ice corridor, 116 k long.
In this highest concentration of the most spectacular
mountains of the world can be seen the marble peak, the Gasherbrum Group , the
Golden Throne peak (7,365 m) and the Chogolisa (7686 m)-where Herman Buhl, the
conqueror of fearsome Nanga Parbat, the fifth over 8000 meter Himalayan peak in
Pakistan, lost his life in 1957
Galen Rowell an American photographer did a book on
Concordia that he called 'the throne room of the mountain gods' It is indeed
considered the abode of spirits and jinn's by the local people of the area! One
legend has it that the prophet Sulaiman (Solomon) relegated his subjects of the
nation of jinn's to this lofty and remote corner of the world, where they could
live out of the way of mankind!
The local folklore of these areas is full of jinn's living
alongside the people and even taking a share of the produce of the land of the
farmers! K-2 the second highest mountain, which Reinhold messier unforgettably
called the mountain of the mountains is considered a bigger challenge for
climbers than Everest, the highest peak in the world. For a long time K-2 called
cho-go-ri in the local Balti language, meaning 'The King' was considered
un-climbable Attempts to summit it in 1902, 1909, 1934, 1938 and 1953 all failed
it was finally conquered by Italian climbers—Lino laced Elli & Achille
Compagnoni (pronounced camp-pan-noni) in 1954, and ever since the Italians have
adoped it as the prize they won!
Over 1500 people have so far climbed Mount Everest, but less than
200 mountaineers have managed to summit K-2 forty nine climbers have so far,
perished on its steep slopes and of the only six women who succeeded in scaling
its summit, three died on the descent down the mountain. Now only one, Spain’s
Edurne Pasaban, who climbed K-2 during the 50th anniversary
celebrations of its conquest in Pakistan last year on July 25, 2004. Is living.
The other two survivors of K-2 lost their lives in later climbs in the Himalayas
in Nepal.
Pakistan's fifth over 8000 meter peak the Nanga Parbat,
is the lone Himalayan peak of the region. At 8,125 meters, it is the 9th
tallest mountain in the world.
Of the 14 over eight thousand meter peaks in the world, 10
are Himalayan mountains. Everest, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho oyu
Dhaulagiri Namaslu, Nanga Parbat, Annapurna & Shisha Pangma. Eight of these
are in Nepal while Nanga Parbat is a Pakistan mountain and the only Himalayan
one over 8 thousand peak here whereas, the smallest of the over 8 thousand meter
culb, the Shisha Pangma, is in China
All of the rest are Karakoram peaks, k-2 Gasherbrum I &
II & Broad Peak and all of these are in Pakistan- within 20 km of each
other!
Nanga Parbat is located in Relative isolation from the
Himalayas at eh western most end of the range in Pakistan & is 200 km away
from its other 8000 meter companions.
Nanga Parbat was first climbed on July 3, 1953 by Herman
Bhul part of a German Austio
team-who paid the heavy price of the lives of 11 climbers & 15 porters to
the Killer Mountain as it is called
Other soul stirring sights are the beautiful snow lake long
thought to be an ice cap but later found to be just a huge lake of snow and the Deosai
plans that stretch for 63 km to form the highest plateau in the world
The
locals belvied that a fine gossamer line is threaded through the incredible
peaks in this area to keep them in place! Certainly the unmistakable hand of a
master craftsman in undeniably evident here—more so than at any other spot in
the world. What is certain is that one cannot come away from here, without
bringing back some of it in your very soul!
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