Highest Mountains in Pakistan

Geology

The mountains of K2 and Broad Peak, and the area westward to the lower reaches of Sarpo Laggo glacier, consist of metamorphic rocks, known as the K2 Gneiss and part of the Karakoram Metamorphic Complex. The K2 Gneiss consists of a mixture of orthogneiss and biotite-rich paragneiss. On the south and southeast face of K2, the orthogneiss consists of a mixture of a strongly foliated plagioclase-hornblende gneiss and a biotite-hornblende-K-feldspar orthogneiss, which has been intruded by garnet-mica leucogranitic dikes. In places, the paragneisses include clinopyroxene-hornblende-bearing psammites, garnet (grossular)-diopside marbles, and biotite-graphite phyllites.

Climbing history

The mountain was first surveyed by a British team in 1856. Team member Thomas Montgomerie designated the mountain "K2" for being the second peak of the Karakoram range. The other peaks were originally named K1, K3, K4, and K5, but were eventually renamed Masherbrum, Gasherbrum IV, Gasherbrum II, and Gasherbrum I, respectively. In 1892, Martin Conway led a British expedition that reached "Concordia" on the Baltoro Glacier.

The first serious attempt to climb K2 was undertaken in 1902 by Oscar Eckenstein, Aleister Crowley, Jules Jacot-Guillarmod, Heinrich Pfannl, Victor Wessely, and Guy Knowles via the Northeast Ridge. In the early 1900s, modern transportation did not exist in the region: it took "fourteen days just to reach the foot of the mountain".

Climbing history

As a result of its accessibility, attempts to reach the summit of Nanga Parbat began very soon after it was discovered by Europeans. In 1895, Albert F. Mummery led an expedition to the peak, accompanied by Geoffrey Hastings, and reached almost 6,100 m (20,000 ft) on the Diamir (West) Face, but Mummery and two Gurkha companions later died reconnoitering the Rakhiot Face.

In the 1930s, Nanga Parbat became the focus of German interest in the Himalayas. The German mountaineers were unable to attempt Mount Everest, since only the British had access to Tibet. Initially German efforts focused on Kangchenjunga, to which Paul Bauer led two expeditions in 1930 and 1931, but with its long ridges and steep faces, Kangchenjunga was more difficult than Everest and neither expedition made much progress.

Location

Nanga Parbat forms the western anchor of the Himalayan Range and is the westernmost eight-thousander. It lies just south of the Indus River in the Nanga Parbat National Park of Gilgit–Baltistan, at the border of Diamer and Astore districts. In some places, the river flows more than 7 kilometres (4+1⁄2 miles) below the high-point of the massif. To the north is the western end of the Karakoram range.

Geography

Tirich Mir overlooks the town of Chitral and it can be easily seen from the main bazaar. The usual approach to the mountain is up the Tirich valley which has the Tirich Glacier at its head. The glacier is encircled by three of the 7000m peaks in the Hindu Kush: Tirich Mir, Noshaq and Istor-o-Nal. The meltwaters from the glaciers on the north side of Tirich Mir and the south sides of Noshaq and Istor-o-Nal flow into the river running down the Tirich valley to join the waters of the Torkhow River, and form a major tributary of the Chitral River.

From the confluence at the Torkhow valley, about 100km north-east of Chitral and a few km south of the village of Shagram, a jeep track leads up the Tirich valley to Shagrom, the highest permanent settlement.

Geology

The mountain is mainly composed of the mid-Cretaceous granitic Tirich Mir pluton which is cut by numerous dykes. The pluton cuts a sequence of metagabbros, peridotites and gneisses which form a high-grade metamorphic belt known as the Tirich Boundary Zone (TBZ).

Climate

The weather station 4,245 m (13,927 ft) above sea level lies in the Tundra climate/Alpine climate (ET) zone according to Köppen Climate Classification. On this specific altitude (4,245 m or 13,927 ft asl) we find moderately cold winters and cool summers generally above freezing. Annual mean temperature is −5.25 °C (22.55 °F), which puts the station well inside the range of continuous permafrost. The average temperature in the coldest month of January is −17.5 °C (0.5 °F) and the two hottest months of July and August have mean temperatures of 6.5 °C (43.7 °F). Average low temperatures range from −23 °C (−9 °F) in January to 0 °C (32 °F) in July and August. The summit has an Ice cap climate (EF) where no month has an average temperature above 0 °C (32 °F).

Climbing history

Noshaq main was first climbed by a Japanese expedition on 17 August 1960, led by Professor Yajiro Sakato. Other members of the expedition were Goro Iwatsubo and Toshiaki Sakai. The climb followed the normal Afghanistan approach, the West ridge from the Qazideh Glacier.

Noshaq East, Noshaq Central and Noshaq West were first climbed in 1963 by Austrians Dr. Gerald Gruber and Rudolf Pischenger.

The Tiroler Hindukusch-Ski-Expedition of Akademischer Alpenklub Innsbruck (Austria) made the first ski descent from the summit of Noshaq in 1970. The famous meteorologist Karl Gabl was a member of the team.

The first winter ascent was 13 February 1973 by Tadeusz Piotrowski and Andrzej Zawada, members of a Polish expedition, via the north face.

History

1878: British forces were victorious over Afghan forces and seized control of the Peiwar Pass in the Battle of Peiwar Kotal.

1878-1879: British surveyor George Batley Scott climbed the mountain during a campaign to survey Afghanistan.

Location

Mount Sikaram is located north of the village of Peshawar in the Kurram District of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Its parent range, Spīn Ghar, connects directly with the Shandūr offshoot of the Hindu Kush mountain system. Atop the range, temperatures can fall below 0 °C (32 °F) at any time of the year.

A small valley on the slope of Mount Sikaram encompasses a number of villages, settlements, and tribal regions—many of them historically significant—including Peiwar, Alizai, Tari Mangal, Narai, Speena Shaga, and Khewas. The Gawi Pass, also known as the Peiwar Kotal Pass, runs between the Kurram Valley and Afghanistan's Aryub Valley; it connects the Paktia Province of Afghanistan with the Kurram District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the former FATA region of Pakistan.

Overview

The word "Ras" means "gateway" and the word "Koh" means "mountain" in Persian; therefore, it means "Gateway to the Mountains."

The Ras Koh Hills range is expanded between the districts of Chagai and Kharan, and is about 140 mi (230 km) in length, according to the survey conducted by the former British Indian Army in 1910. The length of the Ras Koh Range is also confirmed by the Geological Survey of Pakistan and the Survey of Pakistan which measured to be exact at 140 mi (230 km).

The highest peak in Ras Koh Hills range is measured to be 10,000 ft (3,000 m), with average hills are measured at 600 ft (180 m). Furthermore, its topographical geolocation lies between the much larger and difficult Sulaiman Mountains range to the northeast and the Kirthar Mountains range to its southeast.

Geography and demography

Along Asian Highway 1 (AH1), the summit of the pass at Landi Kotal lies 5 km (3 mi) inside Pakistan, descending 460 m (1,510 ft) into the Peshawar Valley at Jamrud, about 30 km (19 mi) from the Afghan border, traversing part of the Spin Ghar mountains. The pass starts at Kadam near Jamrud, 18 km (11 mi) west of Peshawar. The total length of the pass proper is 25 mi (40 km) from Jamrud to Landi Kotal, although the lesser section of the pass runs for additional 8 mi (13 km) westwards until the town of Lōya Daka, in Afghanistan. The height of the summit is 3,373 ft (1,028 m).

To the north of the Khyber Pass lies the country of the Shalmani tribe and Mullagori tribe. To the south is Afridi Tirah, while the inhabitants of villages in the Pass itself are Afridi clansmen.

Ancient history

A number of historical invasions of the Indian subcontinent have been through the Khyber Pass, such as those of Darius I, Ardashir I, Shapur I and Anushirvan, and later, Mongols such as Duwa, Qutlugh Khwaja and Kebek. Prior to the Kushan era, the Khyber Pass was not a widely used trade route.

The pass has been traversed by military expeditions launched by empires such as the Achaemenids and Sassanids, as well as by nomadic invaders from Central Asia, including the Saka, Yuezhi, and White Huns. Indian empires rarely extended their control beyond the pass, with the Maurya king Chandragupta being an exception.

The Khyber Pass has witnessed the spread of Greek influence into India and the expansion of Buddhism in the opposite direction.