Namcha Barwa

Location

Namcha Barwa is in an isolated part of southeastern Tibet rarely visited by outsiders. It stands inside the Great Bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo River as the river enters its notable gorge across the Himalaya, emerging as the Siang and becoming the Brahmaputra. Namcha Barwa's sister peak Gyala Peri at 7294 m rises across the gorge 22 km to the north-north-west (NNW).

Notable features

Namcha rises 5000–6800 m above the Yarlung Tsangpo. After 7795 m Batura Sar in the Karakoram was climbed in 1976, Namcha Barwa became the highest unclimbed independent mountain in the world, until it was finally climbed in 1992.

In addition to being the 27th highest mountain in the world, Namcha Barwa is the third most prominent peak in the Himalayas after Mount Everest and Nanga Parbat.

Frank Kingdon-Ward described in the 1920s "a quaint prophecy among the Kongbo Tibetans that Namche Barwa will one day fall into the Tsangpo gorge and block the river, which will then turn aside and flow over the Doshong La [pass]. This is recorded in a book by some fabulous person whose image may be seen in the little gompa [Buddhist monastery] at Payi, in Pome." (126–127) (See Beyul for the reason behind the prophecy and Padmasambhava or another Tertön for the "fabulous person whose image may be seen in the little gompa").

Climbing history

Namcha Barwa was located in 1912 by British surveyors but the area remained virtually unvisited until Chinese alpinists began attempting the peak in the 1980s. Although they scouted multiple routes, they did not reach the summit.{{Cite book | access-date = May 19, 2011 | access-date = May 19, 2011 | archive-date = July 17, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120717041155/http://www.jac.or.jp/english/kiroku/1992/namc92_e.htm | url-status = dead | access-date = 2006-02-24 | archive-date = 2012-07-17 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120717041155/http://www.jac.or.jp/english/kiroku/1992/namc92_e.htm | url-status = dead Eleven climbers reached the summit. U.K. Alpine Club's Himalayan Index lists no further ascents.{{Cite web

References

References

1. "High Asia II: Himalaya of Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim and adjoining region of Tibet". Peaklist.org.
2. F.M. Bailey. (1914). "Exploration on the Tsangpo or upper Brahmaputra". The Geographical Journal.
3. ''Namjagbarwa Mountaineering Map'' (1:50,000), Chinese Research Institute of Surveying and Mapping, China Mountaineering Association, 1990, {{ISBN. 7-5031-0538-0.
4. "High Asia digital elevation models".
5. "HIGH ASIA I: The Karakoram, Pakistan Himalaya and India Himalaya (north of Nepal)". Peaklist.org.
6. F. Kingdon Ward. (1926). "The Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges". Edward Arnold.
7. Beyul are secret sacred valleys in Tibetan Buddhism, the knowledge of which is recorded on the scrolls and kept hidden in caves, monasteries, and under the rock guarded by the Buddhist monks. Valleys were blessed by the 8th century Indian monk Padmasambhava who brought Buddhism to Tibet and China. Tertön is a person who discovers or has the knowledge of these secret valleys. Padmasambhava or some other Buddhist monk is likely that person who made the prophecy.