Kawagebo
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| Kawagebo | |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 6,740 metres (22,110 ft)[1][2] |
| Location | Tibet/Yunnan, China |
| Range | Meili Xueshan, Hengduan Shan |
| Prominence | 2,232 m (7,320 ft)[2] |
| Coordinates | [2] |
| First ascent | unclimbed (as of 2003)[1] |
Kawagebo (or Moirigkawagarbo, Kawakarpo, Kawa Karpo, Ka-Kar-Po) is the highest mountain in Yunnan, China.[2] It is located on the border with Tibet, and near the border with Myanmar. It rises about 20 kilometres (12 mi) west of Deqen, which lies on the Yunnan-Tibet Highway.
Kawagebo is the high point of the Meili Xueshan, a small subrange of the Hengduan Shan, the major north-south trending complex of mountains covering the region where Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Myanmar converge. The Meili Xueshan forms part of the divide between the upper Salween (Nujiang) and Mekong (Lancangjiang) rivers.
The Meili Xueshan has over 20 peaks with permanent snow cover, including six peaks over 6,000 m (19,700 ft). The highest portion of the range is in the north, although Kawagebo is centrally located. The range rises high over the deeply incised valleys to the east and west, leading to dramatic relief. The range is highly affected by the monsoon, leading to especially unstable snow conditions, which have affected climbing attempts (see below).[1]
Kawagebo is one of the most sacred mountains for Tibetan Buddhism as the spiritual home of a warrior god which pre-existed Buddhism's arrival in Tibet.[3] It is visited by 20,000 pilgrims each year;[4] many pilgrims circumambulate the peak, an arduous 240 km (150 mi) trek.
[edit] Climbing history
The first attempt on Kawagebo was made in 1987 by a party from the Joetsu Alpine Club of Japan. In the winter of 1990-91 a group from the Academic Alpine Club of Kyoto University attempted the peak in conjunction with a Chinese group. A nighttime avalanche killed all seventeen members of the expedition, in one of the most deadly mountaineering accidents in history. The Kyoto club returned in 1996 to make another unsuccessful attempt.[1]
American expeditions, led by Nicholas Clinch, visited the range in 1988, 1989, 1992, and 1993, attempting other major peaks, but were unsuccessful. As of 2003, all of the significant peaks of the range were still unclimbed.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Tamotsu Nakamura, "East of the Himalaya", American Alpine Journal, 2003, pp. 142-145. Online version: East of the Himalaya (PDF)
- ^ a b c d Tibetan ultra-prominent peaks on peaklist.org
- ^ NPR story on Kawagebo pilgrimage
- ^ Walking the Sacred Steps of Kawagebo
