One of the mountain systems of Central Asia is called the Karakorum. This ridge of rocks is the highest on the entire planet. It is located northwest of the Himalayan chain. The name of the Karakorum mountains has Kyrgyz roots and translated into Russian means "black boulders".

General information about the mountain system

The length of the mountain range is about 550 km. Scientists conditionally divided it into regions so that there were no difficulties in studying. The Karakorum mountain system is unmatched, since on its territory there are the largest possible number of seven-thousanders, as well as various glaciers. The second highest is also located here. Mountain peak in the world.

The average height of the mountains in this chain is 6,000 m. The ancient routes to the Indian subcontinent passed through passes. They are located at an altitude of 4,600-5,700 m. It was possible to carry out the transition only in a certain period, which lasted 1-2 months a year.

Where is the mountain system located

Central Asia is the leader in the presence of the highest peaks in the world. There are such mountain systems as the Himalayas, Pamir, Tibetan Plateau, Kunlun and Karakorum. The last of them separates the mighty rivers Tarim and Indus. To find the Karakorum mountain system on the map, you need to know its coordinates: 34.5 o -36.5 o north latitude. and 73.5 o -81 o v.d.

The main areas of the chain are:

• Agyl-Karakorum... This area is located between the Raskemdar River and its tributary Shaksgam.
• Western Karakorum... Most of this region of the mountain range is located near the Hunza River. The large Karakorum highway also passes here. Geographically, most of the western region of the mountains belongs to Pakistan.
• KarakorumCentral... This territory of the mountain range is simultaneously controlled by several states: India, China and Pakistan. About 70 peaks located in this region are more than 7 and 8 thousand meters high. The Chogori mountain is also located here. It is the second largest after Everest (Chomolungma).
• Eastern Karakorum... Most of the mountains are under the control of India, with the exception of the northern part of the slope (Siachen Muztag ridge), which belongs to the territory of China. There are more than 30 peaks in this region, whose height exceeds 7,000 m.

Oddly enough, but in the mountainous areas there are human settlements. Local residents live in the intermountain valleys. They work as guides and porters, helping climbers to ascend to the summit.

Vegetation and animals

In the northern part of the Karakorum mountain system, there is a predominantly desert landscape. Vegetation is extremely rare, and after 2,800 m altitude, it is completely absent.

Basically, shrubs of potash (calidium) and ephedra are found here. Huge areas are solid stone landscapes. In the place where the Raskemdar River originates, you can find thickets of barberry. Poplar grows from trees here. Teresken, feather grass and fescue grow on the territory of mountain steppes.

Forests are found in the southern part of the Karakorum mountain system. Conifers grow here: Himalayan cedars and pines. From deciduous - poplar and willow. A strip of forests extends along the slopes to a height of up to 3,500 m.

The southern slopes are richer in vegetation. The locations of reservoirs (rivers, lakes) serve as pastures. They are also engaged in agriculture. Alfalfa, peas and barley are grown on the mountain slopes (up to 4,000 m), vineyards and apricot orchards are planted at the foot of the ridges.

The animal world is diverse. A variety of artiodactyls are found in the mountains:

• antelope of hell;
• wild mountain goats;
• antelope orongo;
• tours and donkeys.

From rodents here you can find gray hamsters, whistler hares and other members of the family. From the squad of predators, snow leopards and bears live in these places.

A variety of birds settle on the mountain slopes:

• partridge;
• the reel is red;
• saja;
• Tibetan mountain turkey (ular);
• white-breasted dove and others.

Among the birds of prey, capable of rising above 5000 m, there are kites, falcons, eagles, black hawks.

Climatic conditions

The climate in this region is quite contrasting. In the valleys located between the mountains, it is mostly warm and dry. This allows local population to carry out agricultural activities, but still one cannot do without artificial irrigation.

Climatic conditions are more severe at an altitude of 5,000 m, where the snow border passes. The air temperature, on average, is 4-5 degrees below zero.

During the year over the Karakorum mountain system falls from 1200 to 2000 mm of precipitation. This is mainly snow. The main source of precipitation is cyclones coming from Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea in the spring and autumn. Monsoons brought from Indian Ocean, does not significantly affect the climatic conditions of this region, reaching G or Karakorum, they are significantly weakening.

The maximum amount of precipitation falls in the south and west of the chain. It also affects the height of the snow line:

• 6 200-6 400 m on the northeastern ridges;
• 5,000-6,000 m in the northern part of the mountain system;
• 4,600-5,000 m on the southwestern slopes.

The largest peaks of the mountain system

The Karakorum chain contains the most large peaks planets. Its lowest region is the northern part of the Agyl-Karakorum mountain system. The highest peak is Surukwat Kangri (6 792). There are no mountains here that would have overcome the seven thousandth threshold.

The three highest peaks of the eastern part of the chain:

• Saser Kangri (7 672 m);
• Mamostong Kangri (7 516 m);
• Teram Kangri (7 462 m).

In the Western Karakorum, the highest are:

• Dastogil (7 885 m);
• Batura (7 795 m);
• Rakaposi (7 788 m);
• Ogre (7,285 m).

In the Karakorum mountain range highest point located in the central part. It is called Chogori. This mountain is second only to Chomolungma in size. Its height is 8 611 m. In the same part there are other giants:

• Masherbrum (7 806 m);
• Saltoro Kangri (7 742 m);
• Crown (7,265 m).

Mount Chogori

Karakorum is known all over the world as the place where the second highest mountain is located. This eight-thousander is located on the border of Kashmir (territory controlled by Pakistan, Baltoro Ridge) and the Chinese Autonomous Region (Xinjiang Uygur District). Chogori is translated from the Western Tibetan dialect of Balti as "high". It also has other names: Godwin-Austen, K2 and Dapsang.

A European expedition discovered the summit in 1856. She was named K2. Mountain climbers Aleister Crowley and Oscar Eckenstein tried to climb Mount Chogori in 1902, but their attempt was unsuccessful. For the first time, an Italian expedition managed to reach the summit. In 1954, on July 31st, Lino Lacedelli and Achilla Compagnoni became the first climbers to conquer Chogori.

Today there are 10 routes along which the ascent to the summit is carried out.

Glaciers

The largest non-polar glaciers located in Asia are located on the slopes of the Karakorum mountain range. Baltoro is the largest of them. The area of ​​glaciers is about 15, 4 thousand km².

Due to global warming, there is a tendency for ice melting all over the world. But scientists have identified a place where glaciers, on the contrary, continue to grow - this is the Karakorum mountain system. To understand the reasons for this anomaly, scientists analyzed the weather indicators of this region, starting in 1861. Also, an assumption was made up to 2100.

As experts have found out, the growth of the ice cover is due to high humidity, which occurs due to the annual monsoons. Most of the moisture falls out in the form of precipitation during the winter, which causes a large accumulation of the snow layer. So the current rate of warming is likely to have no effect on the glaciers of the Karakorum. As scientists predict, their growth will be observed until 2100.

1. Initially, the name Karakorum was the name of the pass that connected India and China. It was located at an altitude of 5,575 m. Over time, the name spread to the entire mountain system.
2. The construction of the Karakorum highway cost $ 3 billion.
3. With the help of a car, you can cross the mountains only through the Khunjerab pass.
4. The Highway Cycle Route is one of the most popular with travelers.
5. In the Karakorum mountains there is one of the most difficult wall routes in the world - climbing the Trango Towers.

Southeast Column Ultar Sar, photo (c) Colin Haley

This summer, Mugs Stump Award recipients Colin Haley and Jed Brown embarked on an expedition to Pakistan to climb the Southeast Column of Ultar Sar (7388 m). Read the story from Climbing.com for what came of this.

Ultar Sar "s Hidden Pillar

Text and Photo by Colin Haley

In early August, Jed Brown and I flew to Islamabad and soon we were shaking along the Karakorum Highway towards the famous Hunza Valley (in the west of Karakorum). After the attractive Karimabad with its bustle, a short trip by jeeps brought us to the town of Akhmatabad. Two days on foot - and we are in the base camp under the South-Eastern column of Ultar Sar (7388 m).

Hiring porters turned out to be a problem for us, since Hunza is now a fairly wealthy region, and most people have better jobs. We had to hire students and in the end we were unable to set up the camp in the right place. The porters lacked the experience to overcome the steep section with their cargo, and it took another half day to get from our base camp to the traditional location of expeditions - "Hidden Valley" ("Kunoso" in local language). Subsequently, we had to overcome this distance many times, which became the first organizational problem.

Photo (c) Colin Haley

We spent several days, first walking between five-thousanders near the base camp, and then bringing our gear to the Kunoso Valley. In one of the walkers, in passing, we saw the Southeast Column (say, only the lower part of it - during the entire expedition I saw the entire route only once!), And the second problem immediately became apparent - the lower buttress looks much more melted than in any of the photographs that we have seen and in poor condition. Earlier Steve Swenson warned me that the snow cover this year is negligible. We hoped the snow would pass and the route would melt / freeze enough for our ascent, but by the time we left base camp it looked the same.

Photo (c) Colin Haley

On the first acclimatization hike, we spent several nights at 5300 m and climbed a short but interesting ridge to the top of 5600 m. After resting in the base camp, we made another acclimatization hike, this time along the "blade" located east of the East ridge of Ultar. We spent a couple of nights at 6000m and descended in a thunderstorm. After this acclimatization adventure, we went to check the approach from Kunoso to the foot of the Colonna - it was a badly fractured absolutely bare glacier - passable, but slowly.

Photo (c) Colin Haley

And for me it turned out to be a bale of straw that broke the back of the camel ... I told Jed that I was not psychologically ready to climb there. I think that you need to be mentally prepared for such a really serious route, but I had too many doubts. In addition, our problems with the base camp, the poor condition of the lower buttress, the fact that none of us have been higher than 7000 m so far ... which will require less cost).

Although Jed was still determined to climb, he understood that there was a reason in my words, and accepted my surrender calmly. Since we weren't on the route, it’s impossible to tell if this decision was sane or "sucks", but Kolonnaya did not go anywhere ...

I don't know if I will return to Ultar Sar, but I believe it will be an impressive climb when completed. The route, with a drop of more than 3100 m compared to the North ridge of Latok I, makes the latter short, and although it is not so technically difficult, the mountain offers some serious strenuous climbing.

Photo (c) Colin Haley

Except for our acclimatization ascents, the expedition was unsuccessful in terms of climbing. But as the saying goes, c'est la vie, you can't be lucky all the time. Thanks to the organizers of the Mugs Stump Award and those who financially support this grant. Even though we didn’t reach the top, I know that we both became wiser by the end of this journey, and without this grant we had no chance at all to try.

Today we were expected by a track to the observation point on Lady's Finger, the sharp peak of which rises on the sea at exactly six thousand meters. The climb that we planned for that day was supposed to be about 750 meters.

In this photo, at the edge of the cliff, already there, on the lookout, sits Dmitry Kozlov, the man who dragged us upstairs, but did not leave us - like some princes, having handed over a bag of grain and a chicken, but returned safe and sound. In your hand you can see a freshly cut "stimulus" that our guide on Rakaposi - Haider has made for him. Maybe that's why we got to the top so easily?

But this view will open to us much later, but for now, getting up again at dawn, I look at the top Hunza Peak, whose height is 6270 meters, and on the same Lady's finger from below, from Eagle's nest.

Here, even at dawn and on weekdays, you can meet many Pakistani and Indian tourists. They sit on rocks, wander in circles and admire the surroundings.

Very picturesque stones, among other things, like the entire surrounding landscape. Each boulder is like a work of modern art - put one in a museum, and visitors will look for hidden meanings that the sculptor wanted to convey.

Barely emerging from the cloud cover, the tops of both peaks again hid in the clouds. Hey, don't, we have to go there today! There, to the right of the frame, into a small hollow at an altitude of 3550 meters.

Eh, the weather! I got a little sad and, sitting on a stone, began to look around.

Vertex Racaposi- she is somewhere there, to the left - she also disappeared into the clouds. The main thing is not to start raining - crawling first up and then down on wet stones is still a pleasure.

Soon the whole sky was covered with an almost continuous cloud cover, through which the sun only made its way in places, leaving bright spots on the rocks. So you can definitely go back to the hotel.

When I ran into the dining room, everyone was already sitting at the table and knocking with spoons, I joined in and had a hearty breakfast, because the day promised to be very busy. Olya @kibela, Lena and Dina stayed at the hotel to Old city, walk around Fort Altit and maybe go shopping.

The rest of the group, led by two guides, left at about 8 am, while it was not very hot. In principle, it's even good that the sky was covered with clouds - it was comfortable to walk. But the summit itself was closed, but it was rather unpleasant, because it was she who was the goal of the ascent.

In the "nest", which looks very funny from the side, many paths have been trodden down. Anyway, it seems to me that this place does not look so interesting from the side. Better to walk right there and look at the boulders.

Gradually, the sky clears and nimble lizards crawl out to warm themselves on the rapidly warming stones, perfectly merging with the ground - you can hardly see them.

When we went to the terraces, our guide said that here ancient people grew wheat, and they themselves lived in caves nearby. I can hardly imagine and admire them.

The higher we go, the more breathtaking the views are. Volodya and everyone else is absolutely delighted.

It is very clear here that we live in a real small oasis in the middle of rather lifeless slopes.

A short photo break, and again on the road!

Some flowering shrubs look like solid flower green balls. By the way, who knows what kind of plant it is?

Oleg, our largest "Big Boss" as the innkeeper called him "Hunza Huts" Raheem, kept repeating to the guide that "everything is okay", to which he answered with a laugh.

In general, it seems that Oleg didn’t want to speak English in principle, but all Pakistanis understood him anyway because of his innate charm, so he was often delegated to difficult negotiations with the authorities, which he conducted flawlessly.

Wow! The summit has opened again! I shoot the panorama while there is a possibility, because at any moment everything can tighten again.

And we climb higher and higher. Down there our "Eagle's Nest", already so small! By the way, we also saw real eagles, but they soared very high in the sky.

Soon it became very unpleasant to walk - they walked along the "powder", small and not very stones, which were trying to escape from under our feet.

On the way a couple of times we came across the remains of tires. In response to my question, Nizam explained that there is a holiday during which tires are raised up, and at night they are set on fire and let down - this is a very beautiful, albeit not entirely environmentally friendly, sight.

Even though it was "loose", we still walked quite briskly and soon, after three hours of hard work, we climbed onto the ridge. Here it is, height 3550!

From here there is an excellent view of the valley, in which there is Karimabad.

Our second Oleg, without hesitation, climbed even higher, to meditate. Well, this is a good thing, but at the same time you can feed on the energy of the sun and space, from here it is just closer, not like from the plains.

And then Dima surprised us by taking out a MELT from his backpack! Blimey! I made it as easy as possible so that it was comfortable to walk, and he was dragging such an uncomfortable, heavy burden upstairs. Here he is, our hero - going to brutally stab her.

It turned out to be very handy - the melons here are quite tasty, although I would put them in second place after the Uzbek ones. And to eat such a meal in the mountains is a nice thing.

According to preliminary plans, we were supposed to live right there, below, not far from the glacier, but more recently the house, which stood in May 2018, was demolished by a mudflow, burying three people under the rubble. Now you can't even understand where this place is - mountains are an unreliable thing.

Somewhere here, to the right of Hunza peak, a peak hid in the clouds Ultar Sar(7388 m).

At some point I felt like that punk from anecdote: I pour water from a bottle into my hand and moisten the buff - in the sun the head heats up a lot and becomes lighter.

And so, with a wet rag on my head, I hear how at this moment Dima tells someone from the group that we should save water - there is not much of it left, and yet to go back.

Be that as it may, these views are worth going for and enduring the heat. It is a pity, but the girls who remained below did not see this glacier.

But it's still very hot here. All in turn climbed under a large stone and hid in its shadow. You can sit here only with your legs dangling over the abyss, one wrong move and it will take a long time to fly. And then there's my fear of altitude!

The most important thing is to distract myself in time, so I sat and looked at the local succulents, such plants that live in a hot environment and accumulate moisture in their fleshy leaves. By the way, cacti also belong to them.

I also looked at the black rocks and the spots of light playing on them.

The summit did not open any more, and soon we headed back down.

Our local guide, the innkeeper's cousin and a very cheerful young man Nizam (

Mountains (peaks) of any part of the globe except for their hierarchies (height, legends, number dead people etc., etc.) have such differences that we sometimes do not even know.

Names

Everest- the usual name of the highest point of the Earth was given to the peak after the name of the head of the Topographic Service of India, Sir George Everest, has at least two more names. The Tibetans call this mountain by their old word Chomolungma, and the Nepalese call it no less historical and eminent - Sagarmatha. At a time when the dispute flared up in full, what name to call the most high mountain, the famous Himalayist professor Gunter Oskar Direnfurt offered his vision of the solution to the problem. He believed that a neutral and geographically indisputable Khumbu Himal would be more appropriate. The Khumbu Himal mountain range is a huge mountain range, in which there are peaks: Everest (8848m), Lhotse (8516m), Makalu (8463m), Cho Oyo (8201m) and the most beautiful peak in this company is Ama Dablam (6856m). Ural mountains- the very name "Ural" on geographical maps appeared only in the second half of the 18th century. Prior to this, the Ural Mountains were called: "Ural Range", "Earth Belt", "Belt Stone" or simply - "Stone". Individual heights were also called such an unusual geographical term: "Pavdinsky Stone", "Kon-Zhakovsky Stone", "Denezhkin Stone". Many Stones were named after settlements- villages and villages. Even several rivers got their names from the stones nearest to them. "White Stone" is named for the color of its breed, "Sharp Stone" - for its shape, "Fighter-Stone" - for its character, so to speak: a great many rafts, barges and other ships crashed on this cliff in due time. Carstens pyramid... Under this name it is known by the majority of climbers applying for the program "7 Summits of the Earth". It is the highest point of Australia and Oceania - 4884 m. And is located in the western part of the island New Guinea... But the true name of this peak among the locals sounds like - Punchak-Jaya. The summit and the entire continent of Australia and Oceania are subject to active ice melting. In 10 years, not a trace of the glacier of this mountain will remain. This will mean that in the last 100,000 years, Australia and Oceania will become the first continent completely free of ice.

The world's largest gold and copper mines are located in the spurs of Punchak-Jaya.

Gasherbrum-I and Broad Peak... In the area of ​​the Karakorum glacier, Baltoro, there are two eight-thousanders, which have a second name: Gasherbrum I - 8068 m. - better known as Hidden Peak ("Hidden Peak"), Broad Peak - 8047 m. Has its local name - Falkhan Kangri.

Height priority

Everyone knows that Everest is the highest point of the Earth. Is it so? Scientists have not yet finally determined the true height of the peak and, according to various sources, the height of Everest ranges from 8844 to 8852 m. Even in this uncertainty, Everest is still the leader. With regard to the heights of the mountains, today the "highest" is conventionally considered to be the distance from the sea surface to the very top of any peak, and the "greatest" is the distance from the foot of the mountain to its top. Thus, Everest at an altitude of 8848/8852 m is the most high mountain in the world, but not the largest. In this regard, there is a point of view that the extinct volcano Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (5895 m) rises directly from the African Plain more than Mount Everest. Taking as a basis the fact that Everest stands on the enormous foundation of the Himalayas, we can agree with this. Another example. On the island of Hawaii, there is an extinct volcano called Mauna Kea, which rises only 4206m above sea level. But if you measure the depth to its solid (base) on the seabed, then it grows up to 10,200 m. This is almost 1,200 m higher than Everest.

Summit of Mauna Kea

The summit of Mauna Kea is so large that it plunges into the depths of the sea under its own weight. Local aborigines believe that the Hawaiian snow goddess Poliahu lives on the top of the mountain, among the clouds, and representatives travel companies wring their hands in despair - if not for the lack of oxygen at the summit, then ski vacation on Makuna Kea would be just amazing.

Priority of independence

Karakorum... It has not yet been clarified whether this Mountain country independent mountain system or is it a separate part of the Himalayas. The Karakorum is separated by river valleys: from the Himalayas - from the south, from Tibet - from the east, and from the Pamirs - from the north. The relief of the Karakorum is distinguished by very sharp forms and deep dissection. In the Western Karakorum there are a number of powerful peaks of the world, if we take into account the relativity of its foot to the highest point. So the top of Batura (7795 m) rises above the glacier of the same name by more than 4 km, Ultar peak (7388 m) rises 5.5 km above the Khunza valley. But the absolute record at the top of Rakaposi (7788 m), north slope which rises 6 km above the Hunza Valley! All in all, there are about 170 peaks in the Karakorum with a height of more than 7000 m. This is a good half of the number of seven-thousanders located in all mountainous regions of the world.

Danger of mountains

The question is complex and ambiguous. Mountains, in principle, are always dangerous for a person to be in them. But there is a small group of mountains that are included in the "priority" list under the conditional name - "Most dangerous mountains the world ".

Eiger. (Switzerland). Height 3970 m.

The first number on this list, of course, is the Eiger (Eiger) Alpine summit with its northern wall, almost vertically going down. The upper edge of the wall starts 100 m below the summit and stretches down almost 2 km. For a long time, they did not even try to "take" the mountain from this side. More or less serious attempts were made only in 1935. Since that year, more than 50 climbers have died on the Eiger. The first successful ascent of the northern face took place only in 1938. The conquerors were a bunch of Germans: A. Heckmeier-L. Fjerg and the Austrian bunch: F. Kasparek - G. Harrer. Before that, all expeditions ended with the death of the participants. The first people to climb the summit of the Eiger were the Greenwald mountain guides Christian Almer and Peter Boren, who made the first ascent together with the climber from Ireland, Charles Barrington in 1858. A distinctive feature of the mountain is the built in its body Railway"Jungfrau", which stretches from Kleine Scheidegg and ascends through the Eiger and Mönch to the summit of the Jungfraujoch. The terminal station, located in the Jungfraujoch mountain, is located at an altitude of 3454 m. And is the highest railway station in Europe, called the "Roof of the World".

Kanchenjunga, Kanchinjunga. (Nepal, India). Height 8586 m

The third highest peak in the world. Despite the global trend of decreasing mortality during mountain climbing, in the case of Kanchenjanga, this rule is constantly violated. In recent years, the number of tragic cases on it has increased to 22% and it seems that it is not going to decrease. The Kanchenjungi massif consists of 5 peaks, each of which is higher than 8 km, which are often called the "Five Snow Treasures". Locals claim that climbing to its peaks is especially dangerous for the fair sex, since Kanchenjunga is a woman who dreams of overshadowing everything around her with her beauty and does not tolerate rivals on her slopes. The main danger during the ascent is represented by numerous avalanches and extremely unfavorable weather conditions. The British, George Band and Joe Brown, first climbed the unapproachable summit, 50 years after the first tragic attempt in 1905. The main ridge of the massif for 6 km exceeds the height of 8000 m. The traverse of all the peaks of Kanchenjunga, made by the Soviet team in 1989, remains an unrivaled event in history, in terms of the number of ascents of eight-thousanders by all team members in one expedition.

Nanga Parbat. (Pakistan). Height 8126 m.

The ninth highest peak in the world, Nanga Parbat is highest peak Western Himalayas. This is one of the most rugged mountains the world, long time was the first in the so-called "mortality rating" among eight-thousanders. The first attempt to conquer the top of the "Naked Mountain" (as it is also called) took place back in 1895. Only 58 years later, in 1953, only one climber, Herman Buhl, climbed to its summit. In terms of its complexity and capriciousness of the climate and the complexity of the ascent, the peak competes with the K2 peak, which is considered the most difficult to access in the world. The snowy slopes of Parbat abruptly drop off from all sides, and its most famous Rupal wall stretches down 4.6 km from the top and is the longest mountain wall in the world. For the difficulty of climbing the Rupal wall and the number of those who died on it, it is often called the "cannibal wall". In 1978 the great climber Reinhold Messner made a solo ascent of Nanga Parbat.

K2, Chogori, Kyaogelifeng. (Pakistan, China), Height 8611 m.

The second highest mountain peak after Everest, is considered the first in the complexity of the ascent among the eight-thousanders. Tucked away almost in the center of Karakorum, on the border with China, the mountain is surrounded on all sides by a rather high peaks, difficult for glaciers to pass and, in addition, constant avalanche danger. The mountain is the northernmost eight-thousander. The mortality rate is very high here: every fourth daredevil dies before reaching the coveted point located at an altitude of 8611 meters. 1902 - the first attempt to climb K2 ended in failure. Italian climbers Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni first reached the summit of K-2 only 52 years later - in 1954. It was an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio. In August 2006, while climbing K-2 under an avalanche, four Russian climbers were killed: the head of the expedition Uteshev Yuri Vladimirovich, Alexander Voigt, Kuvakin Arkady and Kuznetsov Petr. In August 2008, during the ascent of an international team in an ice landslide, 11 climbers died: two Nepalese, three people from South Korea, a Serb, two Pakistanis, a Norwegian, an Irishman and a Frenchman. Of the 8 female climbers who reached the top in different time: Wanda Rutkiewicz (June 23, 1986), Liliane Bara (June 23, 1986), Julie Tallis (August 4, 1986), Chantal Maduis (August 3, 1992), Alison Hargraves (August 13, 1995), Edurne Pasaban (July 26, 2004), Nives Meroi (July 26, 2006) and Yuka Komazu (August 1, 2006), only the last three survived.

Annapurna. (Nepal). Height 8091 m.

The tenth highest peak in the world, which is a 55 km long mountain range, located in the southern spur of the Main Himalayan Range in western Nepal. This mountain has several names: Kali - black (in color south wall) Durga - the inaccessible Parvati - the daughter of the mountains and Annapurna itself: anna - food, purna - giving - “Goddess of food” (goddess of fertility). The first eight-thousander peak conquered by man. Since the first ascent in 1950 by the team of Maurice Erzog, about 200 people have visited the summit. On May 1, 1970, the first women's ascent of Annapurna by the Japanese climber Junko Tabei took place. In the rating of danger among eight-thousanders, this peak clearly claims to be in first place. The mortality rate when climbing here reaches 40%. To date, there have been fewer successful ascents than on any other eight-thousander, and the mortality rate is the highest. The main problem for climbers is the frequent avalanches and unpredictable weather conditions. Here in 1997, the famous Russian climber Anatoly Bukreev, who had previously made 17 ascents on 11 eight-thousanders, died.