Gangkhar Puensum is the tallest mountain in Bhutan at 7,570 meters, as well as the 40th highest peak in the world. Many will be very surprised, but Gangkhar Puensum still remains unconquered when most of the peaks in the Himalayas were conquered decades ago.
Want to know why? Now I will tell you …
Gangkhar Puensum summit
- Height above sea level: 7570m, relative altitude: 2990m
- Location: border of Bhutan and China (Tibet)
- First ascent: unconquered peak. 4 attempts to conquer the summit were made in 1985 and 1986.
- Approach to Mount Gangkhar Puensum: following the hiking trail from Bumtang (Dhur village) to the hot springs of Dhur Tsachu, or from Lunan towards Dhur Tsachu - there is a base camp for expeditions, but this route requires permission from the Bhutanese authorities
Now tourists can go trekking near the Gangkhar Puensum mountain. The track is called "Snowman Trek".
Promotional video:
Today this peak is the highest unconquered mountain in the world. All other unconquered peaks in the world that are higher than the Gangkhar Puensum are now not considered separate peaks, but are only secondary peaks of the main peaks.
The name of the peak “Gangkhar Puensum” literally means “White peak of three spiritual brothers”, in an alternative version: “Mountain of three brothers and sisters”. The translation options are related to the fact that Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan, belongs to the Sino-Tibetan language family and is closest in structure to Tibetan; this language has many sounds that are not translated into English, which makes accurate pronunciation and translation of the name of the mountain peak difficult and ambiguous for English.
Gangkhar Puensum is located on the border of Bhutan and Tibet, although the exact boundaries of these kingdoms are still disputed.
The Chinese authorities on their border maps laid the border of states right along the top of the mountain, while the authorities of the Kingdom of Bhutan left this mountain completely on the side of their country on their maps. It is worth noting that, unlike Bhutan, the Chinese authorities organized topographic expeditions to this peak in order to accurately determine its position on the border zone. Bhutan has not done any research.
For the first time this peak was mapped and described in 1922, but due to topographic errors, the exact belonging to the border zone of Tibet or Bhutan was not established.
There were four expeditions to the summit of Gangkhar Puensum in 1985 and 1986, just after Bhutan opened its mountains to climbers in 1983.
One of the expeditions - the British one in 1986 in its report cited facts establishing the belonging of Gangkhar Puensum to Bhutan, and the Kula Kangri mountain, which is 30 km high, 7554 m high - to Tibet. The expedition also announced that the true height of the summit is 7,550 meters, which is 20 meters below the documented height.
However, in 1994, climbing to heights above 6,000 meters in the mountains located on the territory of Bhutan was prohibited by the government of the Kingdom of Bhutan in order to respect the local faith, and in 2003, mountaineering in Bhutan was completely banned.
Based on this fact, the Gangkhar Puensum peak will probably remain the highest unconquered peak in the world for a very long time.
Gangkhar Puensum, view from Liankang Kangri. Photo from the report of the Japanese expedition in 1999.
In 1998, a Japanese expedition received permission from the China Mountaineering Association to climb the summit of Gangkhar Puensum from Tibet.
But, due to the border dispute with Bhutan, this permission was canceled, and in 1999 the expedition had to change their plans and climb the nearby peaks of Liankang Kangri (North Gangkhar Puensum) - this peak with a height of 7535 m is an auxiliary peak of the main peak of Gangkhar Puensum …
The result of this Japanese expedition was the statement that the main peak of Gangkhar Puensum is geographically located completely north of the border of Bhutan and territorially belongs to China. This point of view was supported by the authorities of China and Japan.
The Japanese expedition to Liankang Kangri described the summit of Gangkhar Puensum standing on the summit and slopes of its secondary peak.
From the report of the Japanese expedition:
In the early morning of May 5, 1999, 5 climbers led by Kiyohiko Suzuki set out to the summit from the last pre-summit camp (Camp3) at 6920 meters. The group climbed the North Ridge and when they climbed the last snowy pre-summit wall, they discovered the Gangkhar Puensum mountain in all its glory, located on the border of China and Bhutan with its magnificent southern slopes.
The team soon conquered the summit of Liankang Kangri (North Gangkhar Puensum, 7535 m), the second highest unconquered peak in the world (and a daughter summit of the main peak Gangkhar Puensum), thus becoming the first people to reach its summit.
From its summit, climbers saw the magnificent Khula Kangri mountain range, stretching to the Northeast with its highest point - the Gangkhar Puensum peak, which remains the highest unconquered point of the planet, and now, apparently, for a long time due to the political decision of the authorities of the Kingdom of Bhutan, which thus resolved two issues at the same time: the question of the territorial ownership of the mountain and the border zone and religious disputes about the ascent of climbers to the sacred peaks for Bhutanese.
We, standing on the top of the daughter peak of this controversial peak, saw that the passage from Liankang Kangri to Gangkhar Puensum is in principle possible, although, most likely, climbers would have to overcome a difficult, knife-sharp ridge with unstable snow and ice cover; and pre-summit rocky peaked ledges.
If not for the political disputes between China and Bhutan, our team would have been able to overcome this problem.
Route map from the 1999 Japanese team report.
On the occasion of celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of the China Mountaineering Association (CMA) in May 1998 in Beijing, it was decided at a meeting of the Association to study the possibility of obtaining permission for mountaineering expeditions in the neighboring region of China and Bhutan. Soon after this meeting, such permission was actually obtained and we could climb the summit of Gangkhar Puensum from the Tibetan side in 1999.
The Japanese Mountaineering Association immediately after this decision, in October 1998, sent the first reconnaissance expedition to Gangkhar Puensum.
The result of this reconnaissance expedition was the final decision confirming the viability of a successful future expedition to conquer the summit. Following this decision, the Japan Association began an active preparation phase for the 1999 expedition.
But to the surprise of the Japan Association, the China Association sent an unexpected notice that the 1999 ascent of Gangkhar Puensum should be postponed indefinitely due to unresolved political disputes with the Kingdom of Bhutan; in particular, because of the territorial affiliation of Gangkhar Puensum.
This notification came so late that there was no point in canceling the planned expedition, and the Japan Association chose Mount Liankang Kangri, the second highest unconquered peak in the world, as an alternative peak. This expedition included 11 people, led by T. Itami (49 years old), who selected the youngest and most successful climbers to the team.
The ascent of Liankang Kangri was completed in just 17 days from the base camp at an elevation of 4750 meters to the summit of 7535 meters.
Chronology of the 1999 Japanese expedition:
April 12 - flight from Japan to Beijing
April 14 - Arrival in Lhasa via Chengdu.
April 18 - Preheod from Lhasa to the last village on the Yojitsongtso route (altitude 4500 m), where a caravan with 75 horses was hired to hike to Base Camp. The transition lasted 2 days.
April 21 - Setting up the Base Camp at an elevation of 4750 m, at the confluence of the Liankang and Namsang glaciers.
April 25 - installation of the first high-altitude camp Camp1 at an elevation of 5350 m.
April 30 - transfer to the second high-altitude camp Camp2 at 6200 m with 11 ropes sagging along the dangerous glacial crossing.
May 1 - laying the ropes through ice cracks to the third high-altitude camp Camp3 at 6920 m.
May 8 - settling and acclimatization in Camp3
May 9 - 4 people from the team conquered Liankang Kangri for the first time. They were at the summit at 11:15 local time.
May 10 - the second party of 6 people ascended the summit of Liankang Kangri. The weather turned badly.
May 12 - removal of garbage and equipment from the high-altitude camps to the base camp. Expedition collapse.
May 15 - transfer from the base camp to Lhasa.
May 23 - The whole team arrived in Japan.
Bhutan itself has not explored the peak either, and the country has no interest in conquering it anytime soon. With the difficulty of obtaining permits from the government, as well as the lack of rescue support, the mountain is likely to remain unconquered for the near future.