Gangkhar Puensum
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Gangkhar Puensum (Template:Langx, alternatively, Gangkar Punsum or Gankar Punzum) is the highest mountain in Bhutan and the highest unclimbed mountain in the world, with an elevation of Template:Convert and a prominence of Template:Convert.<ref name="peaklist"/> In Dzongkha language, its name means "White Peak of the Three Spiritual Brothers".<ref name=berryHJ/>
Gangkhar Puensum lies on the border between Bhutan and Tibet.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> After Bhutan was opened for mountaineering in 1983, there were four expeditions that resulted in failed summit attempts in 1985 and 1986.<ref name=berry1988/>
In 1994, Bhutan banned the climbing of peaks over 6,000 metres<ref name=":0" /> and since 2003, all mountaineering has been banned in Bhutan.<ref name=mason/>
History
The elevation of Gangkhar Puensum was first measured in 1922, but until recent years, maps of the region were not at all accurate and the mountain was shown in different locations and with markedly different heights. Indeed, because of inadequate mapping, the first team to attempt the summit was unable to find the mountain at all.<ref name=berry1988/>
The book of the 1986 British expedition gives the mountain's height as Template:Convert and states that Gangkhar Puensum is completely inside Bhutan, whereas the nearby Kula Kangri is completely inside Tibet. Kula Kangri, 7,554 metres, is a separate mountain Template:Convert to the northeast which was first climbed in 1986.<ref name=berry1988/> It is variously mapped and described as being in Tibet or Bhutan.
Since 1994, climbing of mountains in Bhutan above Template:Convert has been prohibited out of respect for local spiritual beliefs.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Since 2003, mountaineering has been forbidden completely.<ref name=mason>Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1998, a Japanese expedition secured permission from the Chinese Mountaineering Association to climb the mountain, but permission was withdrawn because of a political issue with Bhutan. This resulted in their permit to climb Gangkhar Puensum itself being revoked.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Instead, in 1999, the team set off from Tibet and successfully climbed Liankang Kangri (also known as Gangkhar Puensum North), a Template:Convert subsidiary peak (not an independent mountain), separated from the main peak by a Template:Convert ridge to the north-northwest.<ref name=PB>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Unlike many maps, the expedition's report shows this summit as being in Tibet and the Bhutan–China border is shown crossing the summit of Gangkhar Puensum, described as "the highest peak in Bhutan", at 7,570 metres.<ref name=itami/>
See also
References
Further reading
- Footnote included on the Peaklist page
- Kangkar Punsum and Kula Kangri
- Nirvana Expeditions photograph of the mountain (visual site, flora and fauna).
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