View source for Mount Gongga

{{short description|Mountain in Sichuan, China}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name = Mount Gongga
| photo = 贡嘎.jpg
| photo_caption = West face of Mount Gongga
| elevation_m = 7509
| elevation_ref = <br /><small>[[List of highest mountains|Ranked 41st]]</small>
| prominence_m = 3642
| prominence_ref = <br /><small>[[List of peaks by prominence|Ranked 47th]]</small>
| parent_peak = [[K2]]
| listing = [[Ultra prominent peak|Ultra]]
| location = [[Kangding]] and [[Luding County]], [[Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture]], [[Sichuan]], China
| range = [[Daxue Mountains|Daxue Shan (大雪山)]]
| map = China Sichuan
| map_caption = Location in Sichuan
| map_size = 
| label_position = left
| coordinates = {{coord|29|35|45|N|101|52|45|E|type:mountain_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| first_ascent = October 28, 1932, by Terris Moore and Richard Burdsall
| easiest_route = Northwest Ridge
}}
[[File:Minya Konka Northwest Ridge.JPG|thumb|260px|Mount Gongga Northwest Ridge]]
[[Image:Orthographic projection centred over Gongga Shan 3.png|thumb|260px|Orthographic projection centred over Gongga Shan]]
'''Mount Gongga''' ({{zh|t=貢嘎山 |s=贡嘎山 |p=Gònggá Shān}}), also known as '''Minya Konka''' ([[Khams Tibetan]]: {{bo-textonly|མི་ཉག་གངས་དཀར་རི་བོ་}}, Khams Tibetan pinyin: ''Mi'nyâg Gong'ga Riwo'') and colloquially as "The King of Sichuan Mountains", is the highest [[mountain]] in [[Sichuan]] province, [[China]]. It has an elevation of {{convert|7,509|m|abbr=on}} above sea level, as surveyed by the [[Ministry of Natural Resources (China)|Ministry of Natural Resources]] in November 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lv Yuanjuan |date=November 1, 2023 |title=自然资源部联合国家林草局公布贡嘎山等九座山峰高程数据 |url=https://www.mnr.gov.cn/dt/ywbb/202311/t20231101_2804887.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101064901/https://www.mnr.gov.cn/dt/ywbb/202311/t20231101_2804887.html |archive-date=1 Nov 2023 |website=Ministry of Natural Resources}}</ref> This makes it the third highest peak in the world outside of the [[Himalaya]]/[[Karakoram]] range, after [[Tirich Mir]] and [[Kongur Tagh]], and the easternmost and most [[Topographic isolation|isolated]] {{convert|7000|m|adj=on|sigfig=3}} peak in the world.  It is situated in the [[Daxue Mountains|Daxue Shan]] [[mountain range]], between Dadu River and Yalong River, and is part of the [[Hengduan Mountains|Hengduan]] mountainous region. From it comes the [[Hailuogou]] glacier. 

The peak has large vertical relief over the deep nearby [[gorge]]s.

==Mountaineering history==
The first western explorers in this region heard reports of an extremely high mountain and sought it out. An early remote measurement of the mountain, then called ''Bokunka'', was first performed by the [[Inner Asia]]n expedition of the Hungarian count [[Béla Széchenyi]] between 1877 and 1880.<ref name="Heim">Arnold Heim: [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1785645 The Glaciation and Solifluction of Minya Gongkar].
The Geographical Journal.
Vol. 87, No. 5 (May, 1936), pp. 444–450.
Published by: The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)</ref> That survey put the altitude of the peak at {{convert|7600|m}}.

Forty-five years later, the mountain, this time called ''Gang ka'', was sketched by [[OMF International|China Inland Mission]] missionary James Huston Edgar from a distance.

In 1929 the explorer [[Joseph Rock]], in an attempt to measure the mountain's altitude, miscalculated its height as {{convert|30250|ft|abbr=on}} and cabled the [[National Geographic Society]] to announce Minya Konka as the highest mountain in the world.<ref name="Heim" /> This measurement was immediately viewed with suspicion, and the Society's decision to check Rock's calculations before publication was well-founded. Following discussions with the Society, Rock reduced his claim to {{convert|7803|m|abbr=on}} in his formal publication.

In 1930 Swiss geographer [[Eduard Imhof]] led an expedition that measured the altitude of the mountain to be {{convert|7590|m|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.library.ethz.ch/exhibit/imhof/imhof13.html|title=Expedition zum Minya Konka in Chinesisch Tibet 1930|access-date=2010-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619223231/http://www.library.ethz.ch/exhibit/imhof/imhof13.html|archive-date=2013-06-19|url-status=dead}}</ref> A richly illustrated large-format book about the expedition was eventually published by Imhof, ''Die Großen Kalten Berge von Szetchuan'' (Orell Fussli Verlag, [[Zürich|Zurich]], 1974). The book includes many color paintings by Imhof, including images of the Tibetan monastery at the foot of the sacred mountain. The monastery was almost completely destroyed during the [[Cultural Revolution]], around 1972–74.

A properly equipped American team composed of [[Terris Moore]], Richard Burdsall, Arthur B. Emmons, and Jack T. Young returned to the mountain in 1932 and performed an accurate survey of the peak and its environs. Their summit altitude measurement agreed with Imhof's figure of {{convert|7590|m|abbr=on}}. Moore and Burdsall succeeded in climbing to the summit by starting on the west side of the mountain and climbing the Northwest Ridge. This was a remarkable achievement at the time, considering the height of the mountain, its remoteness, and the small size of the group. In addition, this peak was the highest summit reached by Americans until 1958 (though Americans had by that time climbed to higher non-summit points). The book written by the expedition members, ''[[Men Against the Clouds|Men Against The Clouds]]'',<ref>R. Burdsall, T. Moore, A. Emmons, and J. Young, ''Men Against The Clouds'' (revised edition), The Mountaineers, 1980.</ref> remains a mountaineering classic.

In May 1957 a Chinese mountaineering team claimed to have climbed Minya Konka via the Northwest Ridge route established by Moore and Burdsall. Six people reached the summit with limited climbing experience and primitive equipment, although four climbers died in the effort.<ref name="ganzi">{{Cite news|last1=Jiang |first=Lin (蒋麟) |last2=Zhang |first2=Zhaoting (张肇婷) |url=https://ganzi.scol.com.cn/sh/201710/56017730.html|script-title=zh:时隔15年人类再登蜀山之巅 |script-work=zh:甘孜日报 |trans-work=Garzê Post |date=2017-10-27 |access-date=2020-02-17 |language=zh-cn}}</ref>

For political reasons, this region of China was made inaccessible to foreign climbers after the 1930s. In 1980 the region was again opened to foreign expeditions. American Lance Owens was the first foreigner to receive permission from the [[People's Republic of China]] to lead a mountaineering expedition in China and Tibet, allowing him to climb Gongga Shan (Minya Konka) in 1980. This expedition opened the modern era of American climbing in China. The expedition, organized by Owens and sponsored by the American Alpine Club, attempted the still unclimbed and extremely technical west face of Minya Konka. Members of the expedition included [[Louis Reichardt]], Andrew Harvard, Gary Bocarde, Jed Williamson, and Henry Barber.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198130902/Asia-China-Gongg-Shan-Minya-Konka-from-the-South|title=Asia, China, Gongg Shan (Minya Konka) from the South| website=American Alpine Club}}</ref>

[[File:Hailuogou Glacier and the Gongga Mountain.jpg|thumb|The Hailuogou Glacier sliding from the Gongga Mountain 2022-8-19]]

{{Gallery
|File:Graf Béla Széchenyi der neue ungarische Kronhüter 1900 Eduard Ellinger.jpg|'''Graf Béla Széchenyi''' (''Österreichs Illustrierter Zeitung'', 1900)
|File:UB_Maastricht_-_Kreitner_1881_-_title_page.jpg|Title page of an expedition report from a member of Graf Béla Széchenyi's expedition<ref>Kreitner, Gustav: [https://archive.org/details/imfernenostenrei00krei ''Im fernen Osten. Reisen des Grafen Graf Béla Széchenyi in Indien, Japan, China, Tibet und Birma in den Jahren 1877–1880'']. Viena 1881. In German.</ref>
|File:Josep0FrancisCharles20Rock.jpg|'''Joseph Rock'''
|File:Die Grossen Kalten Berge von Szetshuan.jpg|'''Eduard Imhof''', ''Die Großen Kalten Berge von Szetschuan''.
|File:Minya Konka, from the west..jpg|Minya Konka, photographed from the west.  Photograph taken during the 1980 American expedition.
}}

==Deaths on the mountain==
A large number of mountaineering deaths have occurred on Gongga Shan, which has earned a reputation as a difficult and dangerous mountain. While the first ascent route up the Northwest Ridge appears technically straightforward, it is plagued by avalanches due to the mountain's highly unpredictable weather. During the 1957 Chinese ascent of the peak, four of nine climbers died. In 1980 an American climber died in an avalanche on the Northwest Ridge route.<ref>Rick Ridgeway, ''Below Another Sky: A Mountain Adventure in Search of a Lost Father'', 2000</ref>  In an unsuccessful 1981 attempt on the peak, eight Japanese climbers died in a fall.<ref name="ninemsn.com.au">[http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=272533 Searchers find body missing for 26 years], AAP, Jun 12 2007  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605094205/http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=272533 |date=June 5, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Minya Konka Gongga Shan">SummitPost [http://www.summitpost.org/minya-konka-gongga-shan/150812 Minya Konka (Gongga Shan)]</ref> As of 1999, more climbers had died trying to climb the mountain than had reached the summit.<ref name="macfarlane">{{cite web |url=http://places.designobserver.com/feature/ice-the-old-ways-robert-macfarlane/36538/ |title=Ice, from ''The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot'' |last1=Macfarlane |first1=Robert |date=15 October 2012 |work=[[Design Observer]] |publisher=Observer Omnimedia LLC |access-date=22 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130121100137/http://places.designobserver.com/feature/ice-the-old-ways-robert-macfarlane/36538/ |archive-date=21 January 2013 }}</ref>

As of 2003, the mountain had been successfully climbed only eight times.<ref name="Minya Konka Gongga Shan"/> In total, 22 climbers had reached the summit and 16 climbers had died in the effort.  (These statistics may not take into account the four Chinese climbers killed in the 1957 expedition.)

The Himalayan Index lists five ascents of Gongga Shan between 1982 and 2002, and about seven unsuccessful attempts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alpine-club.org.uk/hi/ |title=Himalayan Index |publisher=The Alpine Club}}</ref> There have been several attempts in years since then, which are unlisted in this index.

In October 2017, Chinese media reported that Pavel Kořínek, a Czech national, had reached the top of Gongga Shan, marking the first time since 2002 that the mountain had been successfully climbed.<ref name="ganzi"/> The article summarized the climbing history of Gongga Shan (Minya Konka) as follows:

{{Blockquote|text="Under the long-term action of the glacier, the main peak developed into a cone-shaped, high-angle peak, with surrounding cliffs at 60° to 70°. Coupled with the bad weather in the region, it is difficult to conquer. The summit is much more difficult than Everest. According to incomplete statistics, as of September 2017, a total of 32 people had successfully reached the summit and 21 people were killed during attempts to climb the peak. According to the Sichuan Mountaineering Association, the death rate of Gongga Shan is much higher than Everest and all the 13 peaks over 8000 meters, making it the peak with the highest mountain death rate in the world...."<ref name="ganzi"/>}}

== Side peaks ==
While the main summit can only be taken on by professional mountaineers, multiple side peaks are destination of commercial climbing trips, such as:
#[[Zhongshan Peak]] (中山峰), 6,886 m
#[[Mount Jinyin]] (金银山), 6,410 m
#[[Nama Peak]] (那玛峰), 5,588 m

==References==
{{reflist}}

*{{Neate-High Asia}}

==Further reading==
* Michael Brandtner: ''Minya Konka Schneeberge im Osten Tibets. Die Entdeckung eines Alpin-Paradieses.'' Detjen-Verlag, Hamburg 2006, {{ISBN|3-937597-20-4}}
* Arnold Heim: ''Minya Gongkar.'' Verlag Hans Huber, Bern–Berlin 1933
* Eduard Imhof: ''Die großen kalten Berge von Szetschuan.'' Orell Füssli Verlag, Zürich 1974
* Richard Burdsall & Arthur Emmons: ''[[Men Against the Clouds|Men Against the Clouds: The Conquest of Minya Konka]].'' The Bodley Head, London 1935

==External links==
{{commons category|Minya Konka}}
* [http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/dem3.html Corrected versions of SRTM digital elevation data]
* [http://www.tibettravel.org/blog/category/mt-minya-konka/ Trekking Tour to Mt.Minya Konka]
* [http://www.chinabackpacker.info/dest/d60.html Gongga Shan Travel and Trekking Guide on Chinabackpacker]

{{Sichuan topics}}
{{Sacred Mountains of China}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gongga}}
[[Category:Mountains of Sichuan]]
[[Category:Highest points of Chinese provinces|Mount Gongga]]
[[Category:Sacred mountains of China]]
[[Category:Ultra-prominent peaks of Asia]]