Nanda Devi
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Nanda Devi is the tallest mountain within the territory of India and was also the highest mountain in the British Empire at its fullest extent. Its name means Bliss-Giving Goddess and is regarded as the patron-goddess of the Uttarakhand Himalaya, currently in Uttaranchal state.
Of geographical interest, Nanda Devi stands guarded by a barrier ring of the highest mountains in the Indian Himalayas, 12 of which exceed 6,400 m (21,000 ft) in height, further elevating its sacred status as the daughter of the Himalayas in local myth and folklore.
Its ascent also necessitated fifty years of arduous exploration in search of a passage into the interior of this almost insurmountable ring. In 1934, the British explorers Eric Shipton and H.W. Tilman with three Sherpa companions, Angtharkay, Pasang, and Kusang, finally discovered a passageway. When the mountain was later climbed in 1936 by a British-American expedition, including Tilman and Noel Odell, it became the highest peak climbed by man until the 1950 ascent of Annapurna (8,091 m).
A difficult new route (the NW Buttress) was climbed in 1976 by three Americans. The expedition was co-led by Louis Reichardt, Ad Carter (who was on the 1936 climb) and Willi Unsoeld, who climbed the West Ridge of Everest in 1963 and whose daugher, Nanda Devi Unsoeld, was named after the peak and was a climber on this expedition. In 1981, the first women to stand on the summit were part of an Indian led expedition.
The mountain actually has two peaks, Nanda Devi and Nanda Devi East. The first attempt to traverse the ridge between the peaks resulted in the death of the team. Tenzing Norgay was in a support team on this expedition—some years later people would ask him what was the most difficult climb he ever took part in, expecting him to say Everest, but he would surprise them by saying Nanda Devi East.
Currently, Nanda Devi is at the centre of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, established as a national park by the Indian government in 1982 and as a UN-registered World Heritage Site in 1988. The main summit has been off-limits to climbing expeditions since 1982 except for a 1993 Indian army led expedition to check the state of recovery and remove garbage left by prior expeditions.
External links
- Nanda Devi Campaign - web site of the local inhabitants
- Nanda Devi on Peakware - photos
See also:Nanda Devi East
Books
- E Shipton, H W Tilman, C Houston, Nanda Devi : Exploration and Ascent, (The Mountaineers Books, 2000), [ISBN 0898867215]
- B Aitken, The Nanda Devi Affair, (Penguin Books India, 1994), [ISBN 0140240454]
- M S Kohli, K Conboy, Spies in the Himalayas: Secret Missions and Perilous Climbs, (University Press of Kansas, 2003), [ISBN 0700612238]