Api is the highest peak in the Yoka Pahar Section of

Gurans Himal The Gurans Himal is a small subrange of the Himalayas in far western Nepal. It is little-known, since it does not contain any 8000 metre peaks, or even any peaks above 7,200 metres. Its highest peak is Api, , which, despite its relatively low h ...

, part of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

in the extreme northwest corner of Nepal, near the border with

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

. It is a little-known peak in a rarely visited part of the Himalayas, but it rises dramatically over the low surrounding terrain.

Notable features

Although low in elevation among the major mountains of Nepal, Api is exceptional in its rise above local terrain; the surrounding valleys are significantly lower than those surrounding most higher Himalayan peaks. Api peak's south face rises above its base.

Climbing history

The Api region was visited by Westerners in 1899, 1905 and 1936, but the peak was not attempted until 1953 on a visit by

W. H. Murray William Hutchison Murray (18 March 1913 – 19 March 1996) was a Scottish mountaineer and writer, one of a group of active mountain climbers, mainly from Clydeside, before and just after World War II. Life Murray was born in Liverpool, the so ...

a Scottish Mountaineer with John Tyson. This attempt was unsuccessful, as was another, by

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

, in 1954 which resulted in the death of two expedition members. The first ascent of Api occurred in 1960. The Doshisha Alpine Society of Japan successfully completed the Northwest Face route attempted by the 1954 party. In 1980, a British

Army Mountaineering Association The British Army Mountaineering Association (AMA) is the governing body for climbing competitions and the representative body for mountaineering in the British Army. It is a member of the British Mountaineering Council and is the largest climbing ...

expedition made an attempt to climb the peak by the south face reaching within a few hundred metres of the summit. On 24 December 1983,

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

climbers Tadeusz Piotrowski and Andrzej Bieluń made the first winter ascent. Bieluń had reached the summit first alone but did not return to camp. The Himalayan Index lists three more ascents of the peak, in 1978, 1996, and 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Api (Mountain) Seven-thousanders of the Himalayas Mountains of the Sudurpashchim Province