Bandarpunch (lit. Hindi: ''Monkey's tail'') is a mountain
massif in the
Garhwal Himalaya in
Uttarakhand, India. The massif has 3 peaks: White Peak (6102 m), also called Banderpunch II, to the west above Yamunotri; almost 5 km east is Bandarpunch main peak or Banderpunch I (6316 m); and about 4 km to the north-east is
Kalanag (6387 m).
Mythology
The name is inspired by the mythological tale in which
Hanuman, the monkey god, extinguishes his tail, after it catches fire during the battle between King
Rama and
Ravana in Lanka, by going to the summit of the mountain.
Climbing history
In 1937, a team of
Doon School masters who were keen alpinists,
J.T.M Gibson
John Travers Mends Gibson (3 March 1908 – 23 October 1994) was an English schoolmaster, scholar, academic and a distinguished British Himalayan mountaineer.
Early life and career
Gibson was the son of naval officer Charles Gibson and Emmelin ...
and
John Martyn along with sherpa
Tenzing Norgay reached the summit ridge for the first time. In 1946, another Doon expedition made a summit attempt, this time including, in addition to the original members, schoolmaster
R. L. Holdsworth
Romilly Lisle Holdsworth, commonly known as R. L. Holdsworth, (25 February 1899 – 20 June 1976) was an English scholar, academic, educationalist, cricketer and a distinguished Himalayan mountaineer. He was a member of the first expeditio ...
and a pupil,
Nandu Jayal Nandu may refer to:
Places
* Chengdu, a city in Sichuan, China, known as (''Southern Capital'' or ''Nandu'') during the early Tang dynasty
* Jiangling County, a city in Hubei, China, formerly known as (''Southern Capital'' or ''Nandu'') during th ...
, Major Chengappa Nanda and Jonh Munro (Norgay would later label Bandarpunch "The Doon School mountain" owing to the affinity shared by the schoolmasters and pupils for the mountain, which was the most prominent HImalayan peak visible from
Mussoorie). The attempt was made from the south, after crossing the Darwa Pass, but was unsuccessful due to poor weather.
Major General
Harold Williams led the first successful climbing expedition in 1950. The first team to summit Bandarpoonch Peak comprised legendary mountaineer
Tenzing Norgay, Sergeant Roy Greenwood and Sherpa Kin Chok Tshering.
Geography
Bandarpunch is located at the western edge of the high Himalayan range where it turns the corner to the northwest. It is part of the Sankari Range and lies within the
Govind Pashu Vihar National Park and Sanctuary. It is a major watershed for the headwaters of the
Yamuna River, whose source lies above
Yamunotri, on the west end of the massif below White Peak. Yamunotri is the westernmost of the four most sacred pilgrimage places (
Chota Char Dham) and destination for thousands of pilgrims annually. On the north side of the Bandapoonch massif, the 12 km long glacier from its flanks feeds the Ruinsar Gad which flows into the Yamuna at Seema. On the south side, the glacier at the base of Bandarpoonch peak feeds the Hanuman Ganga River which joins the Yamuna at Hanuman Chatti.
See also
*
List of Himalayan peaks of Uttarakhand
References
Mountains of Uttarakhand
Geography of Uttarkashi district
Six-thousanders of the Himalayas
{{Uttarakhand-geo-stub