Cheekha Dar, ( ku, Çîxî Derê / چیخی دەرێ) which means Black Tent, is the local Kurdish name for the mountain, located in Kurdistan Region of Iraq, currently thought to be the highest in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. It is claimed to be high in the

CIA World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available ...

. It is north of the village of Gundah Zhur and is on the border with

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. It was climbed in November 2004 by English explorer

Ginge Fullen Eamon Christopher McKinley "Ginge" Fullen is a British mountaineer and former Royal Navy clearance diver who holds the Guinness World Records for the fastest climbs of every peak in Europe and Africa. Life Fullen was a clearance diver in the Roy ...

, who recorded a GPS reading of 3,628 meters at the coordinates in the adjacent table. The location is consistent with

SRTM The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is an international research effort that obtained digital elevation models on a near-global scale from 56°S to 60°N, to generate the most complete high-resolution digital topographic database of Ea ...

and Russian topographic mapping, although these sources are more consistent with the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

height. The first reported winter ascent was by Jonathan Beswick and Matthew DuPuy on March 18, 2011. The expedition GPS confirmed . There is a danger of

land mine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

s in the area on approach between Hamilton Road and the village of Gundah Zhur. Some fields are marked by red, triangular signs with skull and crossbones. It is possible to find Kurdish military escorts through this area in the town of Choman. A nearby peak called Halgurd, at , is thought to be high, and had previously been thought to be Iraq's highest mountain.

References

Mountains of Iraq Mountains of Kurdistan International mountains of Asia Iran–Iraq border Highest points of countries Mountains of Kurdistan Province Mountains of Iran {{Iraq-geo-stub

See also

References