![Mt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Mt._Dhaulagiri.jpg)
Dhaulagiri is the
seventh highest mountain in the world at above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country (Nepal). It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition.
Annapurna I
Annapurna (; ne, अन्नपूर्ण) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the tenth highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the difficu ...
() is east of Dhaulagiri. The
Kali Gandaki River
The Gandaki River, also known as the Narayani and the Gandak, is one of the major rivers in Nepal and a left bank tributary of the Ganges in India. Its total catchment area amounts to , most of it in Nepal. In the Nepal Himalayas, it is notabl ...
flows between the two in the
Kaligandaki Gorge
The Kali Gandaki Gorge or Andha Galchi is the Canyon, gorge of the Kali Gandaki (or Gandaki River) in the Himalayas in Nepal. By some sources, it may be one of the deepest gorges in the world.
The upper part of the gorge is also called Thak Khol ...
, said to be the world's deepest. The town of
Pokhara
Pokhara ( ne, पोखरा, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. It is the List of cities in Nepal, second most populous city of Nepal after Kathmandu, with 518,452 inhabitants living ...
is south of the Annapurnas, an important regional center and the gateway for climbers and
trekkers visiting both ranges as well as a tourist destination in its own right.
Toponymy
Dhaulagiri (धौलागिरी) is the
Nepali name for the mountain which comes from
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
where धवल (dhawala) means dazzling, white, beautiful and गिरि (giri) means mountain. Dhaulagiri I is also the highest point of the Gandaki river basin.
Geography
Looking north from the plains of India, most 8,000-metre peaks are obscured by nearer mountains, but in clear weather, Dhaulagiri is conspicuous from northern
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
[ and as far south as ]Gorakhpur
Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dist ...
in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
. In 1808, survey computations showed it to be the highest mountain yet surveyed. This lasted until 1838 when Kangchenjunga
Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā (), and Khangchendzonga, is the third highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the T ...
took its place, followed by Mount Everest
Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...
in 1858.
Dhaulagiri I's sudden rise from lower terrain is almost unequaled. It rises from the Kali Gandaki River 30 km to the southeast. The south and west faces rise precipitously over . The south face of Gurja Himal
Gurja Himal () is a mountain in Gandaki Province, Nepal. Gurja Himal is part of the Dhaulagiri massif and it has an elevation of .
In 2018, an avalanche from the mountain killed nine people which was labelled as the worst climbing disaster in ...
in the same massif is also notably immense.
Climbing history
Most ascents have followed the northeast ridge route of the first ascent, but climbs have been made from most directions. As of 2007, there had been 358 successful ascents and 58 fatalities, which is a summit to a fatality rate of 16.2%.
Between 1950 and 2006, 2.88% of 2,016 expedition members and staff going above base camp on Dhaulagiri I died. On all 8,000 metre peaks in Nepal the death rate was 1.63%, ranging from 0.65% on Cho Oyu
__NOTOC__
Cho Oyu (Nepali: चोयु; ; ) is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu means "Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the ''Khumbu'' sub-section of the Mahalangur ...
to 4.04% on Annapurna I and 3.05% on Manaslu
Manaslu ( ne, मनास्लु, also known as Kutang; muh-NAA-slu) is the eighth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is in the Mansiri Himal, part of the Nepalese Himalayas, in the west-central part of Nepal. The name Mana ...
.[
]
Partial timeline
* 1950 – Dhaulagiri I reconnoitered by a French expedition led by Maurice Herzog. They do not see a feasible route and switch to Annapurna, where they make the first ascent of an 8000 m peak.
* 1953–1958 – Five expeditions attempt the north face, or "Pear Buttress", route.
* 1959 – Austrian expedition led by Fritz Moravec
Fritz Moravec (27 April 1922 – 17 March 1997) was an Austrian mountaineer and author. He is best known for his numerous expeditions in the Karakoram range, where he participated in the first ascent of Gasherbrum II (8,034 m, 26,358 ft). Morave ...
makes the first attempt on the northeast ridge.[
* 1960 – Swiss-Austrian expedition led by Max Eiselin, successful ascent by ]Kurt Diemberger
Kurt Diemberger (born 16 March 1932) is an Austrian mountaineer and author of several books. He is the only living person who has made the first ascents on two mountains over 8,000 metres: of Broad Peak in 1957 and of Dhaulagiri in 1960.
Career
...
, Peter Diener, Ernst Forrer, Albin Schelbert, Nyima Dorje Sherpa, Nawang Dorje Sherpa on 13 May.[ First Himalayan climb supported by the first prototype ]fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using wings that generate lift caused by the aircraft's forward airspeed and the shape of the wings. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinc ...
, which, after establishing the still standing record for highest fixed wing landing, eventually crashed in ''Hidden Valley'' north of the mountain during takeoff and was abandoned.
* 1969 – American team led by Boyd Everett attempt southeast ridge; seven team members, including Everett, were killed in an avalanche
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...
.[
* 1970 – The second ascent, via the northeast ridge by a Japanese expedition led by Tokufu Ohta and Shoji Imanari. Tetsuji Kawada and Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa reach the summit.]
* 1973 – American team led by James D. Morrissey makes the third ascent via the northeast ridge. Summit team: John Roskelley, Louis Reichardt, and Nawang Samden Sherpa.[
* 1975 – Japanese team led by Takashi Amemiya attempts southwest ridge (also known as the south pillar). Six are killed in an avalanche, including Norio Suzuki.][
* 1976 – Italian expedition makes the fourth ascent.
* 1977 – International team led by ]Reinhold Messner
Reinhold Andreas Messner (; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian mountaineer, explorer, and author from South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental ...
attempts the south face.
* 1978, spring: Amemiya returns with an expedition that puts five members on the summit via the southwest ridge—the first ascent not using the northeast ridge. One team member dies during the ascent.
* 1978, autumn – Seiko Tanaka of Japan leads successful climb of the very difficult southeast ridge. Four are killed during the ascent. French team attempts the southwest buttress (also called the "south buttress"), only reaches 7,200 m.
* 1980 – A four-man team consisting of Polish climbers Voytek Kurtyka, Ludwik Wiczyczynski, Frenchman René Ghilini, and Scotsman Alex MacIntyre
Alex MacIntyre (1954–1982) was a British mountaineer in the 1970s. He is known for developing new climbing techniques that enabled ascents not previously accomplished.
Early life
MacIntyre was born in Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire, to S ...
climb the east face, topping out at 7,500 m on the northeast ridge. After a bivouac, they descend back to base camp in a storm. One week later they climb the mountain via the northeast ridge reaching the summit on 18 May.[
* 1981 – Yugoslav team reaches 7,950 m after putting up the first route on the true south face of the mountain, on the right side, connecting with the southeast ridge. They climb in alpine style but suffer four days of open bivouacs and six days without food before returning. Hironobu Kamuro of Japan reaches the summit alone, via the normal route.
* 1982, 5 May – Three members – Philip Cornelissen, Rudi Van Snick, and Ang Rita Sherpa – of a Belgian-Nepali team reach the summit via the north-east ridge. A day later, four more climbers – Ang Jangbu Sherpa, Marnix Lefever, Lut Vivijs, and Jan Vanhees – summit also. Vivijs becomes the first woman to reach the summit.
*1982, 13 December – Two members (Akio Koizumi and Wangchu Shelpa) of the Japanese team led by Jun Arima of the Academic Alpine Club of ]Hokkaido University
, or , is a Japanese national university in Sapporo, Hokkaido. It was the fifth Imperial University in Japan, which were established to be the nation's finest institutions of higher education or research. Hokkaido University is considered ...
reach the summit. By the world calendar, winter begins 21 December, so this was not winter but a very-late-autumn-climb. However, the climb was done under a winter climbing permit, which the Nepali government issues for climbs beginning on or after 1 December.
* 1984 – Three members of the Czechoslovakian expedition (Jan Simon, Karel Jakes, Jaromir Stejskal) climb the west face to the summit. Simon died during the descent.
* 1985 – Polish expedition led by Adam Bilczewski set out to conquer Dhaulagiri for the first time in winter. After seven weeks of dramatic struggle against hurricane-force winds and temperatures below −40c°, Andrzej Czok
Andrzej Czok (November 11, 1948 – January 11, 1986) was a Polish mountaineer best known for making the first winter ascent of Dhaulagiri on January 21, 1985 with Jerzy Kukuczka, and for the first ascent of the South Pillar route on Mount Evere ...
and Jerzy Kukuczka
Józef Jerzy Kukuczka (24 March 1948 in Katowice, Poland – 24 October 1989 Lhotse, Nepal) was a Polish alpine and high-altitude climber. Born in Katowice, his family origin is Silesian Goral. On 18 September 1987, he became the second m ...
successfully made first winter ascent on 21 January.
* 1986 – A mostly Polish expedition puts up a second south face route, on the left side of the face connecting with the southwest ridge route. They go above 7,500 m but do not reach the summit.
* 1988 – Soviet mountaineers Yuri Moiseev and Kazbek Valiev, in cooperation with Zoltan Demján of Czechoslovakia, succeed in climbing the southwest buttress. This 3,000-metre ascent, with difficult technical climbing at 6,800–7,300 m, was acknowledged as the year's best achievement at the UIAA Expedition Commission Conference.
*1993 – Russian-British team puts up the direct north face route.
*1995 — Anatoli Boukreev
Anatoli Nikolaevich Boukreev (russian: Анато́лий Никола́евич Букре́ев; January 16, 1958 – December 25, 1997) was a Soviet and Kazakhstani mountaineer who made ascents of 10 of the 14 eight-thousander peaks—those a ...
, speed ascent, record time 17 hours 15 mins, base camp to summit.
* 1998 – French climber Chantal Mauduit
Chantal Mauduit (24 March 1964 – 13 May 1998) was a French alpinist.
Biography
Born in Paris, Mauduit arrived in the French Alps at age five and started climbing at the age of 15. After several difficult routes in the Alps, she focused her ...
and Sherpa Ang Tshering die when an avalanche strikes their tent on the Northeast Ridge. On 1 May the Greek climber Nikolaos Papandreou is killed falling in a gorge. On 2 October, the Greek Babis Tsoupras reaches the summit but does not return. The bodies of the Greek climbers were not found.Ministry of Tourism & Aviation, Gov. of Nepal (2010) ''Mountaineering in Nepal, Facts & Figures'', List of summiteers of Mt. Dhaulagiri, No. 298
* 1999 – On 24 October, British climber Ginette Harrison
Ginette Harrison (28 February 1958 – 24 October 1999) was a professional climber of British origin. She also lived in Australia and the United States.
She studied medicine at the University of Bristol and later specialized in high altitu ...
dies in an avalanche on Dhaulagiri.[ Days later, Slovenian ]Tomaž Humar
Tomaž Humar (February 18, 1969 – ), nicknamed Gozdni Joža (akin to Hillbilly), was a Slovenian mountaineering, mountaineer. A father of two, Humar lived in Kamnik, Slovenia. He completed over 1500 ascents, and won a number of mountaineering an ...
climbs the south face solo but does not reach the summit. His ascent ended at 7,300 m due to a 300 m band of rotten rock. Humar traverses to the dangerous southeast ridge, re-enters the face briefly, and exits at 8000 m for a descent on the northeast ridge. Dhaulagiri's south face is still unclimbed, making it one of the greatest remaining challenges in alpinism.
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
;Notes
Sources
* ''American Alpine Journal'', 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1986, 1987, 1994, 1999, 2000.
* Eiselin, Max, ''The Ascent of Dhaulagiri'', OUP, 1961
*
Himalayan Index
External links
Dhaulagiri Expedition
*
(Detailed description of trekking and of first ascent)
Himalayan Index
{{Authority control
Eight-thousanders of the Himalayas
Mountains of the Gandaki Province