Melungtse (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

: 门隆则峰; bo, Jobo Garu;

: 乔格茹峰,

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

: ''Qiáogérú Fēng''; other English spelling: ''Menlungtse'') is the highest

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

of the

Rolwaling Himal Rolwāling Valley ( ne, रोल्वालिङ् भ्याली. ), knows as a (Gaurishankar) rural municipality, is a section of the Himalayas in east-central Nepal along the Tibet border. Rolwaling Himal includes Melungtse 7181m and ...

in 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 ...

. The peak has a long summit ridge capped by the east (main) summit and the west summit, also known as Melungtse II, 7,023m. The mountain's steep faces make it more difficult than its elevation would suggest.

Location

Melungtse lies just north of the

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

– China border, on a western spur ridge coming out of the main north-south trending ridge of the Rolwaling Himal, in

Tingri County Tingri County or ''Dhringgri County'' (; ), is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xigazê in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The county comprises the upper valley of the Bum-chu or Arun River, with the valley ...

Shigatse Prefecture Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê (; Nepali Language, Nepali: ''सिगात्से''), is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of , correspon ...

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 ...

. To the southwest, across the Menlung Chu, lies

Gauri Sankar Gaurishankar (also Gauri Sankar or Gauri Shankar; Nepali : ; Sherpa: Jomo Tseringma;) is a mountain in the Nepal Himalayas, the second highest peak of the Rolwaling Himal, behind Melungtse (7,181m). The name comes from the Hindu goddess Gauri, ...

, which, though a bit lower (7134 m), is much more visible from Nepal, hence better-known. Melungtse lies about 40 km west of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...

Climbing history

Melungtse was off limits to climbing until quite recently. The first attempt was made in Oct 1982 when Bill Denz made a strictly illegal attempt on the southeast ridge, after sneaking over the border from Nepal's Rolwaling Valley. However he turned back while still low on the route. In 1987 and 1988

Chris Bonington Sir Christian John Storey Bonington, CVO, CBE, DL (born 6 August 1934) is a British mountaineer. His career has included nineteen expeditions to the Himalayas, including four to Mount Everest. Early life and expeditions Bonington's father, ...

led two expeditions, with the second one succeeding in putting

Andy Fanshawe Andy Fanshawe (born 1963 in Cheshire, died Lochnagar 1992) was a British mountaineer. Biography He started climbing as a student at Wilmslow Grammar School. Whilst studying geology at Imperial College London, he led his first expedition to the E ...

and

Alan Hinkes Alan Hinkes OBE (born 26 April 1954) is an English Himalayan high-altitude mountaineer from Northallerton in North Yorkshire. He is the first British mountaineer to claim all 14 Himalayan eight-thousanders (mountains above in height), whic ...

on the west summit, but did not climb the main summit. Another attempt in 1990, this time on the East Ridge of the main summit, failed well below the top. The first ascent of the main peak came in 1992.

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

ns Marko Prezelj and Andrej Stremfelj ascended the dangerous, 2000m southeast face in less than two and a half days up and down. Th
Himalayan Index
lists only one other attempt on Melungtse, a failed attempt via the North Face in 1999.

References

Sources

* Jill Neate, ''High Asia: An Illustrated History of the 7000 Metre Peaks'', * Andy Fanshawe and Stephen Venables, ''Himalaya Alpine-Style'', Hodder and Stoughton, 1995. * Koichiro Ohmori, ''Over the Himalaya''. Cloudcap/The Mountaineers, 1994.
American Alpine Journal

Himalayan Index

(Corrected versions of SRTM data)

{{Authority control Mountains of Tibet Seven-thousanders of the Himalayas