Nangpa La ( also known as ) (el. ) is a high

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...

crossing 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 100 ...

and the

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a Provinces of China, province-level Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China in Southwest China. I ...

border a few kilometres west of

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 ...

and some northwest of

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 ...

. A foot-trail over Nangpa La is the traditional trade and pilgrimage route connecting

Tibetans The Tibetan people (; ) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Tibet. Their current population is estimated to be around 6.7 million. In addition to the majority living in Tibet Autonomous Region of China, significant numbers of Tibetans live ...

and

Sherpas The Sherpa are one of the Tibetan ethnic groups native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal, Tingri County in the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Himalayas. The term ''sherpa'' or ''sherwa'' derives from the Sherpa language words ("east") ...

of Khumbu. This was the location of the 2006

Nangpa La shootings The Nangpa La shooting incident occurred on 30 September 2006 when a group of unarmed Tibetan refugees attempting to flee Tibet via the Nangpa La pass were fired upon by Chinese border guards. Jonathan Green. ''Murder in the High Himalaya''. 2010 ...

Background

From this pass the Mahalangur section of the Himalaya extend east past Cho Oyu,

Gyachung Kang Gyachung Kang ( ne, ग्याचुङ्काङ, ''Gyāchung Kāng''; ) is a mountain in the Mahalangur Himal section of the Himalayas, and is the highest peak between Cho Oyu (8,201 m) and Mount Everest (8,848 m). It lies on the border bet ...

, Everest, Ama Dablam and Makalu to the gorge of the Arun River. The

Rolwaling 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 M ...

Himalayas including

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, ...

and

Melungtse Melungtse (Chinese: 门隆则峰; bo, Jobo Garu; Chinese: 乔格茹峰, Pinyin: ''Qiáogérú Fēng''; other English spelling: ''Menlungtse'') is the highest mountain of the Rolwaling Himal in the Himalayas. The peak has a long summit ridge ca ...

rise west and southwest of the pass. In 1951 Dane Klaus Becker-Larsen and two Sherpas attempted the North Col, but turned back because of rockfall. He had minimal equipment and no mountaineering experience. He may have been the first Westener to reach Nangpa La. The

1952 British Cho Oyu expedition The 1952 British expedition to Cho Oyu () the ''Turquoise Goddess'' was organized by the Joint Himalayan Committee. It had been hoped to follow up the 1951 Everest expedition with another British attempt on Everest in 1952, but Nepal had accepted ...

led by

Eric Shipton Eric Earle Shipton, CBE (1 August 1907 – 28 March 1977), was an English Himalayan mountaineer. Early years Shipton was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1907 where his father, a tea planter, died before he was three years old. When he was eigh ...

established a base at Lunak below the Nangpa La Pass. Shipton wanted to avoid any clashes with Chinese troops, but eventually agreed to a camp just short of the Nangpa La, and to send a party to attempt the first crossing of the Nup La pass which could be quickly withdrawn if Chinese troops were sighted. But

Ed Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached t ...

, George Lowe and three Sherpas crossed the Nup La col and then went "deep into Chinese territory" like "a couple of naughty schoolboys". In 2006, Chinese border guards of the

People's Armed Police ) , abbreviation = PAP ("People's Armed Police") CAPF ("Chinese Armed Police Force"), formerly abbreviated''Wujing'' ( zh , s = 武警 , p = Wǔjǐng , l = Armed Police , labels = no ), or WJ as on vehicle license plates , patch ...

(PAP) opened fire on 75 unarmed Tibetan refugees as they traversed waist-deep snow in the

Nangpa La shooting incident The Nangpa La shooting incident occurred on 30 September 2006 when a group of unarmed Tibetan refugees attempting to flee Tibet via the Nangpa La pass were fired upon by Chinese border guards. Jonathan Green. ''Murder in the High Himalaya''. 2010 ...

, killing 17-year-old Buddhist nun Kelsang Namtso and leading to the disappearance of a further 17 refugees. Despite an attempted Chinese coverup, several foreign climbers at base camps on Cho Oyu managed to video and photograph the situation as it unfolded and the events drew widespread international condemnation when shown to the outside world. Jonathan Green. ''Murder in the High Himalaya''. 2010. China draws a veil across the mountains
The Guardian 27 October 2006
The Guardian 30 October 2006

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Terrain Map

Satellite Image
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nangpa La Mount Everest Mountain passes of the Himalayas Mountain passes of Nepal Mountain passes of Tibet Mountain passes of China

Background

See also

References

External links