Saltoro Kangri

Saltoro Kangri is the highest peak of the Saltoro Mountains, also known as the Saltoro Range, which is a part of the Karakoram. It is the 31st highest mountain in the world, but it is in a very remote location deep in the Karakoram. It is located on the Actual Ground Position Line between Indian controlled territory in the Siachen region and Pakistani controlled territory west of the Saltoro Range.

Saltoro Kangri
Saltoro Kangri, at right
Highest point
Elevation7,742 m (25,400 ft) Ranked 31st
Prominence2,160 m (7,090 ft)
ListingUltra
Coordinates35°23′57.6″N 76°50′55.2″E 
Dimensions
Length80 km (50 mi)
Geography
Saltoro Kangri
Actual Ground Position Line, Saltoro Mountains on the border between Indian and Pakistani controlled territories
Saltoro Kangri
Saltoro Kangri (Ladakh)
Parent rangeSaltoro Mountains, Karakoram
Climbing
First ascent24 July 1962 by Y. Takamura, A. Saito, Capt. Bashir[1]
Easiest routerock/snow/ice climb

Climbing history

The mountain was reconnoitered by the intrepid Workman couple in 1911-12. The first attempt on the peak was in 1935 by a British expedition led by J. Waller, which reached c.24500' on the SE ridge.[2][3] A British university expedition led by Eric Shipton approached this peak through the Bilafond La via Pakistan with a Pakistani climbing permit. They reached the peak but did not attempt it. This expedition was inadvertently the first move in the deadly game of Siachen oropolitics that would lead to the Siachen conflict of 1984.[4]

The first ascent of Saltoro Kangri was in July 1962, by a joint Japanese-Pakistani expedition led by T. Shidei. This piggyback expedition put A. Saito, Y. Takamura and Pakistani climber R.A. Bashir on top on July 24, following the S.E. ridge route.[1][5] This peak was climbed by an Indian Army expedition led by Colonel Narendra Kumar in 1981.[6] US maps of the area and many world atlases starting in the 1960s showed the Line of Control between Pakistani and Indian territory running from the last defined point in the 1949 Karachi Agreement, NJ9842, east-northeast to the Karakoram Pass, thus putting the whole of Saltoro Kangri and the entire Siachen Glacier in Pakistan. However, the Simla Agreement defined the Line of Control no further than point NJ9842 other than with the phrase "thence north to the glaciers." The Himalayan Index lists only one more ascent of the mountain, in 1981, and no other attempts.

See also

References
  1. Shidei, T. (1964). "The Ascent of Saltoro Kangri" (PDF). Alpine Journal. 69: 73–80. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  2. Hunt, John (1936). "Peak 36, Saltoro Karakoram, 1935". Himalayan Journal. 8. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  3. Hunt, John; Waller, James (1937). "Peak 36, Saltoro Karakoram A Mountaineering Analysis". Himalayan Journal. 9. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  4. Miller, K.J. (1958). "The Imperial College Karakoram Expedition, 1957". Himalayan Journal. 21. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  5. Shidei, T. (1964). "The Ascent of Saltoro Kangri". Himalayan Journal. 25. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  6. Kapadia, Harish (2005). Into the Untravelled Himalaya: Travels, Treks, and Climbs. Indus Publishing. p. 245. Retrieved 2020-01-15.

Sources
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