Namcha Barwa

Namcha Barwa is in an isolated part of southeastern Tibet rarely visited by outsiders. It stands inside the Great Bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo River as the river enters its notable gorge across the Himalaya, emerging as the Siang and becoming the Brahmaputra.{{Cite journal |last=F.M. Bailey |date=1914 |title=Exploration on the Tsangpo or upper Brahmaputra |jstor=1778591 |journal=The Geographical Journal |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=341–364 }} Namcha Barwa's sister peak Gyala Peri at {{convert|7294|m|||}} rises across the gorge {{convert|22|km|||}} to the north-north-west (NNW).

Namcha rises {{convert|5000–6800|m|||}} above the Yarlung Tsangpo.Namjagbarwa Mountaineering Map (1:50,000), Chinese Research Institute of Surveying and Mapping, China Mountaineering Association, 1990, {{ISBN|7-5031-0538-0}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/dem3h.html|title=High Asia digital elevation models|website=viewfinderpanoramas.org|access-date=2020-12-05}} After {{convert|7795|m|adj=on||}} Batura Sar in the Karakoram was climbed in 1976, Namcha Barwa became the highest unclimbed independent mountain in the world,

{{cite aaj | year=1993 | volume=35 | issue=67 | pages=279–280

| title = Namcha Barwa | article_id=12199327904 | access-date=2020-12-05}}

until it was finally climbed in 1992.

In addition to being the 27th highest mountain in the world, Namcha Barwa is the third most prominent peak in the Himalayas after Mount Everest and Nanga Parbat.{{cite web|url=http://peaklist.org/WWlists/ultras/karakoram.html|title=HIGH ASIA I: The Karakoram, Pakistan Himalaya and India Himalaya (north of Nepal)|publisher= Peaklist.org | access-date=2016-03-28}}

Frank Kingdon-Ward described in the 1920s "a quaint prophecy among the

Kongbo Tibetans that Namche Barwa will one day fall into the Tsangpo gorge and block the river, which will then turn aside and flow over the Doshong La [pass]. This is recorded in a book by some fabulous person whose image may be seen in the little gompa [Buddhist monastery] at Payi, in Pome." (126–127){{Cite book |last=F. Kingdon Ward |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.2307/page/125/mode/2up |title=The Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges |publisher=Edward Arnold |year=1926 |location=London |pages=126-127}} (See Beyul for the reason behind the prophecy and Padmasambhava or another Tertön for the "fabulous person whose image may be seen in the little gompa").Beyul are secret sacred valleys in Tibetan Buddhism, the knowledge of which is recorded on the scrolls and kept hidden in caves, monasteries, and under the rock guarded by the Buddhist monks. Valleys were blessed by the 8th century Indian monk Padmasambhava who brought Buddhism to Tibet and China. Tertön is a person who discovers or has the knowledge of these secret valleys. Padmasambhava or some other Buddhist monk is likely that person who made the prophecy.

Namcha Barwa was located in 1912 by British surveyors but the area remained virtually unvisited until Chinese alpinists began attempting the peak in the 1980s. Although they scouted multiple routes, they did not reach the summit.{{Cite book

| title = Neate, 1990, op. cit.}} In 1990 a Chinese-Japanese expedition reconnoitered the peak.{{Cite journal

| title = Namcha Barwa | journal = American Alpine Journal

| volume = 33 | issue = 65 | year = 1991 | page = 285

| publisher = American Alpine Club | location = Boulder, Colorado

| url = http://c498469.r69.cf2.rackcdn.com/1991/285_china_tibet_aaj1991.pdf

| access-date = May 19, 2011

}} Another joint expedition reached {{convert|7460|m|||}} in 1991 but lost member Hiroshi Onishi in an avalanche.{{Cite web

| title = China Japan joint expedition to Namcha Barwa 1992

| author = Tsuneo Shigehiro

| url = http://www.jac.or.jp/english/kiroku/1992/namc92_e.htm

| access-date = May 19, 2011}} The next year a third Chinese-Japanese expedition established six camps on the South Ridge over intermediate Nai Peng ({{convert|7043|m|disp=or||}}), reaching the summit on October 30.{{Cite web

| title = Shigehiro, 1992, op. cit.

| url = http://www.jac.or.jp/english/kiroku/1992/namc92_e.htm}}

Eleven climbers reached the summit.

U.K. Alpine Club's Himalayan Index lists no further ascents.{{Cite web

| title = Himalayan Index | publisher = Alpine Club | location = London

| url = http://www.alpine-club.org.uk/hi/screen1.php | access-date = May 18, 2011

}}

• Geology of the Himalaya
• Indus River – the erosion at Nanga Parbat is causing rapid uplifting of lower crustal rocks
• Karakoram fault system – major active fault system within the Himalayas
• Mount Everest
• Paleotethys
• Sutlej River – similar small-scale erosion to the Indus
• Tibetan Plateau to the North (also discussed in Geography of Tibet)
• Zanskar is a subdistrict of the Kargil district, which lies in the Indian union territory of Ladakh

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070918122646/http://www.100gogo.com/cobra.htm Chinese expedition] in the 1980s
• {{cite map

|publisher = U.S. Army Map Service

|title = Namcha Barwa, NH 46-12

|url = http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/china/txu-oclc-10552568-nh46-12.jpg

|year = 1955

|scale = 1:250,000

|access-date = 2011-06-08

}}

• [https://www.4dvt.com/namcha-barwa-china.html Virtual Aerial Tour Video]

{{Nyingchi}}

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Category:Mountains of Tibet

Category:Seven-thousanders of the Himalayas