Rakaposhi
Interesting facts
- Rakaposhi ranks 122nd in the world by topographic prominence, a measure of how far a peak stands above its surroundings.
- Mike Banks and Tom Patey reached the summit on 25 June 1958, both suffering minor frostbite on the way.
- Banks had led an earlier British-American attempt in 1956 that reached about 7,163 metres before turning back.
- After the first ascent more than twenty years passed before another team reached the top, in 1979.
- The explorer Martin Conway surveyed the mountain's south side as early as 1892.
- A 1954 Cambridge University attempt included George Band, who had been on the team that made the first ascent of Everest the year before.
- In 1979 a Japanese team from Waseda University climbed the steep North Spur over six weeks, fixing about 5,000 metres of rope.
- In 1984 a Canadian trio repeated the North Spur in a semi-alpine style, using far less fixed rope than the Japanese.
- The British mountaineer Bill Tilman joined a 1947 attempt that reached about 5,800 metres on the south-west spur.
Why it is worth it
Few mountains present themselves as completely as Rakaposhi. Rising to 7,788 metres in the Karakoram of Gilgit-Baltistan, it is the 27th highest mountain on Earth, but its distinction is not height so much as relief: from the Hunza River to the summit it climbs some 5,900 metres within a horizontal distance of about 11 km, one of the greatest unbroken drops from summit to base anywhere. Seen from the valley, the whole mountain is visible at once, a massive white wall nearly 20 km across, with glaciers and ridges stacked above the green valley floor.
Its names describe it well. Rakaposhi is usually translated as "shining wall", while the local name Dumani means "mother of mist" or "mother of clouds", for the banners of cloud that so often trail from its crest. The mountain stands between the Nagar and Bagrot valleys, and its northern face towers directly above the villages strung along the Karakoram Highway, so travellers on the road can watch it for hours. It was first climbed in 1958 by the British climbers Mike Banks and Tom Patey, by the long south-west spur; ascents remain rare.
For most visitors Rakaposhi is a mountain to look at rather than to climb, and the best known place to do so is the viewpoint at Ghulmet in Nagar, known as the Zero Point of Rakaposhi, the closest roadside view of the mountain. Trekkers go further, walking up from the Nagar side to the base camp at Taghafari, beneath the ice of the north side.
Getting there
Rakaposhi stands above the Nagar valley, about 26 km in a straight line from Karimabad in Hunza and roughly 100 km by road north of Gilgit. Gilgit Airport (GIL), about 29 km away as the crow flies; the main overland route is the Karakoram Highway. The Ghulmet viewpoint lies directly on the highway between Gilgit and Hunza, and the trek to Taghafari base camp starts from the Nagar side.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Rakaposhi also known as Dumani is a mountain within the Karakoram range in Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan. It is situated in the middle of the Nagar and Bagrote valleys. The mountain is extremely broad, measuring almost 20 kilometres (12 mi) from east to west. It is the only peak on earth that descends directly and without interruption for almost 6,000 metres from its summit to its base.
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