Kongur Tagh

Kongur Tagh
Kongkhoerh
South face of Kongur Tagh
Elevation	7,649 m (25,095 ft)  Ranked 37th
Prominence	3,585 m (11,762 ft)  Ranked 49th
Listing	Ultra
Location
Kongur Tagh Akto County, Xinjiang, China
Range	Kunlun Mountains
Coordinates	38°35′38″N 75°18′48″E / 38.59389°N 75.31333°E / 38.59389; 75.31333Coordinates: 38°35′38″N 75°18′48″E / 38.59389°N 75.31333°E / 38.59389; 75.31333
Climbing
First ascent	1981 by British team
Easiest route	rock/snow/ice climb

Kongur Tagh or Kongkoerh (Uyghur: قوڭۇر تاغ‎ Mongolian: Хонгор Таг; Chinese: 公格尔峰; pinyin: Gōnggé'ěr Fēng) (also referred to as Kongur) is at 7,649 m the highest mountain wholly within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The Kongur Tagh range in 2005. The summits visible from the viewpoint on the Karakoram highway to the south west are those of Kuk Sel (6,715 metres) and Kezi Sel (6,525 metres), about 5 km and 7 km south of the main summit.

Geography

Kongur Tagh is within a range called the Kongur Shan (Chinese: 公格尔山; pinyin: Gōnggé'ěr Shān), located just north of Muztagh Ata and visible from Karakul Lake. Some sources use "Kongur Shan" mistakenly to refer to the peak itself. The Kongur and Muztagh Ata ranges are sometimes considered a subrange of either the Kunlun Mountains or the Pamir Mountains. In either case Kongur Tagh would be the highest summit of those ranges.

Due to its remoteness and being hidden by nearby peaks, Kongur was not discovered by Europeans until 1900. However, the building of the Karakorum Highway from Pakistan to China, which runs past nearby Tashkurgan and Karakul Lake, has now made it more accessible.

Administratively, the Kongur Range is within Akto County.

Climbing history

The first attempt to climb Kongur Tagh was made in 1956 but the party aborted the attempt when it realized it was beyond their abilities.

The first ascent of Kongur Tagh was completed in 1981 by a British expedition consisting of Chris Bonington, Al Rouse, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker.^[1]

Elevation

This is taken from the Guide to Mountaineering in China. Some Chinese authorities give it 7,719 m, but evidence against this higher elevation is given here.

Kongur Tiube

Kongur Tagh has a significant subpeak known as Kongur Tiube (also Kongur Tiubie / Jiubie and Kungur Tjube Tagh), 38°36′57″N 75°11′44″E / 38.61583°N 75.19556°E / 38.61583; 75.19556 (Kungur Tjube Tagh); elevation = 7,530 m (24,705 ft).Ranked 47th^[2] It is moderately independent, with a topographic prominence of 840 m (2,756 ft). It was first climbed in 1956.

Footnotes

1. ^ Ward (1983), pp. 146-148.
2. ^ Kongur Tagh-Muztagh Ata Topographic Map, 1:100,000, by the Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, ISBN 7-80545-148-6.

See also

• Karakoram Highway

References

• Ward, Michael. (1983). "The Kongur Massif in Southern Sinkiang." The Geographical Journal, Vol. 149, No. 2 (Jul., 1983), pp. 137–152.

External links

• "Kongkoerh, China". Peakbagger.com. http://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=10499. Retrieved May 23, 2008.