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The
Karakurm mountains are a great mountain range formed by the collision of
Indo-Pakistan tectonic plate with the Asian Continent. The central
Himalayan Mountains are situated in Nepal, while the eastern mountains
extend to the borders of Bhutan and Sikkim. Nanga Parbat massif is the
western corner pillar of the Karakurm. It is an isolated range of
peaks just springing up from nothing, and is surrounded by the rivers
Indus and Astore. Nanga Parbat or “Nanga Parvata” means the naked
mountain, its original and appropriate name; however, is Diamir the
king of the mountains. Nanga Parbat (main peak) has a height of 8, 1
26m. It has three vast faces.
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The Rakhiot (Raikot) face is dominated by the north and south silver
crags and silver plateau ; the Diamir face is rocky in the beginning .
It converts itself into ice fields around Nanga Parbat peak. The Rupal
face is the highest precipice in the world. Reinhold Messner, a living
legend in mountaineering from Italy, says that “every one Who has ever
stood at the foot of this face 4,500m up above the ‘Tap Alep’, studied
it or flown over it, could not help but have been amazed by its sheer
size; it has become known as the highest rock and ice wall in the
world!” Nanga Parbat has always been associated with tragedies and
tribulations until it was climbed in 1 953. A lot of mountaineers have
perished on Nanga Parbat since 1895. Even today it is claiming a heavy
toll of human lives for, the mountaineers, in search of adventure and
thrill, are becoming its victims in pursuit of their eagerness to find
new and absolutely un-climbed routes leading to its summit. It was in
1 841 that a huge rock-slide from the Nanga Parbat dammed the Indus
river. This created a huge lake, 55 km long, like the present Tarbela
lake down-stream. The flood of water that was released when the dam
broke caused a rise of 80 ft in the rivers level at Attack and swept
away an entire Sikh army. It was also in the middle of the nineteenth
century that similar catastrophes were later caused by the damming of
Hunza and Shyok rivers. The Nanga Parbat peak was discovered in the
nineteenth century by Europeans. The Schlagintweit brothers, who
hailed from Munich (Germany) came in 154 to Himalayas and drew a
panoramic view which is the first known picture of Nanga Parbat. In
1857 one of them was murdered in Kashgar. The curse of Nanga Parbat
had begun.
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