Machapuchare
Encyclopedia
Machapuchare or Machhapuchhre (माछापुछ्रे) Lit. "Fish Tail" in English, is a mountain
in the Annapurna
Himal of north central Nepal
. It is revered by the local population as particularly sacred to the god Shiva
, and hence is off limits to climbing.
Annapurna Himal, that forms the eastern boundary of the Annapurna Sanctuary
. (The Sanctuary is a favorite trekking destination, and the site of the base camps for the South Face of Annapurna and for numerous smaller objectives.) The peak is about 25 km north of Pokhara
, the main town of the region.
It is also nicknamed the "Matterhorn
of Nepal".
and A. D. M. Cox climbed to within 50 m of the summit via the north ridge, but did not complete the ascent; they had promised not to set foot on the actual summit. Since then, the mountain has been declared sacred, and it is now forbidden to climbers.
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
in the Annapurna
Annapurna
Annapurna is a section of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal that includes Annapurna I, thirteen additional peaks over and 16 more over ....
Himal of north central Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
. It is revered by the local population as particularly sacred to the god Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, and hence is off limits to climbing.
Location
Machhapuchhre is at the end of a long spur ridge, coming south out of the main backbone of theAnnapurna Himal, that forms the eastern boundary of the Annapurna Sanctuary
Annapurna Sanctuary
The Annapurna Sanctuary is “high glacial basin lying forty kilometers directly north of Pokhara. This oval-shaped plateau sits at an altitude of over 4000 meters, and is surrounded by a ring of mountains, the Annapurna range, most of which are over 7000 meters...
. (The Sanctuary is a favorite trekking destination, and the site of the base camps for the South Face of Annapurna and for numerous smaller objectives.) The peak is about 25 km north of Pokhara
Pokhara
Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City is the second largest city of Nepal. Pokhara is city of close to 350,000 inhabitants in central Nepal located at 28.25°N, 83.99°E, which is the centre of the country from east to west or from north to south, 198 km west of Kathmandu or 90 km west of Mugling, and...
, the main town of the region.
Notable features
Due to its southern position in the range, and the particularly low terrain that lies south of the Annapurna Himal, Machapuchare commands tremendous vertical relief in a short horizontal distance. This, combined with its steep, pointed profile, make it a particularly striking peak, despite a lower elevation than some of its neighbors. Its double summit resembles the tail of a fish, hence the name meaning "Fish's Tail" in Nepali languageNepali language
Nepali or Nepalese is a language in the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.It is the official language and de facto lingua franca of Nepal and is also spoken in Bhutan, parts of India and parts of Myanmar...
It is also nicknamed the "Matterhorn
Matterhorn
The Matterhorn , Monte Cervino or Mont Cervin , is a mountain in the Pennine Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Its summit is 4,478 metres high, making it one of the highest peaks in the Alps. The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points...
of Nepal".
Climbing history
Machapuchare has never been climbed to its summit. The only attempt was in 1957 by a British team led by Jimmy Roberts. Climbers Wilfrid NoyceWilfrid Noyce
Cuthbert Wilfrid Francis Noyce was an English mountaineer and author...
and A. D. M. Cox climbed to within 50 m of the summit via the north ridge, but did not complete the ascent; they had promised not to set foot on the actual summit. Since then, the mountain has been declared sacred, and it is now forbidden to climbers.
Sources
- Andy Fanshawe and Stephen Venables, Himalaya Alpine Style. Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.
- Wilfrid Noyce, Climbing the Fish's Tail, London, 1958
- Koichiro Ohmori, Over The Himalaya, Cloudcap Press/The Mountaineers, 1994.