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Mountains Of Travel Photos

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Mount Kailash Photo Gallery - 5. Return from Kailash

In July and August 2006, we traveled to Dubai, Mount Kailash and Guge Kingdom in Tibet, Muscat, Iceland and a brief stop in London.

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 01 Paryang New Hotel

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 02 Paryang Room Inside It was raining with a bone-chilling temperature of only 7C in Paryang. So we just stayed in our comfortable room and read until dinner time.

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 02 Paryang Room Inside

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 03 Water on Road Even after the rain stopped, Sadim had to slow down with the water from the potholes splashing up and totally obscuring his view. Here is what the road looked like.

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 03 Water on Road

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 04 Yarlung Tsangpo We stopped briefly to admire the fairly wide, meandering Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River. The 2900km-long river rises to the east of Kailash, travels 1700km across Tibet at an average height of 4000m, takes a U-turn at Mount Nancha Barwa, descends rapidly through the Yarlung Tsangpo gorges (the deepest in the world), and then exits at the Bay of Bengal.

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 04 Yarlung Tsangpo

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 05 Yaks with Mountains Near Saga We stopped about 30km west of Saga to admire a beautiful view of the mountains north of Saga, while watching yaks and dzos munching and walking through a small river.

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 05 Yaks with Mountains Near Saga

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 06 Gang Benchen to right, Shishapangma in clouds to left From Near Peiku Tso Our Landcruiser had a small problem with everybody trying to help the driver Sadim fix it. On the right of the truck is Gang Benchen (also spelled Gang Benchnen, Chinese: Kangpenqing, 7281m), which was first climbed in 1982 by a Japanese expedition. Many websites show photos of Gang Benchen, but mistakenly call it Shishapangma. Above the Landcruiser with its head in the clouds is Shishapangma.

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 06 Gang Benchen to right, Shishapangma in clouds to left From Near Peiku Tso

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 07 Listening to Ipod With Peiku Tso behind - Waiting For Landcruiser To Be Fixed Pete and I rocked to his Ipod as Sadim and crew fixed the Land cruiser near Peiko Tso. Cool!

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 07 Listening to Ipod With Peiku Tso behind - Waiting For Landcruiser To Be Fixed

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 08 Shishapangma Checkpoint Shepherd with mountains behind A couple of Tibetan boys herd sheep near the Shishapangma checkpoint, with a mountain to the east of Peiku Tso in the background.

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 08 Shishapangma Checkpoint Shepherd with mountains behind

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 09 Shishapangma Checkpoint Yak A majestic yak wandered around the Shishapangma Checkpoint.

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 09 Shishapangma Checkpoint Yak

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 10 Shishapangma Checkpoint Room Inside We had initially wanted to camp next to the Shishapangma Checkpoint Guesthouse, but the water wasn’t trustworthy. So we stayed at the Guesthouse – here is our basic room with mattresses on the floor.

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 10 Shishapangma Checkpoint Room Inside

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 11 Phurbi Ghyachu From 35km Before Nyalam After we descended the Tong La, about 35km before Nyalam, a mountain came into view between two hills. I think it’s Phurbi Ghyachu (6658m), just to the west of Nyalam at the bottom of the valley leading to the Southwest face of Shishapangma.

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 11 Phurbi Ghyachu From 35km Before Nyalam

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 12 Zhangmu Once again we descended to Zhangmu, where we said good bye to our Tibetan crew.

Tibet Kailash 11 Back 12 Zhangmu

Tibet Kailash 12 Back 13 Kathmandu Monsoon Rains The monsoon rains came extremely hard for about an hour, making walking around Kathmandu a bit treacherous. However, within half an hour of the rains stopping, the streets were dry again.

Tibet Kailash 12 Back 13 Kathmandu Monsoon Rains

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 01 Airplane Outside We boarded the Gulf Air flight at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport.

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 01 Airplane Outside

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 02 View Of Boudhanath From Runway As we reached the end of the runway, Boudhanath came into view.

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 02 View Of Boudhanath From Runway

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 03 View Of Kathmandu Just After Takeoff Just after takeoff, the immensity of Kathmandu was evident, stretching into the Himalaya Mountains on the horizon.

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 03 View Of Kathmandu Just After Takeoff

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 04 Himal Chuli As we flew west from Kathmandu, Himal Chuli (7893m) came into view. It was first climbed in 1960 by a Japanese group. On the left with its 7540m peak in the clouds is Himal Chuli West Peak.

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 04 Himal Chuli

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 05 Manaslu and Peak 29 Peak 29 (7871m, also called Ngadi Chuli) is in the right foreground and just behind, separated by clouds, is Manaslu (8163m), the eight highest mountain in the world.

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 05 Manaslu and Peak 29

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 06 Manaslu, Peak 29 and Himal Chuli From left to right is Manaslu (8163m), Peak 29 (7871m, also called Ngadi Chuli) and Himal Chuli (7893m).

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 06 Manaslu, Peak 29 and Himal Chuli

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 07 Long View from Dhaulagiri to Annapurna Here is a long range photo of the Himalaya Mountains of Nepal from the south southeast. On the far left is Putha Hiunchuli (7426m) and after a small gap, Churen Himal (7371m). The next mountains are Gurga Himal (7193m) and Dhaulagiri VI (7268m). Then a continuous ridge with Dhaulagiri IV (7661m), Dhaulagiri V (7618m), Dhalagiri III(7715m) and Dhaulagiri II (7751m). Just to the left of centre of the photo is Dhaulagiri (8167m), the seventh highest mountain in the world. To the right of centre of the photo is the wide south face of Annapurna I (8091m), the 10th highest mountain in the world and the first 8000m mountain to be climbed. On the far right is Annapurna IV (7525m) and Annapurna II(7937m).

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 07 Long View from Dhaulagiri to Annapurna

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 08 Annapurna Here is the wide south face of Annapurna I (8091m), the 10th highest mountain in the world. The 4000m south face was first climbed by Don Whillans and Dougal Haston in 1970 on Chris Bonington’s British Expedition, the first big Himalayan face to be climbed. The knob of rock to the left is called The Fang (7647m).

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 08 Annapurna

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 09 Annapurna IV From the south southeast, in the centre is Annapurna II (7937m), the 16th highest mountain in the world, first climbed in 1960 by a British/Indian/Nepalese team led by Jimmy Roberts, via the West Ridge, approached from the north. The summit party were Richard Grant, Chris Bonington, and Sherpa Ang Nyima. The peak to the left of the ridge is Annapurna IV (7525m), first climbed in 1955 by a German expedition led by Heinz Steinmetz, via the North Face and Northwest Ridge.

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 09 Annapurna IV

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 10 Dhaulagiri I was too far away to get a good quality photo of Dhaulagiri’s famous south face. Here is the best I could do. Dhaulagiri (8167m) is the seventh highest mountain in the world.

Tibet Kailash 12 Flying From Kathmandu 10 Dhaulagiri