Tengri Khan
Tengri Khan is the highest peak of the Tian Shan and the highest point of Asia north of latitude 39°.
Elevation: 7,010 m (22,999 ft)
In his Central Tian-Shan Mountains Merzbacher describes the isolated eminence of Tengri Khan as "without example in mountain systems of like extent. The mountain," he says, "has no rival and overtops the highest summits of all the neighbouring ranges by over 3000 feet."
Henry Strachey wrote before the height of Nanga Parbat had been ascertained. Montgomerie was right when he said that Nanga Parbat was as much the King of the western Himalaya as Mount Everest was of the eastern. Nan^a Devi is the highest point of the Kumaun or central section of the Himalaya, but does not compete with Nanga Parbat.
The fact that both Kungur and Muztagh Ata were named "Tagharma'' by surveyors has tended to increase the confusion. The name Tagharma is given by natives to the peak of Muztagh Ata because it towers above the town of Tagharma in the Sarikol valley, and Wahab was correct in his application of the name. But Trotter made a mistake in adopting the assumption of Kashgarians, that the great snow peak they see to the south-west is the same peak as seen from Tagharma.
There has not only been a confusion of names, but differences of opinion have existed as to which of the two peaks is the higher, Kungur, the northern, or Muztagh Ata, the southern. The values of height entered in tables iv and v are those derived from the data at the disposal of the Survey of India, but it has to be acknowledged that the observations are less reliable than those of the Himalayan and Karakoram peaks. In the case of observations taken to peaks from stations in India the height of the place of observation is accurately known, but the same cannot be said of the points from which Kungur and Muztagh Ata were observed. Though all our information goes to show that Kungur is higher than Muztagh Ata, by about 758 feet, the great weight of Sven Hedin's authority is on the side of Muztagh Ata. "Muztagh Ata," he writes,
The loftiest mountain of the Pamirs and one of the loftiest mountains in the world, towers up to the height of 25600 feet, and like a mighty bastion overlooks the barren wastes of Central Asia. It is the culminating point in a meridional chain. The unchallenged pre-eminence of Muztagh Ata over the peaks which cluster around it is proved by its name, which means the Father of the Ice Mountains.
Sven Hedin made three attempts to climb Muztagh Ata, but was not successful. Lord Curzon describing the peaks of Kungur and Muztagh Ata wrote: "The "second and southerly peak, which from Sarikol obscures the first, is the real "Muztagh Ata, the height of which is probably a little less than its nameless brother, "being calculated at about 25000 feet, but which is a far finer mountain since it is "conical and comparatively isolated, whereas the more northerly mountain is the "highest crest of an extended ridge."f
Api And Nampa.
The remarkable group of peaks in western Nepal, of which Api and Nampa (table vi) are the principals, has been imperfectly studied. During the observations of the Great Trigonometrical Survey the cluster was continually obscured by haze, and only one peak was observed. A crowded cluster that is seldom visible in winter, except perhaps on certain days for a few minutes at sunrise, and that is completely hidden by clouds in summer, presents great difficulties to the observer.
If he succeeds in observing the directions of six peaks from both an eastern and a western station, each of the six rays from his eastern station cuts each of the six from his western, and thirty-six points of intersection are given within a small area. If the peaks have been observed from a third station also, difficulties disappear, but when they have been seen from two only, the true points of intersection have to be determined from a study of the several values of height.
Many map-makers have confused the peaks of Api and Nampa, but their heights differ by 1237 feet. Colonel Tanner's observations show that Api is a double peak, the higher point of which (23399 feet) stands half a mile north-east of the lower (23287 feet).
The observations of Colonel Tanner's assistant Rinzin show another peak called Ningru (23143 feet) rising between the two peaks of Api. It is extremely unlikely that the name of Ningru has been attached by natives to this close companion of Api. and it is more reasonable to assume that Api and Ningru are alternative names employed, perhaps in different localities, for the same snowy mass.
According to the observations of Tanner's assistants Nampa is a double peak also, the two summits being 2 miles apart. The higher Nampa is 4 miles east of the higher Api.
The only peak of this cluster observed by the Great Trigonometrical Survey was peak LIII: its position was fixed, but not its height; its position, which was determined from two stations of observation only, is lj miles south-south-west of Api <23399 feet).
The Encyclopaedia Britannica shows a peak of this cluster as Mount Humla (24702 feet), but, incomplete as the trigonometrical observations of the Api-Nampa group have been, they are sufficient to indicate that no peak exceeding 24000 feet stands in this region.
The purity of its unbroken snow and boldness of its outline," wrote Colonel Tanner of the Api peak (23399 feet), "I have nowhere seen equaled The ridges that connect the highest with the lower points of Api are perfectly sharp and decided, and for several thousands of feet there is scarcely a splinter of naked rock to mar the unrivalled whiteness of its slopes. The base and lower spurs of Api touch the Kali valley and are clothed with variegated masses of birch and pine except in those places where constantly recurring avalanches admit only of the growth of short grass.
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