Himalaya / Kula Kangri Himal · Bhutan · China
Gangkhar Puensum
7570 m·Independent peak·unclimbed
- Elevation
- 7570 m
- Prominence
- 2995 m
- Class
- Independent peak
- Range
- Himalaya / Kula Kangri Himal
- Countries
- Bhutan · China
- Coordinates
- 28.0472° N / 90.4553° E
- First ascent
- Unclimbed
- Climbed
- No
Overview
Gangkhar Puensum is the highest mountain in Bhutan and the highest unclimbed summit on Earth. It stands on or immediately beside the Bhutan–Tibet border in the high Himalaya north of Gasa. The Dzongkha name is usually rendered “White Peak of the Three Spiritual Brothers.” Prominence is about 3,000 m: this is not a bump on a higher neighbor.
Bhutan opened briefly to mountaineering in 1983. Four expeditions tried the main summit in 1985–86. None reached it. In 1994 Bhutan banned climbing on peaks above 6,000 m, citing the sanctity of high mountains and the lack of high-altitude rescue. In 2003 the ban became a complete ban on mountaineering in the country. A late-1990s Japanese permit from the Chinese side was withdrawn after Bhutan objected; that party climbed the nearby subsidiary Liankang Kangri instead.
The mountain will stay unclimbed for as long as Bhutan keeps the ban. That is the point of the page: Gangkhar Puensum is not an unfinished project. It is a 7,570 m peak that the only government that can grant access has chosen to leave alone. en.wikipedia.org