Dhaulagiri

This article is about a mountain. For the mountain range, see Dhaulagiri (mountain range). For other uses, see Dhaulagiri (disambiguation).

Dhaulagiri, located in Nepal, is the seventh highest mountain in the world at 8,167 metres (26,795 ft) above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country. It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition. Annapurna I (8,091 m (26,545 ft)) is 34 km (21 mi) east of Dhaulagiri. The Kali Gandaki River flows between the two in the Kaligandaki Gorge, said to be the world's deepest.^{[citation needed]} The town of Pokhara is south of the Annapurnas, an important regional center and the gateway for climbers and trekkers visiting both ranges as well as a tourist destination in its own right.

Dhaulagiri
Dhaulagiri seen from the northeast
Highest point
Elevation	8,167 m (26,795 ft) Ranked 7th
Prominence	3,357 m (11,014 ft)^[1] Ranked 55th
Parent peak	Dhaulagiri^[2]
Isolation	318 km (198 mi)
Listing	Eight-thousander Ultra
Coordinates	28°41′54″N 83°29′15″E / 28.69833°N 83.48750°E / 28.69833; 83.48750
Geography
Dhaulagiri Nepal
Parent range	Dhaulagiri Himal
Climbing
First ascent	13 May 1960 by Kurt Diemberger, A. Schelbert, E. Forrer, Nawang Dorje, Nyima Dorje (First winter ascent 21 January 1985 Jerzy Kukuczka and Andrzej Czok)
Easiest route	Northeast ridge

The unclimbed South Face of Dhaulagiri, seen from Poon Hill

Toponymy

Dhaulagiri (धौलागिरी) is the Nepali name for the mountain which comes from Sanskrit where धवल (dhawala) means dazzling, white, beautiful^[3] and गिरि (giri) means mountain.^[4] Dhaulagiri I is also the highest point of the Gandaki river basin.

Geography

Looking north from the plains of India, most 8,000-metre peaks are obscured by nearer mountains, but in clear weather, Dhaulagiri is conspicuous from northern Bihar^[5] and as far south as Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. In 1808, survey computations showed it to be the highest mountain yet surveyed.^[6][7] This lasted until 1838 when Kangchenjunga took its place, followed by Mount Everest in 1858.

Dhaulagiri I stands to the east of the range which bears its name. Its sudden rise from lower terrain is almost unequaled-- it rises 7,000 m (22,970 ft) from the Kali Gandaki River 30 km to the southeast, while the South and West faces rise precipitously over 4,000 m (13,120 ft). Such is its vertical rise that despite being closer to Cho Oyu and Mount Everest, it is the only one of the Nepali eight-thousanders whose prominence parent is K2, over 1,031 km (640 mi) away. The south face of Gurja Himal in the titular massif is also notably immense.

The rock layers found at the summit of Dhaulagiri, as well as Everest, is made up of limestone and dolomite formed at the bottom of the ocean. The summits of the other eight-thousanders of the Himalayas are made up of granite that were formed deep underground.^[8]

Climbing history

 

Dhaulagiri I in October 2002. The northeast ridge is the left skyline.

Dhaulagiri was the penultimate eight-thousander to be summitted, and the final in Nepal. As its other routes are disproportionately dangerous, most ascents have followed the Northeast Ridge route of the first ascent, but climbs have been made from most directions. As of 2024, the two aspects which have repelled all attempts along their full length are the Northwest Ridge (though it has been climbed to the summit via the so-called "Pear" buttress) and the South Face. The latter is often regarded as one of the greatest remaining challenges in alpinism.

As of 2007, there had been 358 successful ascents and 58 fatalities, which is a summit to a fatality rate of 16.2%.^[9] Between 1950 and 2006, 2.88% of 2,016 expedition members and staff going above base camp on Dhaulagiri I died. On all 8,000 metre peaks in Nepal the death rate was 1.63%, ranging from 0.65% on Cho Oyu to 4.04% on Annapurna I and 3.05% on Manaslu.^[10]

Partial timeline

• 1950 – Dhaulagiri I reconnoitered by a French expedition led by Maurice Herzog. They do not see a feasible route and switch to Annapurna, where they make the first ascent of an 8000 m peak.^[11]
• 1953–1958 – Five expeditions attempt the north face, or "Pear Buttress", route.
• 1959 – Austrian expedition led by Fritz Moravec makes the first attempt on the northeast ridge.^[12]
• 1960 – Swiss-Austrian expedition led by Max Eiselin, successful ascent by Kurt Diemberger, Peter Diener, Ernst Forrer, Albin Schelbert, Nyima Dorje Sherpa, Nawang Dorje Sherpa on 13 May.^[13] First Himalayan climb supported by the first prototype fixed-wing aircraft, which, after establishing the still standing record for highest fixed wing landing, eventually crashed in Hidden Valley north of the mountain during takeoff and was abandoned.^[14]
• 1969 – American team led by Boyd Everett attempt southeast ridge; seven team members, including Everett, were killed in an avalanche.^[15]
• 1970 – The second ascent, via the northeast ridge by a Japanese expedition led by Tokufu Ohta and Shoji Imanari. Tetsuji Kawada and Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa reach the summit.^[16]
• 1973 – American team led by James D. Morrissey makes the third ascent via the northeast ridge. Summit team: John Roskelley, Louis Reichardt, and Nawang Samden Sherpa.^[17]
• 1975 – Japanese team led by Takashi Amemiya attempts southwest ridge (also known as the south pillar). Six are killed in an avalanche, including Norio Suzuki.^[18]
• 1976 – Italian expedition makes the fourth ascent.
• 1977 – International team led by Reinhold Messner attempts the south face.
• 1978, spring: Amemiya returns with an expedition that puts five members on the summit via the southwest ridge—the first ascent not using the northeast ridge. One team member dies during the ascent.
• 1978, autumn – Seiko Tanaka of Japan leads successful climb of the very difficult southeast ridge. Four are killed during the ascent. French team attempts the southwest buttress (also called the "south buttress"), only reaches 7,200 m.
• 1980 – A four-man team consisting of Polish climbers Voytek Kurtyka, Ludwik Wiczyczynski, Frenchman René Ghilini, and Scotsman Alex MacIntyre climb the east face, topping out at 7,500 m on the northeast ridge. After a bivouac, they descend back to base camp in a storm. One week later they climb the mountain via the northeast ridge reaching the summit on 18 May.^[19]
• 1981 – Yugoslav team reaches 7,950 m after putting up the first route on the true south face of the mountain, on the right side, connecting with the southeast ridge. They climb in alpine style but suffer four days of open bivouacs and six days without food before returning. Hironobu Kamuro of Japan reaches the summit alone, via the normal route.
• 1982, 5 May – Three members – Philip Cornelissen, Rudi Van Snick, and Ang Rita Sherpa – of a Belgian-Nepali team reach the summit via the north-east ridge. A day later, four more climbers – Ang Jangbu Sherpa, Marnix Lefever, Lut Vivijs, and Jan Vanhees – summit also. Vivijs becomes the first woman to reach the summit.^[20]
• 1982, 13 December – Two members (Akio Koizumi and Wangchu Shelpa) of the Japanese team led by Jun Arima of the Academic Alpine Club of Hokkaido University reach the summit. By the world calendar, winter begins 21 December, so this was not winter but a very-late-autumn-climb. However, the climb was done under a winter climbing permit, which the Nepali government issues for climbs beginning on or after 1 December.^[21]
• 1984 – Three members of the Czechoslovakian expedition (Jan Simon, Karel Jakes, Jaromir Stejskal) climb the west face to the summit. Simon died during the descent.
• 1985 – Polish expedition led by Adam Bilczewski set out to conquer Dhaulagiri for the first time in winter. After seven weeks of dramatic struggle against hurricane-force winds and temperatures below −40c°, Andrzej Czok and Jerzy Kukuczka successfully made first winter ascent on 21 January.^[22][23]
• 1986 – A mostly Polish expedition puts up a second south face route, on the left side of the face connecting with the southwest ridge route. They go above 7,500 m but do not reach the summit.
• 1988 – Soviet mountaineers Yuri Moiseev and Kazbek Valiev, in cooperation with Zoltan Demján of Czechoslovakia, succeed in climbing the southwest buttress. This 3,000-metre ascent, with difficult technical climbing at 6,800–7,300 m, was acknowledged as the year's best achievement at the UIAA Expedition Commission Conference.^{[citation needed]}
• 1993 – Russian-British team puts up the direct north face route.
• 1995 — Anatoli Boukreev, speed ascent, record time 17 hours 15 mins, base camp to summit.^[24]
• 1998 – French climber Chantal Mauduit and Sherpa Ang Tshering die when an avalanche strikes their tent on the Northeast Ridge.^[25] On 1 May the Greek climber Nikolaos Papandreou is killed falling in a gorge. On 2 October, the Greek Babis Tsoupras reaches the summit but does not return. The bodies of the Greek climbers were not found.^[26][27]
• 1999 – On 24 October, British climber Ginette Harrison dies in an avalanche on Dhaulagiri.^[28] Days later, Slovenian Tomaž Humar climbs the south face solo but does not reach the summit. His ascent ended at 7,300 m due to a 300 m band of rotten rock. Humar traverses to the dangerous southeast ridge, re-enters the face briefly, and exits at 8000 m for a descent on the northeast ridge.

References

• Colebrooke, H.T. (January 1818), Thomson, Thomas (ed.), "On the height of the Himalaya mountains", Annals of Philosophy, vol. XI, no. LXI, pp. 47–52, retrieved 21 April 2015
• Diemberger, Kurt (1999). The Kurt Diemberger Omnibus (Summits and Secrets). Seattle, WA, USA: The Mountaineers. ISBN 0-89886-606-5.
• Monier-Williams, Monier (1964) [1899]. A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 20 April 2011.
• Neate, Jill (990). High Asia: An Illustrated History of the 7,000 Metre Peaks. Mountaineers Books. ISBN 0-89886-238-8.
• Waller, Derek John (2004). The Pundits: British Exploration of Tibet & Central Asia. Lexington, KY, USA: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-9100-9. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
• Isserman, Maurice; Weaver, Stewart (2010). Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300164206. Retrieved 19 October 2014.

Notes

1. Greg Slayden. "Dhaulāgiri, Nepal". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
2. "High Asia – All mountains and main peaks above 6750 m". 8000ers.com. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
3. Monier-Williams, op. cit. p. 513
4. Monier-Williams, op. cit. p. 355
5. "Valmiki National Park, Bihar". indiamike.com. Retrieved 21 April 2011.
6. Waller
7. Colebrooke 1818.
8. "The Eight-Thousanders". www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov. 17 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
9. "Dhaulagiri I". 8000ers.com. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
10. Salisbury, Richard; Hawley, Elizabeth (September 2007). "The Himalaya by the Numbers, a statistical analysis of mountaineering in the Nepal Himalaya" (PDF). Retrieved 25 April 2011.
11. Fallen Giants, pp. 243–245
12. "Dhaul agiri, 1959". Himalayan Journal. New Delhi: Himalayan Club. 22. 1959. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
13. Dangar, D.F.O (1984). "A Record of the First Ascents of the Fifty Highest Mountains" (PDF). Alpine Journal. Alpine Club. 89: 184–7. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
14. Diemberger p. 209
15. "American Dhaulagiri Expedition—1969". American Alpine Journal. American Alpine Club. 17 (1): 19. 1970. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
16. "Asia, Nepal, Dhaulagiri, Second Ascent". American Alpine Journal. American Alpine Club: 438. 1971. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
17. Reichardt, Louis F. (1974). "Dhaulagiri 1973". American Alpine Journal. American Alpine Club. 19 (1): 1. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
18. Cicogna, Antonella (2000). "The South Face of Dhaulagiri". American Alpine Journal. American Alpine Club. 42 (74): 13. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
19. MacIntyre, Alex (1981). "Dhaulagiri's East Face" (PDF). American Alpine Journal: 45–50.
20. Dhaulagiri I, himilayanpeaks.wordpress.com, accessed 2Aug2016.
21. . www.mounteverest.net. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
22. "DHAULAGIRI 1984–85 : Himalayan Journal vol.43/6". www.himalayanclub.org. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
23. "Dhaulagiri I". wordpress.com. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
24. "Anatoli Boukreev". Mountaineering and Climbing Federation of Republic of Kazakhstan. Mountain.kz. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
25. Hawley, Elizabeth (1999). "Dhaulagiri I, Attempt and Tragedy". American Alpine Journal. American Alpine Club. 41: 366–368. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
26. Νταουλαγκίρι (Dhaulagiri). Article in Greek Wikipedia in Greek language.
27. Ministry of Tourism & Aviation, Gov. of Nepal (2010) Mountaineering in Nepal, Facts & Figures, List of summiteers of Mt. Dhaulagiri, No. 298 26 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
28. "Ginette Harrison". The Guardian. 28 October 1999. Retrieved 28 October 2016.

Sources

• American Alpine Journal, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1986, 1987, 1994, 1999, 2000.
• Eiselin, Max, The Ascent of Dhaulagiri, OUP, 1961
• Ohmori, Koichiro (1994). Over the Himalaya. Cloudcap/The Mountaineers.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dhaulagiri.

• Dhaulagiri Expedition
• Dhaulagiri on Himalaya-Info.org (German)
• . Peakware.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
• Dhaulagiri on summitpost.org (Detailed description of trekking and of first ascent)
• Himalayan Index