Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash is a mountain in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies in the Gangdise Shan mountain range of the Transhimalaya, in the western part of the Tibetan Plateau. The peak of Mount Kailash is located at an elevation of, near the western trijunction between China, India and Nepal.
Mount Kailash is located close to Manasarovar and Rakshastal lakes. The sources of four rivers: Indus, Sutlej, Brahmaputra, and Ghaghara lie in the vicinity of the region. Mount Kailash is sacred in Bon, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. People from China, India, Nepal, and other countries in the region undertake a pilgrimage to the mountain. The pilgrimage generally involves trekking towards Lake Manasarovar and a circumambulation of Mount Kailash.
While the mountain has been surveyed by climbers in the past, there has been no recorded successful ascent of the mountain. The climbing of the mountain is prohibited by the Chinese government due to its religious significance.
Etymology
The mountain is known as "'" in Sanskrit. The name could have been derived from the word "'", which means "crystal".In his Tibetan-English dictionary, Sarat Chandra Das states that 'kai la ca' from Sanskrit is used to denote the mountain. The mountain is also called as Gang Rinpoche or Gang Tise locally. Gang Rinpoche means "snow jewel mountain" with Kang being the Tibetan word meaning white mountain and rinpoche is an honorific meaning "precious one". Gang Tise means "mountain of ice or cool".
Geography and topography
Mount Kailash is located in Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It lies in the Gangdise Shan of the Transhimalaya, in the western part of the Tibetan Plateau. The peak of Mount Kailash is at an elevation of. The region is located north of the western tripoint of the border between China, India and Nepal.The major rivers rising from the western Gangdise Mountains are the Yarlung Tsangpo, the Indus, the Sutlej and the Ghaghara, a tributary of the Ganges. All these river systems originate within a stretch in the region. Mount Kailash is located on the banks of Manasarovar and Rakshastal lakes. Spread over an area of, Manasarovar is the highest freshwater lake in the world.
Geology
The region around Mount Kailash are remnants of large ice sheets that covered the region during the Quaternary period, the last of which retreated about 10,000 years ago. The mountain might be a large metasedimentary roof pendant supported by a base of granite. The Indus headwaters area is typified by wide-scale faulting of metamorphosed late-Cretaceous to mid-Cenozoic sedimentary rocks interspersed with igneous Cenozoic granitic rocks. The Cenozoic rocks represent offshore marine limestones deposited before subduction of the Tethys oceanic crust. These sediments were deposited on the southern margin of the Asia block during subduction of the Tethys oceanic crust before the collision between the Indian and Asian continents. It also consists of sand dunes covering late Eocene volcanic forms interspersed with Cretaceous and Eocene sediments.The Kailash flysch zone extends about from the mountain and marks the northern end of the Himalayas and the start of the Trans Himalayas. The Trans Himalayan range was formed by the subduction of sediments from the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates. The flysch zone consists of alternate areas of peridotites, sandy shales, and dolomites, covered by gravel terraces. The mountain itself consists of thick conglomerate rocks sitting on granite. The visible part of the conglomerates extend from to the top with the base located deeper in the mountain.
Climate
The weather is fairly dry during April to June with day time temperatures of and night time temperatures of. The temperature starts to decrease in October and winters have much lower day time temperatures ranging from and further lower in the night reaching up to with January being the coldest. Monsoons bring rain from late June to August with cold winds.Global warming is described as happening three times faster on the Tibetan Plateau than the global average with lesser snowfall in the winter. According to locals, the land around Mount Kailash has been growing warmer in recent years with winters not as cold as it used to be. The retreating glaciers and thawing of the permafrost in the Tibet region might lead to uncertain effects on water resources of the region. These effects along with population explosion and tourism has put severe stress on the fragile ecosystem around Mount Kailash.
The intergovernmental organisation International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development is involved in a trans boundary project called the Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative in the region around Mount Kailash. The organization is involved in ongoing efforts to generate climate data, and to devise sustainable ways of life for the people of the region.
Mountaineering
In 1926, Hugh Ruttledge, the deputy commissioner of Almora, visited the area to meet the Garpön of Ngari. As the Garpön was away, he circumambulated Mount Kailash while studying it. As per Ruttledge, the mountain was about high and utterly unclimbable. He thought about an ascent along the northeast ridge and had been exploring the area with Colonel R. C. Wilson, who was on the other side of the mountain with a Sherpa named Tseten. As per Wilson, Tseten told him that the southeast ridge represented a feasible route to the summit. Wilson explained that although they attempted to climb the mountain, they ran into heavy snowfall, making the ascent impossible.Herbert Tichy visited the area in 1936, attempting to climb the mountain. When he asked the local people whether Kailash was climbable, a Garpön replied: "Only a man entirely free of sin could climb Kailash. And he wouldn't have to actually scale the sheer walls of ice to do it — he'd just turn himself into a bird and fly to the summit". Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner was given the opportunity by the Chinese government to climb the mountain in the mid-1980s, but he reportedly declined, saying "If we conquer this mountain, then we conquer something in people's souls. I would suggest they go and climb something a little harder." In 2001, permission was denied to a Spanish team, who requested to climb the peak. Chinese authorities stated that any climbing activities on Mount Kailash were strictly prohibited. To date, there have been no known successful ascents of the mountain.
Religious significance
Mount Kailash is considered sacred in Buddhism, Bon, Hinduism, and Jainism.Buddhism and Bon
As per Buddhist texts, Mount Kailash is known as the mythological Mount Meru. Kailash is central to its cosmology, and a major pilgrimage site for some Buddhist traditions. In Buddhism, Kailash represents the father of the world and Lake Manasarovar symbolizes the mother. Numerous sites in the region are associated with Padmasambhava, who is credited with establishing Tantric Buddhism in Tibet in the 8th century CE. Vajrayana Buddhists believe that saint Milarepa had a challenge with Naro Böncham, a follower of Bön religion of Tibet. The two engaged in a battle of wits with neither able to gain a decisive advantage. Finally, it was agreed that whoever could reach the summit of Kailash first would be the victor. While Naro sat on his magic drum to climb up the slope, Milarepa reached the summit riding on the rays of the Sun, thus winning the contest. He also gave the nearby mountain, since known as Bönri bequeathing it to Bön.For the Bon people, the mountain is the abode of sky goddess Sipaimen and the mountain was the centre of the ancient Bon empire of Zhang Zhung. As per Tibetan beliefs, the mountain was the centre of the universe Mandala and the source of the mythical Lion, Horse, Peacock, and Elephant Rivers which flowed in the four cardinal directions.