THE REMOTEST
HIGH ALTITUDE
PEAKS ON EARTH
.
SOME OF THE REMOTEST PEAKS ON EARTH ARE IN XINJIANG. DIVIDING XINJIANG TO THE NORTH & TIBET TO THE SOUTH, THE KUNLUN RANGE SPANS THE HIGHEST & DRIEST WILDERNESS ON EARTH. SCATTERED WITH MASSIFS LIKE THE CENTRAL ARKATAG HIDING PEAKS TO AROUND 7000m, EXPEDITIONS TO THESE PLACES ARE ABOUT AS WILD AS IT GETS. IF YOUR IDEA OF AN EXPEDITION IS STRAPPING BOATS TO A CAMEL & EXPECTING TO HAUL THEM ACROSS FROZEN LAKES AT 5000m JUST TO GET TO A 6500m PEAK WITH NO NAME THEN YOU’VE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE.
AND FEEDING THE RAT EXPEDITIONS CAN GET YOU THERE.
TRIPS TO THE PEAKS ON THE XINJIANG-TIBET BORDER HAVE ALL THE INGREDIENTS TO STAND AMONG FULL INTERNATIONAL-LEVEL EXPLORATORY EXPEDITIONS. THE REMOTENESS, THE ALTITUDES, THE ABSENCE OF DATA, THE INDICATIONS OF WHAT IS OUT THERE ALL POINT TO AN EXCITING MIX. IN OUR TIME SPENT SPLICING TOGETHER WHAT TRIPS HERE INVOLVE WE’VE COME ACROSS AMAZING DETAILS LIKE THE WORLDS HIGHEST VOLCANIC CONES, THE BREEDING GROUNDS OF MIGRATING HERDS, WATERWAYS THAT CHANGE DIRECTION SEASONALLY, RAVINES OPENED BY RECENT EARTHQUAKES, ANIMALS UNAFRAID OF HUMANS, GLACIERS PURPORTED TO BE GROWNING & NOMADIC PEOPLE WITH UNRECORDED LANGUAGES.
AND THAT’S JUST TO GET TO THE CLIMBING.
MOST PEAKS OUT HERE HAVE SEEN EITHER NO OR ONLY SINGLE ASCENTS, USUALLY BY JAPANESE TEAMS IN THE 80’s. CHANGING POLITICS & IDEAS HAVE SEEN DECADES PASS IN MOST AREAS WITH NO HUMAN ACTIVITY, LEAVING AN UNEXPLORED – YET SURPRISINGLY LARGE – CORNER OF THE PLANET.