The Navel of Asia

Arab geographers of the Middle ages, though they knew more than most about the configuration of the world, entertained some rather fanciful notions. One of these was to regard the Eurasian landmass as a desirable women clothed in nothing but a long chain girdle about her ample waist. The girdle was of mountains studded with snowy peaks. It stretched from the Pyrenes through the Alps, Balkans, Caucasus and Elburz to the limits of the known world in the Hindu Kush and Himalayas. This idea of an east-west mountain range encircling the earth was not new; the geographers of the Greece and Rome had also subscribed to it. Though this description already sounds seductive but had they actually known the western Himalayan region, they would have surely surpassed this. Nowhere on earth’s surface is there a comparable cluster of mountains. In a chaos of contours at the heart, or perhaps the navel of Asia, six major mountain systems lie locked together.

From the south-west, out of arid hills of Afghanistan, comes the Hindu Kush. Its brown, treeless slopes grow higher and steeper as they approach the main complex. In the valleys there are no strips of continuous cultivation, just lush green oases strung together by grey, snow-fed rivers. Even below the glaciers of the 25,000 foot Tirich Mir there is still a hint of the deserts of the Middle East.

To the north the Hindu Kush is bounded by the narrow Oxus valley beyond which lie the rounded domes of the Pamirs. This is still mysterious and is almost polar region of the several parallel ranges linked together. One of its north-south ranges includes the peak of Muztagh Ata, ‘the father of snowy mountains’. The Arabs called the Pamir the Bami-i-Dunya, or ‘Roof of the World’, a fitting names for a region where the valleys are not cozy little clefts but open plains where cold winds sweep through as they are as high as the peaks that bound them. Conditions are so harsh that they are said to suffer from highest incidence of still born babies in the world; and in winter even they forsake the mountains to shelter in the lower valleys to the north.

Corresponding to the Hindu Kush but joining the Pamirs from the east is the third system, the Kun Lun. The Pamirs with their Siberian climate are a fitting contribution from Russia, but the Kun Lun belongs in every sense to China. Rich in jade and over looking the ancient silk route from Cathay, its row of blue peaks emerging above the dust haze to the south of Kotan have always been regarded as the rim of the Chinese empire in the south-west.

Within the angle formed by the junction of these three systems lie the Karakorams. Mightiest of all, they radiate from an amphitheatre of peaks that includes three of the world’s six highest in relatively a very small region. This is a treacherous and perpendicular wilderness where only the mountaineer can hope to survive. Glaciers thirty miles long and quarter of a mile deep fill the valleys. Anything like level ground is strewn with their moraines. Grazing, yet alone cultivation is practically non-existent; no one actually lives in the Karakorams. The world’s second highest peak K-2 that is arguably the most difficult to climb, rises here. It also hosts some truly spectacular glaciers. One of the most significant glaciers is the Baltoro Glacier as ten of the world’s thirty highest peaks cluster around it, including four 24,000 foot peaks.

By comparison the Great Himalaya, in the western reach is a modest affair. The part which falls within the Western Himalayas is that which is drained by the Indus in its tributaries. It is more broken than on its grand sweep through Nepal, which passes as low as the 11,000 feet Zoji La between Kashmir and Ladakh. This is the range that holds the Tibet as its roof and is more famous than the rest as it gives rise to the mightiest and the tallest of all peaks, the Everest. This range also holds a sizeable population along the Indus valley, Lahul and Zaskar.

Another system that is worth mentioning is the Pir Panjal. Lying between the plains of India and the Great Himalayas this, too, steals some of the thunder. By Himalayan standards it is not high; there are a few peaks over 20,000 feet. But, because it rises fairly abruptly from the plains and is the first snow-capped range from the south, it deserves separate note. Anywhere else in the world it would surely be rated a noble range. For there is beauty here that is neither savage nor tame. Compared to the grim and barren ranges to the north, all is green and bountiful. The grass is deep and dewy, the forests of oak, sycamore, pine and cedar are of truly Himalayan proportions. Spring seems ever present in the Pir Panjal. This range might itself not be known but very few people have not heard about the breath taking scenic views of the Kashmir that is one of its valleys. A place that never lost importance in history and was always exploited by the kings for its beautiful women and appealing landscapes.

One mountain that stands out from the rest and lies at the west end of the Himalayas is the massive Nanga Parbat. Rising almost sheer from the bed of the Indus at 3,000 feet to 26,000 feet, it boasts towering ridges and three famous peaks that enable this mountain to be regarded as a range in itself. A very interesting fact about Nanga Parbat is that it is the fastest growing mountain on earth. It is growing at the rate of 5 millimeters per year that is very fast according to the mountain standards. It is also revealed to be extraordinarily young, existing for only 1-2 million years. Its name means Naked Mountain, from the fact that snow cannot completely cover its steep sides. Why Nanga Parbat is so different from other mountains in the same region is quite interesting. Nanga Parbat is the only mountain in this region that is being formed because of Erosion. It is eroding at a spectacular rate due to glaciers, the Indus River, and immense precipitation, yet at the same time it is growing faster than any other mountain. Although the geologist find Nanaga Parbat highly interesting but the formation of the Hindu Kush, the Pamirs, the Kun Lun, the Himalayas and the Pir Panjal is even more interesting to a lay man.

Over two hundred fifty million years ago, India, Africa, Australia, and South America were all one continent called Pangea. Actually it was all one continent at one time and Pangea had also split from the rest. Over the next several million years, this giant southern continent proceeded to break up, forming the continents we know today. The Pangea broke and one of its parts was a continent that comprised of Australia and India that started moving towards where Australia is now. During this journey when this continent was directly below the middle of Eurasia the Indian plate broke off from Australia and started moving north at a rate of approximately 15 cm/ yr until it came in direct collision with the Eurasian continent in its north. This caused the Indian continent to be driven horizontally beneath like a giant wedge forcing the colliding boundaries of the Eurasian continent upwards. This wedge quite understandably acted in different ways in different areas but the over all effect was same everywhere, peaks after peaks, valleys after valleys, ridges after ridges were formed in the span of next 20 million yrs from its west end to the north of India.

The result that we see now is nature’s remarkable creation, a place to get lost, a place that leaves you in awe at the marvels of nature. Six different mountain systems lie together in a small region on the map but the explorations of these were comparable to explorations of the deserts and jungles of Africa. This is a place where many people have gone and not come back. Some stayed to admire the beauty and some lost their lives in search of the beyond after beyond.


Source: Few paragraphs are reproduced from “WHEN MEN AND MOUNTAINS MEET” by JOHN KEAY
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