Saltoro Kangri, formerly known as Peak 36, is the highest peak of the Saltoro Mountains subrange of

Karakoram The Karakoram is a mountain range in Kashmir region spanning the borders of Pakistan, China, and India, with the northwest extremity of the range extending to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Most of the Karakoram mountain range falls under the ...

range, also known as the Saltoro Range, which is a part of the

. Saltoro Kangri is a name generally used for the twin peaks, Saltoro Kangri I (to the south) and Saltoro Kangri II, connected by a

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

. While comparing the heights the generic term Saltoro Kangri is applied to the higher peak, Saltoro Kangri I, which is the 31st highest mountain in the world in remote reaches of Karokaram. It is located on Indian side of the

Actual Ground Position Line The Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) divides current positions of Indian and Pakistani military posts and troops across the entire long front line in the disputed region of Siachen Glacier. AGPL generally runs along the Saltoro Mountains ra ...

between Indian controlled territory in the Siachen region and Pakistani controlled territory west of the Saltoro Range.

Climbing history

The mountain was reconnoitered by the

Fanny Bullock Workman Fanny Bullock Workman (January 8, 1859 – January 22, 1925) was an American geographer, cartographer, explorer, travel writer, and mountaineer, notably in the Himalayas. She was one of the first female professional mountaineers; she not only e ...

and her husband in 1911–12. The first attempt on the peak (then still called "Peak 36") was in 1935 by a British expedition led by James Waller and John Hunt. Hunt had been suggested to Waller by the Himalayan Club in Calcutta; also in the party were Rowland Brotherhood and Dr. Steward Carslaw, besides two Sherpas, Palden and

Dawa Thondup Dawa Thondup (also Da Thondup) was a Sherpa mountaineer. He had been a porter on the 1933 British Mount Everest expedition, he survived the 1934 Nanga Parbat climbing disaster, and he was a team member on a 1935 expedition led by James Waller an ...

. They approached the mountain from the Likah Glacier, hoping to climb the South East ridge, and established a final camp on 19 June, but overestimated their altitude. A summit attempt the next day proved too far: they had to climb 3500 feet in deteriorating weather. Hunt and Brotherhood reached 24,500 feet but then had to turn around. A British university expedition led by

Eric Shipton Eric Earle Shipton, CBE (1 August 1907 – 28 March 1977), was an English Himalayan mountaineer. Early years Shipton was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1907 where his father, a tea planter, died before he was three years old. When he was eig ...

approached the peak through the

Bilafond La Bilafond La (meaning "Pass of the Butterflies" in Balti language, also known as the Saltoro Pass, is a mountain pass situated on Saltoro Ridge, sitting immediately west of the vast Siachen Glacier, some directly north of map point NJ 980420 wh ...

via Pakistan with a Pakistani climbing permit, but did not attempt to summit. This expedition was inadvertently the first move in the deadly game of Siachen

oropolitics Oropolitics comes from the Greek ''oros'' meaning mountain and ''politikos'' meaning citizen. In modern usage it denotes the use of mountaineering for political purposes. Origin of term The term "oropolitics" was coined by Joydeep Sircar in the ear ...

that would lead to the

Siachen conflict The Siachen conflict, sometimes referred to as the Siachen Glacier conflict or the Siachen War, was a military conflict between India and Pakistan over the disputed Siachen Glacier region in Kashmir. The conflict was started in 1984 by India' ...

of 1984. The first ascent of Saltoro Kangri was in July 1962, by a joint Japanese-Pakistani expedition led by T. Shidei. This piggyback expedition put A. Saito, Y. Takamura and Pakistani climber R.A. Bashir on the top on July 24, following the S.E. ridge route. The peak was again climbed by an Indian Army expedition led by

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Narendra Kumar in 1981. US maps of the area and many world atlases starting in the 1960s showed the

Line of Control The Line of Control (LoC) is a military control line between the Indian and Pakistanicontrolled parts of the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir—a line which does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary, but serv ...

between Pakistani and Indian territory running from the last defined point in the 1949

Karachi Agreement The Karachi Agreement of 1949 was signed by the military representatives of India and Pakistan, supervised by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan, establishing a cease-fire line in Kashmir following the Indo-Pakistani War of ...

, NJ9842, east-northeast to the

Karakoram Pass The Karakoram Pass () is a mountain pass between India and China in the Karakoram Range. It is the highest pass on the ancient caravan route between Leh in Ladakh and Yarkand in the Tarim Basin. 'Karakoram' literally means 'Black Gravel ...

, thus putting the whole of Saltoro Kangri and the entire

Siachen Glacier The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Kara ...

in Pakistan. However, the

Simla Agreement The Simla Agreement, also spelled Shimla Agreement, was a peace treaty signed between India and Pakistan on 2 July 1972 in Shimla, the capital city of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It followed the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which ...

defined the Line of Control no further than point NJ9842 other than with the phrase "thence north to the glaciers." Th
Himalayan Index
lists only one more ascent of the mountain, in 1981, and no other attempts.

References

External links

"Saltoro Kangri, India/Pakistan" on Peakbagger
{{Pakistan-geo-stub

Borders of Pakistan The Geography of Pakistan ( ur, ) is a profound blend of landscapes varying from plains to deserts, forests, and plateaus ranging from the coastal areas of the Arabian Sea in the south to the mountains of the Karakoram, Hindukush, Himalayas ...

Mountains of Ladakh Seven-thousanders of the Karakoram Mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan

Climbing history

References

Further reading

External links