Chakragil (or Chagragil, Chakar Aghil, Kingata Tagh
r Kingata Tagh II, see below is a major mountain in
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, China. It is located about southwest of
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
, about due north of
Muztagh Ata
Muztagh Ata or Muztagata (, Музтағ Ата, literally "ice-mountain-father"; ; formerly known as Mount Tagharma or Taghalma and Wi-tagh) is the second highest (7546 metres) of the mountains which form the northern edge of the Tibetan Plat ...
, and northwest of
Kongur Tagh
Kongur Tagh or Kongkoerh ( Kyrgyz: Коңур Тоо; Uyghur: , Коңур Тағ, meaning "Brown Mountain"; mn, Хонгор Таг, (Хонгор/Kongur/Kongur is Mongolian word for the color Mongolians use for Buckskin colored horse) ''Hongor ...
.
["Chagragil", '']American Alpine Journal
The ''American Alpine Journal'' is an annual magazine published by the American Alpine Club. Its mission is "to document and communicate mountain exploration." The headquarters is in Golden, Colorado.
Subtitled as a compilation of "The World' ...
'', 1989, p. 293. It is in the subrange known as the Kingata Shan, generally included in the "Eastern
Pamirs
The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the worl ...
"
as it (and the neighboring Kongur Shan range) are separated by the major
Yarkand River
The Yarkand River (or Yarkent River, Yeh-erh-ch'iang Ho) is a river in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of western China. It originates in the Siachen Muztagh in a part of the Karakoram range and flows into the Tarim River or Neinejoung R ...
valley from the extreme northwest end of the
Kunlun Mountains
The Kunlun Mountains ( zh, s=昆仑山, t=崑崙山, p=Kūnlún Shān, ; ug, كۇئېنلۇن تاغ تىزمىسى / قۇرۇم تاغ تىزمىسى ) constitute one of the longest mountain chains in Asia, extending for more than . In the br ...
, near the
Pamir Mountains
The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the worl ...
. The
Gez River flows just south of the mountain.
[ H. W. Tilman, ''China to Chitral'' (1951), in ''The Seven Mountain-Travel Books'' (The Mountaineers, 2003), , pp. 712-726.]
Due to its remote location, Chakragil is a little-visited peak. It was attempted by the noted mountaineering pair
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 ...
and
Bill Tilman
Major Harold William Tilman, CBE, DSO, MC and Bar, (14 February 1898 – November 1977) was an English mountaineer and explorer, renowned for his Himalayan climbs and sailing voyages.
Early years and Africa
Bill Tilman was born on 14 ...
in September, 1948. However they only reached a height of about . On September1, 1988, Japanese leader Misao Hirano, together with Minoru Hachisu and Kenji Nakayama, made the first ascent of the mountain.
The peak was climbed again in 2000 by Mark Newcomb, alone, via the west ridge.
["Chakragil, West Ridge", '']American Alpine Journal
The ''American Alpine Journal'' is an annual magazine published by the American Alpine Club. Its mission is "to document and communicate mountain exploration." The headquarters is in Golden, Colorado.
Subtitled as a compilation of "The World' ...
'', 2001, p. 403. Th
Himalayan Indexlists no other ascents or attempts.
Names of peaks and ranges in this area are often uncertain. Chakragil is one of the peaks in the Kingata Shan, but it is unclear which of these peaks it should be identified with. For the purposes of this article (in particular the
topographic prominence
In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest cont ...
value), it is treated as identical with Kingata Tagh, the highest peak of the Kingata Shan. If this identification is incorrect (in particular, Chakragil may actually be Kingata Tagh II), it is unclear what peak(s) were climbed in 1988 and 2001, and it further uncertain as to whether Kingata Tagh has been climbed.
[A detailed discussion of the range appears at th]
Kingata Tagh page on Summitpost
. A map of Central Asia published by Map Link shows a mountain north of the Gez river which it calls 'Karabekter Tagh'. It shows Chakragil as a small lake to the southwest. The mountain is just north of the
Karakorum Highway
The Karakoram Highway ( ur, , translit=śāhirāh qarāquram; known by its initials KKH, also known as N-35 or National Highway 35 ( ur, ) or the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway) is a national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in ...
.
Notes
{{reflist
Mountains of Xinjiang
Six-thousanders of the Kunlun