Kalanka (Hindi: कलंका) is a mountain of the Garhwal Himalayas in

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

, India. Kalanka stands at . It's the 20th highest located entirely within the Uttrakhand.

Nanda Devi Nanda Devi is the second-highest mountain in India, after Kangchenjunga, and the highest located entirely within the country. (Kangchenjunga is on the border of India and Nepal.) Nanda Devi is the 23rd-highest peak in the world and ranked 74t ...

is the highest mountain in this category. Kalanka is the 48th highest peak in India and 319th highest peak in the world. Southern side of Kalanka falls under Nanda Devi National Park. Kalanka loosely translated means " cockscomb" in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Geography

Kalanka lies on the outer rim of the Nanda Devi sanctuary and in between

Changabang Changabang is a mountain in the Garhwal Division, Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand, India. It is part of a group of peaks that form the northeast wall of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary. It is a particularly steep and rocky peak, and all routes on it ...

and Saf Minal. The mountain is surrounded by glaciers on three sides:

on the southern side, Uttari Rishi on the eastern side, and Bagini on the northern side. The river from the Bagini Glacier meets with the

Dhauliganga River The Dhauliganga is a turbulent Himalayan river which rises in the border regions of India and China and flows south into the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, India. It joins the Alaknanda, the major source stream of the Ganges river. Course ...

at Jumma. Changabang Bamak (Glacier) and Uttari Rishi Bamak (Glacier) also intersect with the Dhauliganga River through the Rishi Ganga gorge. The Dhauliganga River joins with the Alaknanda river at Vishnu Prayag, the two main tributaries of Dhauliganga. These two main rivers meet at Devpryag. The name Ganga starts from there. The entire surrounding area is protected within the Nanda Devi National Park or Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve which is a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

declared by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

. The Nanda Devi National Park is home to several world-class treks. The neighboring peaks of Kalanka include:

Climbing history

The first ascent was completed in 1975 by Ikuo Tanabe's four-member expedition from Japan. They followed the Rishi Ganga gorge and crossed over to Shipton's col to gain the col between Changabang and Kalanka and climbed the west ridge. The first summit was reached by Noriaki Ikeda, Tsuneo Kouma, Kazumasa Inoue and the leader Tanabe on 3 June 1975. The first ascent of the north face was made in 1977 by a Czechoslovakian expedition led by Frantisek Grunt. They approached the col through the Bagini Glacier and the west ridge. Jozef Raconcaj and Ladislav Jon reached the summit on 20 September 1977. The north face direct had been attempted many times but remained unclimbed until Fumitaka Ichimura, Kazuaki Amano and Yusuke Sato, of Japan, succeeded in alpine style in 2008. The first ascent via the southeast face was completed by a Scottish team in 1978. After establishing base camp on September 20 at the junction of the Changabang and Uttar Rishi glaciers, Robert Barton and Allen Fyffe made a new route up the southeast face. They reached the summit on October 11.

References

{{reflist Mountains of Uttarakhand Six-thousanders of the Himalayas Geography of Chamoli district

Geography

Climbing history

See also

References