Jichu Drake (pronounced drah kay) is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

among the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, and a companion peak to Mount Jomolhari. Its height is given variously as 6714m, 6789m, 6797m, 6970m or 6989m by various sources. Jitchu Drake has a double summit, with the lower summit to the south. Jitchu Drakye is the

Tutelary deity A tutelary (; also tutelar) is a deity or a Nature spirit, spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept ...

of Paro and its environs. It is also known as Kungphu or Ts(h)erim Kang, Shumkang, Jichi Dak Keth (meaning ‘sparrow rock sound’), Tseringegang or Tsheringme Gang (snows of the goddess of long life. A local story is that the double peak originated because Jitch Drake teased a young girl while she was weaving, resulting in her hitting Jitchu Drake on the head with the tham (the piece of wood used to beat a new line of

weft In the manufacture of cloth, warp and weft are the two basic components in weaving to transform thread (yarn), thread and yarn into textile fabrics. The vertical ''warp'' yarns are held stationary in tension on a loom (frame) while the horizo ...

weaved), producing the double peak. Latest edition: Bart Jordans - Trekking in Bhutan 2018 Cicerone Press

Climbing history

The south summit was first climbed by the Austrian expedition of Werner Sucher, Albert Egger, Alois Stuckler,

Sepp Mayerl Sepp Mayerl, also known as Blasl-Sepp (14 April 1937 − 28 July 2012) was an Austrian mountaineer. Mayerl was born on 14 April 1937 as the youngest of seven children into a farmer's family in the Tyrolean village of Göriach near Dölsach. ...

and Toni Ponholzer in May 1983. The first ascent of the higher North summit was in May 1988 by Sharu Prabhu from India,

Doug Scott Douglas Keith Scott (29 May 19417 December 2020) was an English Mountaineering, mountaineer and climbing author, noted for being on the team that made the 1975 British Mount Everest Southwest Face expedition, first ascent of the south-west fac ...

and Victor Saunders from the UK via the south face. The Italian climbers Giorgio Corradini and Tiziano Nannuzzi were killed during an attempt on the North summit in 1984.

References

{{reflist Jitchu Drake Six-thousanders of the Himalayas

Climbing history

See also

References