Hkakabo Razi
Hkakabo Razi | |
---|---|
ခါကာဘိုရာဇီ | |
Highest point | |
Himalaya | |
Climbing | |
First ascent | 15 September 1996 [1] |
Easiest route | snow/ice climb |
Hkakabo Razi (
The peak is enclosed within
Environmental protection
Hkakabo Razi was established as a natural reserve on January 30, 1996, and as a national park on November 10, 1998. The
A study was done by the Forest Department with the assistance of
In 2002–2003, P. Christiaan Klieger, an anthropologist from the California Academy of Sciences, and photographer Dong Lin retraced their previous steps and succeeded in making the first anthropological survey of the Hkakabo Razi region. On foot, they reached the northernmost village in Myanmar, Tahaundam, which is inhabited by about 200 Khampa Tibetans, including mountaineer Nyama Gyaltsen (see below).[3]
The region will shortly be opened to the general public through eco-tourism by the Myanmar authorities. The government is collecting information for development in that regard, and many scientific expeditions have been already accepted in the region.
Only a few Westerners ever made it to Mt. Hkakabo Razi, the National Park or anywhere close to it. Captain B.E.A. Pritchard was the first Westerner to visit the Alun Dung valley, in 1913.[4]
Climbing history
Takashi Ozaki (Japan, 1951 – May 14, 2011) and Nyima Gyaltsen (aka "Aung Tse"; Myanmar) made the first ascent in 1996.[1] Ozaki had attempted the mountain in 1995 but turned back due to bad weather.[5] The route to basecamp is long (four weeks) and arduous through a dense rain forest with many unbridged stream crossings. The recentness of the first ascent can also be attributed to the policy that foreigners were not allowed into the area until 1993.
In 2013, the nearby peak of Gamlang Razi was climbed and measured at 5,870 m (19,260 ft) using an advanced version of GPS, making it possibly the highest in Myanmar.[6] Ozaki had confirmed Hkakabo's height as 5881 m, but he did not yet have the GPS equipment to measure the exact height of Hkakabo Razi.[2]
In August 2014 an all-Burmese expedition took a new route up the north face.[7] Two team-members, Ko Aung Myint Myat and Ko Wai Yan Min Thu, reached the summit on August 31 for the second ascent of the mountain, placing a flag, plaque and Buddha image at the summit.[8] The climbers ran out of battery power right after reaching the summit, and radio contact was lost. After they failed to return to the lower camps, a rescue operation was launched.[9] The search for the missing climbers continued into October. It involved a helicopter crash landing, leading to the death of one pilot and an 11-day survival trek by the other pilot and the passenger mountaineer.[10][11]
In November 2014, a
In August 2018 it was announced that three Myanmar mountaineers would ascend the mountain sometime that year,[13] but for various reasons, the team postponed the climb until further notice.[14]
See also
- List of mountains in Myanmar
- List of Southeast Asian mountains
- Hkakaborazi National Park
- Gamlang Razi
References
- ^ a b c Tamotsu Nakamura, Veiled Mountains in North Myanmar, Japanese Alpine News 2015
- ^ a b Kayleigh Long, Gamlang Razi expedition reaches summit, The Myanmar Times, 19 September 2013.
Trevor Brown, Gamlang Razi – Setting the Elevation Straight - ISBN 978-90-04-15482-7.
- JSTOR 1784147.
- ^ Frederique Gely-Ozaki, Hkakabo Razi, The Himalayan Journal, Volume 52, 1996
- The American Alpine Journal, 56, page 45 (2014)
- ^ Myi Nyi Aung, Invitation of Nature (Mt. Hkakabo Razi-North Face ascent 31.08.2014) Expedition Blog
- ^ Burmese Climbers Reach Hkakabo Razi's Peak, The Irrawaddy, 1 September 2014
- ^ Before travelers go explorers, The Myanmar Times, 19 September 2014
- ^ San Yamin Aung, Burmese Pilot Found Dead in Kachin State, The Irrawaddy, 9 October 2014
- ^ A crash course in survival, Bangkok Post, 4 January 2015
- ^ Kelley McMillan, On Myanmar's Mystery Peak, Drama and a Challenge Like No Other, National Geographic Magazine, January 16, 2015,
- ^ AFP, Myanmar climbers eye Hkakabo Razi, the peak conquered only once, Frontier Myanmar, August 14, 2018,
- ^ Soe Thu Aung, Hkakabo Razi summit climb plan postponed, Mizzima, News from Myanmar, August 18, 2018,