The Pamir Mountains
Mountain Peaks
Today is the International Day of the Mountains, so I thought I would take a brief look at one of the main mountain systems that cross the country – The Pamir Mountains:
The Pamir Mountains are located are formed at the junction of the Tien Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges. In Chinese they are known as Congling or ‘Onion Mountains’, and they are sometimes referred to as “The Roof of the World” … but, personally, I like the version that refers to them as “The Feet Of The Sun“.
They form the second biggest mountain range in the world.
Geographically, the Pamir region is centred in the Gorno-Badakhshan region of Tajikistan. Rising from near Samarkand, the range stretches some 800km across the countries of Kyrgyzstan, to merge with the Tien Shan (by a 250km range known as the Pamir Alai) and south to Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
The three highest mountains in the range are:
- Ismoil Somoni Peak (known from 1932–1962 as Stalin Peak, and from 1962–1998 as Peak Communism ), 7,495 m;
- Ibn Sina Peak (still unofficially known as Peak Lenin), 7,134 m; and
- Peak Korzhenevskaya (in Russian, Pik Korzhenevskoi), 7,105 m.
In addition to these three peaks over 7000m, there are 105 over 6000m, 35 over 5000m and most over 4000m - many of them rarely, if ever, climbed.
The region tectonically active and is estimated to growing some 6cm a year.
Snow-covered throughout the year, the Pamirs have long and bitterly cold winters, and short, cool summers. The annual precipitation of 130 mm supports grasslands but few trees.
Routes through the Pamir Mountains were an important link on the Northern branches of the Great Silk Road between Kashgar and Kokand. Even before this trade ancient trade route was established, travelers such as Alexander the Great and the Chinese Buddhist monk Zhang Tsien were here.
It’s possible that Marco Polo, if he ever made the trip described in his book, visited the region … but the Portuguese Jesuit Missionary, Bento de Góis – inspired by Polo’s account – did, in 1608 – and he published what was probably the only account of the region by a European between that of Marco Polo and the explorers of the 19th century.
Around this time a number of Indians in the employ of the British Secret Service made forays nto the Panj areas, and in 1891 Francis Younghusband when he visited the region was informed in no uncertain terms that he was in Russian territory and should leave.
Indeed, Russian military expeditions under people like Fedchenko, Korzhenevskiy, Putyata and Severtzo mapped out the region. In 1892 a Russian battalion established a camp near what is today Murghab in Tajikistan – building a fort the following year – although it was later moved to modern day Khorog.
The area has a history of troubled times … banditry and independently minded resistance to authority, although the highlands provided a mercenary army for Kokand to subjugate their neighbours. The Basmachi were strong in this region, although Enver Pasha almost certainly met his end amongst them. During the Soviet period the area was basically “off-limits” to foreigners, except for expeditions to the three main peaks.
One of the most popular tourist routes through the region today is the Parmir Highway, that runs from Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, to Osh in Kyrgyzstan, through the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, (where the population is predominantly ethnic Kyrgyz) and which is claimed to the second highest international road in the world. Indeed, it is the isolated region’s main – if not only – supply route.
Bishkek