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Trivor (ترِووُر‎) Trivor is a mountain in the Hispar Muztagh mountain range, a subrange of the Karakoram range in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan. The mountain is one of the higher peaks in the Hispar Muztagh. It is so difficult to climb, that its peak has been reached by climbers only twice. Its closest neighboring …

Shispare (شیسپیئر‎) Shispare Mountain, also called Shispare Sar and Shisparé Sari, sits east of the Batura Wall, which is the peak of the Batura Muztagh mountain range in Pakistan. Shisper Peak, home to the Patundas Meadows, is located on the mountain and has hotels and street access. To the north of the mountain is a …

Kongur Tagh (Kongkoerh, قوڭۇر تاغ‎, Коңур Тағ, Хонгор Таг, Hongor Tag, 公格尔峰, Gōnggé’ěr Fēng) Kongur Tagh stands in the Kongur Shan mountain range in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. The Kongur Shan range, which includes Mount Muztagh Ata, is sometimes considered part of the “Eastern Pamirs.” In the Uyghur language, the name means …

Chogolisa (چوگولیزا‎) Shaped like a giant trapezoid, Chogolisa is home to some of Earth’s highest peaks. Its two most prominent peaks are Chogolisa I, rising to heights of 7,668 meters (25,157 feet) and Chogolisa II (also known as Bride Peak) at 7,654 meters (25,112 feet). In the Pakistani language of Urdu, Chogolisa translates to Chogo Ling …

Rising over the palms and the Pueblo Revival and “desert school” building designs of the city of Phoenix, Arizona, are the desert peaks that form the Phoenix Mountains. This winter I got to explore the second highest peak of the Phoenix Mountains, Piestewa, during my Christmas/New Year holiday. Winter is a lovely time for exploring …

It is nothing short of a tragedy to find just how little appreciation is given to the momentous feats of the souls who came before us, upon whose legs and backs our country came into its rightful greatness. The Lewis & Clark expedition of 1804 – 1806 is one such feat. In our world of …

In the deep heart of the Rocky Mountains, just south of the alpine town of Leadville, a mountain known locally as the “Gentle Giant” overlooks snow-capped ranks of lesser peaks and hills. This is where she has lived for about thirty million years, and with any luck, the next thirty million years isn’t going to …

They say you are who you hang out with. For this reason, it is difficult to get a true sense of a mountain until you spend some time with its neighbors. Sometimes the character of one peak may be better appreciated after having explored others in the same range. You know what you’re looking at …

Sitting in the crystalline waters of the Mediterranean lounges the Italian island of Sardinia. Throughout history, whichever tribe or nation had control of Sardinia was considered a bellwether for the power dynamics of the Mediterranean. One of the things that made Sardinia such a strategic point, aside from its relative size as the second-largest island …

If you spend as much time as we do thinking about mountains, then there is a good chance that you have asked yourself the most pressing question that there is about any mountain, which is, quite simply, How Big is it? Our fascination with mountain landscapes is no doubt due to the sense of majesty and …

There runs through the heart of our country a mighty spine of rock … a jagged 3,000 mile wonder that separates the Great Plains from the Western Plateau, and the deserts of New Mexico from the woodlands of Canada. Truly, this is the Purple Mountain Majesty that we sing of, and the Rocky Mountain High that has …

The summit of Sierra Negra is a special place. It is an extinct volcano with bragging rights as the fifth-highest peak in Mexico. Its prominence is just 1,770 feet (540 m), but its location in the higher altitude neighborhood of Pico de Orizaba, the summit of Sierra Negra reaches a maximum of 15,030 feet (4,580 …

The mountains hold so much wonder. I feel a billowing sense of wonder whenever I stand on a giant rock which was forced up by energy deep within the Earth to soar above the crust many millennia ago. A mountain top is a place to look around and gain a deeper understanding of the fascinating …

Gurla Mandhata (Naimona’nyi, Memo Nani, 納木那尼峰) The Tibetan name for the mountain, Naimona’nyi, is said to come from the words “naimo” (herbal medicine), “na” (black), and “nyi” (heaped-up slabs), translating roughly to “the mountain of slabs of black herbal medicine.” Mandhata is named after king Mandhata of suryavansha of the Ikshvaku dynasty. Gurla Mandhata sits …

Saser Kangri (Sasir Kangri) Saser Kangri is the highest peak in the Saser Muztagh mountain range, which is an eastern subrange of the Karakoram range. Sasir Kangri lies in Jammu and Kashmir, which is the northernmost state of India. Country: India State/Province: Ladakh  Mountain Range: Saser Karakoram Elevation: 25,171 feet / 7,672 meters First Ascent: 1973, …

Tirich Mir (ترچ میر‎, Terich Mir, Terichmir, Turch Mir) The name Tirich Mir is believed to translate to “King of Tirich,” since Tirich is a nearby valley of the Mulkhow valley of Chitral which leads up to the mountain. Another thought is that Tirich Mir means “King of Darkness,” because in the Wakhi language, “trich” …