Shipton–Tilman Nanda Devi expeditions
| Nanda Devi | |
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| नन्दा देवी | |
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Nanda Devi photographed in 1936
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 7,816 m (25,643 ft) |
| Coordinates | 30°22′33″N 79°58′15″E / 30.37583°N 79.97083°ECoordinates: 30°22′33″N 79°58′15″E / 30.37583°N 79.97083°E |
| Geography | |
 Nanda Devi
Location in India
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| Location | Chamoli District, Uttarakhand, India |
| Parent range | Garhwal Himalaya |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | 29 August 1936 by Noel Odell and Bill Tilman |
The Shipton–Tilman Nanda Devi expeditions took place in the 1930s. Nanda Devi is a Himalayan mountain in what was then the Garhwal District in northern India, just west of Nepal, and at one time it was thought to be the highest mountain in the world.
Nanda Devi is surrounded by a ring of mountains enclosing the Sanctuary which, despite decades of attempts, no one had been able to enter. In 1934 Eric Shipton, Bill Tilman and their three accomplished Sherpas succeeded in finding a climbing route into the Sanctuary via the Rishi Ganga gorge. Then in 1936 Tilman and Noel Odell, as part of an American–British team, climbed to the 25,643-foot (7,816 m) summit making Nanda Devi the highest mountain ever to have been climbed at that time.
It was only in 1950 that a higher summit was reached when Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal climbed Annapurna. Nanda Devi itself was climbed for the second time in 1964.
Except for the Rishi Ganga gorge to the west, Nanda Devi is encircled by a ring of mountains with no col lower than 18,000 feet (5,500 m). This mountain chain surrounds and completely encloses the Nanda Devi Sanctuary. Tom Longstaff had reached an eastern col in 1905 and had been able to see into the Sanctuary but he did not try the formidable descent. The immensely deep and narrow gorge by which the Rishi Ganga river drains the Sanctuary had never been ascended despite many attempts. However, before the 1934 monsoon, Shipton and Tilman along with three Sherpas who they regarded as co-climbers – Ang Tharkay, Pasang and Kusang – became the first people to find a way through the gorge and to set foot in the Sanctuary in what has been described as "the most exciting story in the whole saga of mountain discovery".
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Wikipedia