Everest and The Himalayas

I have assembled this selection of mountain prints of the Himalayas from the many thousands of images that I captured during a period of over 35 years that I spent travelling across the length and breadth of the five main Himalayan countries – Nepal, India, Bhutan, Tibet and Pakistan. All of the world’s very tallest peaks – those rising to above 8,000 metres (26,248 ft) – stand within the Himalaya. The highest of all, standing on the Nepal-Tibet border at 8,848 metres (28,029 ft) above sea level, is Mount Everest, known also to the Nepalese as Sagarmatha and to the Tibetans as Chomolungma.

Of the thirteen other distinct 8,000 metre peaks, eight stand within or on the borders of Nepal, and this is the reason why images from Nepal feature heavily in this section. In addition to the 8,000 metre peaks of the Himalaya, there are over fifty more that exceed 7,200 metres (23,600 ft) and hundreds more lesser only in stature but not in magnificence.

The Karakoram Himalaya, a sub-range of the main Himalayan chain situated in Northern Pakistan, contains four distinct 8,000 metre peaks the highest of which is the mighty K2, 8,611 metres (28,250 ft), the world’s second highest mountain. The Karakoram mountain range also embodies the longest glaciers outside of the polar regions and the highest concentration of the world’s 7,000 metre peaks.

Far to the east, on the borders of Nepal, Tibet and the once independent but now Indian controlled state of Sikkim, is India’s highest mountain and the third highest in the world – Kangchenjunga, 8,586 metres (28,169 ft). A name translated meaning ‘The Five Great Treasures of the Mountain Snows’ Kangchenjunga used to be the highest peak in the British Empire and, until the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India (1802–1852), was also assumed to be the highest in the world.