Kunlun Mountains

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Lore & Background

The three highest mountains in the Pamirs core are Ismoil Somoni Peak (known from 1932 to 1962 as Stalin Peak, and from 1962 to 1998 as Communism Peak), 7,495 m; Ibn Sina Peak (still officially known as Lenin Peak in Kyrgyzstan), 7,134 m; and Peak Korzhenevskaya, 7,105 m. In the Eastern Pamirs, China's Kongur Tagh is the highest at 7,649 m. There are many glaciers, including the 77 km long Vanch-Yakh Glacier, the longest in the former USSR and the longest glacier outside the polar regions. Approximately 12,500 km² (ca. 10%) of the Pamirs are glaciated. Glaciers in the Southern Pamirs are retreating rapidly. Ten percent of annual runoff is supposed to originate from retreating glaciers in the Southern Pamirs. In the North-Western Pamirs, glaciers have almost stable mass balances. Covered in snow during most of the year, the Pamirs have long and bitterly cold winters, and short, cool summers, which equals an ET (tundra climate) according to Köppen climate classification (EF above the snow line). Annual precipitation is about 130 mm, which supports grasslands but few trees.

Reader's Guide

The Pamir Mountains have a rich history of exploration. About 138 BCE Zhang Qian reached the Fergana Valley northwest of the Pamirs. Ptolemy vaguely describes a trade route through the area. From about 600 CE, Buddhist pilgrims travelled on both sides of the Pamirs to reach India from China. In 747 a Tang army was on the Wakhan River. Marco Polo may have travelled along the Panj River. In 1602, Bento de Goes travelled from Kabul to Yarkand and left a meager report on the Pamirs. In 1838, Lieutenant John Wood reached the headwaters of the Pamir River. From about 1868 to 1880, a number of Indians in the British service secretly explored the Panj area. In 1873, the British and Russians agreed to an Afghan frontier along the Panj River. From 1871 to around 1893, several Russian military-scientific expeditions mapped out most of the Pamirs (Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko, Nikolai Severtzov, Captain Dmitry Putyata and others. Later came Nikolai Korzhenevskiy). In 1891, the Russians informed Francis Younghusband that he was on their territory and later escorted a Lieutenant Davidson out of the area ('Pamir Incident'). In 1892, a battalion of Russians under Mikhail Ionov entered the area and camped near the present Murghab. In 1893 they built a proper fort there (Pamirskiy Post). In 1895 their base was moved to Khorog facing the Afghans. In 1928, the last blank areas around the Fedchenko Glacier were mapped by the German-Soviet Alay-Pamir Expedition under Willi Rickmer Rickmers. The Pamir Highway, the world's second highest international road, runs from Dushanbe in Tajikistan to Osh in Kyrgyzstan through the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, and is the isolated region's main supply route. The Great Silk Road crossed a number of Pamir Mountain ranges.

Did You Know?

• The Pamir Mountains are known as the 'Roof of the World', a name dating from the Victorian era, presumably translated from Persian.
• The Vanch-Yakh Glacier in the Pamirs is 77 km long, making it the longest glacier outside the polar regions and the longest in the former USSR.
• In Old and Middle Chinese, the Pamirs were referred to as 'Onion Range', named after the wild onions growing in the region.
• The earliest known evidence of human cannabis use was found in tombs at the Jirzankal Cemetery in the Pamir Mountains.
• In 1928, the last blank areas around the Fedchenko Glacier were mapped by the German-Soviet Alay-Pamir Expedition under Willi Rickmer Rickmers.