Amne Machin
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| Amne Machin | |
|---|---|
 Map showing localization of Amne Machin peak |
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| Elevation | 6,282 meters (20,610 feet) |
| Location | China, province of Qinghai
Nearest major city = Xining, 530 kilometers (330 mi) south-east |
| Range | Kunlun Shan |
| Coordinates | |
| First ascent | 1981, U.S. expedition |
Amne Machin (or Anye Machin) is one of the highest peaks of a mountain range named Amne Machin Shan (A'nyêmaqên Shan) and located in west-central China (province of Qinghai). The Amne Machin mountains belong to the Kunlun Shan, a major mountain system in Asia. The peak elevation is estimated to 20,610 feet (6,282 meters). It is ranked number 23 in height among the mountain peaks of China.
[edit] History
The massif had long been considered a sacred mountain and a place of pilgrimage, when before the Communist 'liberation' up to 10,000 Golog Tibetans would make the 120-mile circumambulation of the mountain each year. The first European to describe the mountain was the British explorer Brigadier-General George Pereira on his expedition on foot from Peking to Lhasa of 1921-2, sometimes reckoned one of the great geographical discoveries of the twentieth century.
However, the massif remained unclimbed until 1949. The Amne Machin mountains had been overflown by a few American pilots who overestimated the elevation to 30,000 feet. A 1930 article of the National Geographic estimated the peak elevation to 28,000 feet according to the report of Joseph Rock, an American botanist and explorer. For a while, the mountains were considered as a possible place for a peak higher than Mount Everest. In 1949, a Chinese expedition climbed the mountain, but it was demonstrated in 1980 that this expedition didn't climb the right peak.
The Amne Machin peak was first climbed in 1981 by a U.S. expedition (the first foreign expedition authorized by the Chinese government). Galen Rowell, Harold Knutsen and Kim Scmitz reached the summit successfully and reported its true elevation to be 20,610 feet.
[edit] References
Sir Francis Younghusband and George Pereira, Peking to Lhasa; The Narrative of Journeys in the Chinese Empire Made by the Late Brigadier-General George Pereira, (London: Constable and Company, 1925)
