Saturday, September 13, 2008

Tomort

Tomort, or Tomurty, is the highest peak in the Karlik Shan, in the far eastern part of the Tien Shan mountain range of Xinjiang, China. While not of great absolute elevation among Chinese peaks, it is well-separated from higher terrain, and hence has a high topographic prominence.

Tomort was reconnoitered or attempted in 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2004, by Chinese and Japanese parties. Its first, and to date only, ascent was in 2005, by a small group from the Alpine Club of the National Defense Academy of Japan, led by Isao Fukura. They described the summit as a "table-top ice-snow plateau, with glaciers several kilometers long descending on all sides," which was reached by "a crevassed glacier and a 50 degree snow/ice face."

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