In a world where everything is reachable, there are still places difficult to reach. Despite super-modern aircraft, ships, trains and machines that take people almost to any place in a day, it is still complicated to go to some locations on Earth. Among the most remote places there are islands in the middle of the oceans, such as the so-called Desolations Islands in the Pacific Ocean, but also the peaks of the mountains. And so we wonder which is the highest peak anyone has ever reached?
THE MOUNTAIN NEVER CLIMBED BY ANYONE
# The top untouched
Gangkhar Puensum
The virgin mountains are certainly many more than you can imagine. But it is not only the difficulty (to reach) that leaves a mountain untouched. If a peak isn’t attractive, climbers prefer trying to go on Everest or K2, rather than climb unknown peaks that would not give him great satisfaction and the desired glory. For example the highest mountain ever reached couldn’t be climbed beacause of religious reasons. It is the Gangkhar Puensum, in Bhutan, that wins the record. The mountain is 7570 m high and no human being in history has been able to admire the surrounding landscape from its peak. The Gangkhar Puensum couldn’t be climbed because in Bhutan mountains are sacred and inviolable, as they are homes of the spirits, therefore climbing them would be illegal.
# The attempt made to reach it
Gangkhar Puensum
Eventhough Bhutan has banned the possibility of climbing its own mountains, someone has tried to go on top of the Gangkhar Puensum. At that time it wasn’t an illegal action, in fact the law banned mountaineering only in 2003. In the twentieth century climbing was forbidden, but in 1983 it was removed, leaving the climbers 20 years of freedom to try to climb the highest peak ever reached. Four expeditions were organized to reach the summit of Gangkhar Puensum, but all failed. The closest step that has been taken is that of a group of Japanese who arrived at the nearby peak, leaving the summit of Gangkhar Puensum still untouched. This expedition also solved the problem of the dispute between China and Bhutan over the border. It was discovered that the border between the two countries was between the unclimbed summit and the peak on which they stood.
Considering that today mountaineering is still forbidden, the Gangkhar Puensum still has the record and it will probably keep for a long time. Likely, we have set first on the Moon and now we are going to Mars, but on the summit of 7570 m of Bhutan anyone hasn’t been yet.
BEATRICE BARAZZETTI
