Posted by John on June 23, 2006 at 23:04:38 from 165.91.46.72 user Mcneacail.
In Reply to: Kanchenjunga or Kangchenjunga posted by Adam Quinan on June 23, 2006 at 21:05:15:
Kangchenjunga
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For other uses, see Kangchenjunga (disambiguation).
Kangchenjunga
Kangchenjunga early in the morning, from Chouda Pheri
Elevation 8,586 metres (28,169 feet) †
Ranked 3rd
Location Nepal and India
Range Himalaya
Prominence 3,922 m Ranked 30th
Coordinates 27°42′N 88°08′E
First ascent 1955 by George Band and Joe Brown
Easiest route glacier/snow/ice climb
Kangchenjunga is the third highest mountain in the world, the second highest in Nepal and the highest in India, located in the Taplejung district of Sikkim, straddling the frontier between Nepal and India.
Kangchenjunga translated means "the Five Treasures of Snows", as it contains five peaks, four of them over 8,450 metres. The treasures represent the five repositories of God, which are gold, silver, gems, grain and holy books. Until 1852, Kangchenjunga was assumed to be the highest mountain in the world, but calculations made by the British 1849 Great Trigonometric Survey showed Mount Everest to be the highest and Kangchenjunga the third-highest.
Although Kangchenjunga is the official spelling, adopted by Douglas Freshfield, Dr. A.M. Kellas and the Royal Geographical Society, that gives the best indication of the Tibetan pronunciation, there are a number of alternative spellings which include Kangchen Dzö-nga, Khangchendzonga, Kanchenjanga, Kachendzonga, Kanchenjunga or Kangchanfanga.
The last word on the use of the name Kangchenjunga came from His Highness Sir Tashi Namgyal, the Maharaja of Sikkim, who pronounced that "although junga had no meaning in Tibetan, it really ought to have been Zod-nga (treasure, five) Kang-chen (Snow, big) conveyed the meaning correctly". Following consultation with a "Colonel Weir" he agreed that it was best to leave it as Kangchenjunga, and the name remains so by scholars, acceptance and usage.
The five peaks of Kangchenjunga are as follows:
Kangchenjunga Main 8,586 m 28,169 ft †
Kangchenjunga West (Yalung Kang) 8,505 m 27,904 ft
Kangchenjunga Central (Middle) 8,482 m 27,828 ft
Kangchenjunga South 8,494 m 27,867 ft
Kangbachen 7,903 m 25,925 ft
Three of these five peaks (Main, Central and South) are on the India-Nepal border, while the other two are completely in Nepal