Shishapangma Expedition

Shishapangma,also called Gosainthān, is the fourteenth-highest mountain in the world and, at 8,013 m (26,289 ft), the lowest of the eight-thousanders. It was the last 8,000 metre peak to be climbed, due to its location entirely within Tibet and the restrictions on visits by foreigners to the region imposed by Tibetan and Chinese authorities.

Shishapangma is located in south-central Tibet, five kilometres from the border with Nepal. It is the only eight-thousander entirely within Chinese territory. It is also the highest peak in the Jugal Himal which is contiguous with and often considered part of Langtang Himal. The Jugal/Langtang Himal straddles the Tibet/Nepal border. Since Shishapangma is on the dry north side of the Himalayan crest and further from the lower terrain of Nepal, it has less dramatic vertical relief than most major Himalayan peaks.

There are several different theories about the meaning of the mountain’s name. Geologist Toni Hagen, who worked in Nepal for many years, explained the name as meaning a “grassy plain” or “meadow” (pangma) above a “comb” or a “range” (shisha or chisa) in the local Tibetan dialect, thereby signifying the “crest above the grassy plains”. On the other hand, Tibetologist Guntram Hazod records a local story that explains the mountain’s name in terms of its literal meaning in the Standard Tibetan language: shisha, which means “meat of an animal that died of natural causes”; and sbangma which means “malt dregs left over from brewing beer”. According to the story, one year a heavy snowfall killed most of the animals at pasture, and all that the people living near the mountain had to eat was the meat of the dead animals and the malt dregs left over from brewing beer, and so the mountain was named Shisha Pangma (shisha sbangma), signifiying “meat of dead animals and malty dregs”. The Sanskrit name of the mountain, Gosainthan, means “place of the saint” or “Abode of God”.