Nestled high in West Himalaya, India’s Valley of Flowers National Park is renowned for its meadows of endemic alpine flowers and outstanding natural beauty. This richly diverse area is also home to rare and endangered animals, including the Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, brown bear and blue sheep. The gentle landscape of the Valley of Flowers National Park complements the rugged mountain wilderness of Nanda Devi National Park. Together they encompass a unique transition zone between the mountain ranges of the Zanskar and Great Himalaya, praised by mountaineers and botanists for over a century and in Hindu mythology for much longer.
Nanda Devi is a two-peaked massif, forming a 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long high ridge, oriented east-west. The west summit is higher, and the eastern summit is called Nanda Devi East. Together the peaks are referred to as the twin peaks of the goddess Nanda. The main summit stands guarded by a barrier ring comprising some of the highest mountains in the Indian Himalayas, twelve of which exceed 6,400 m (21,000 ft) in height, further elevating its sacred status as the daughter of the Himalaya in Indian myth and folklore. The interior of this almost insurmountable ring is known as the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, and is protected as theNanda Devi National Park. Nanda Devi East lies on the eastern edge of the ring (and of the Park), at the border of Chamoli,Pithoragarh and Bageshwar districts.
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The eastern summit earlier called Nanda Devi East is now also referred to as Sunanda Devi . Together the peaks may be referred to as the peaks of the goddesses Nanda and Sunanda. These goddesses have occurred together in ancient Sanskrit literature (Srimad Bhagvatam or Bhagavata Purana) and are worshipped together as twins in the Kumaon division of India as well as elsewhere. The first published reference to Nanda Devi east as Sunanda Devi appears to be in a recent novel (Malhotra 2011) that has the Kumaon region as backdrop.
In addition to being the 23rd highest independent peak in the world, Nanda Devi is also notable for its large, steep rise above local terrain. It rises over 3,300 metres (10,800 ft) above its immediate southwestern base on the Dakkhni Nanda Devi Glacier in about 4.2 kilometres (2.6 mi), and its rise above the glaciers to the north is similar. This makes it among the steepest peaks in the world at this scale, closely comparable, for example, to the local profile of K2. Nanda Devi is also impressive when considering terrain that is a bit further away, as it is surrounded by relatively deep valleys. For example, it rises over 6,500 metres (21,300 ft) above the valley of the Ghoriganga in only 50 km (30 mi).
1 comments:
commentsNamaste ! Just wanted to share that I am from Lata village, the gateway to Nanda Devi National Park. I manage the Shepherds Lodge Devangan at Lata, the only professionally managed facility at the entry gate to the Nanda Devi National Park, though there are couple of nice home stay facilities in my summer village Lata. As a part of the Campaign for Cultural Survival and Sustainable Livelihoods, we are now offering a 4 days interpretive trek to the Nanda Devi National Park. The summer 2019 trek schedule is starting from 29 April 2019. Bookings can be made online through the web portal of Nanda Devi Instituteof Adventure Sports and Outdoor Education
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