Himalchuli Peaks

Many people have heard of Himalchuli peak but what they might miss out on is that there are actually three Himalchuli peaks. Himalchuli (7893m) is the highest of the three closeby peaks and the other two are Himalchuli North (7331m) and Himalchuli West (7540m). If you join the peak points of these 3 peaks then a triangle is formed with the point to the extreme east being the tallest, Himalchuli. With a bit of common sense, you can find out which point is the Himalchuli North, one to the extreme north of course. Himalchuli west stands immediately to the west of Himalchuli. The Himalchuli peak is a mere 100m shy of the eight thousand meter mark but still is the second highest mountain in the Mansiri Himal range. The highest, of course, is Manaslu (8163m). Himalchuli lies towards the south of Manaslu and makes Nepal proud by being the 18th highest mountain in the world. Many mountaineers had set their sights on this mountain as early as 1950s. The first attempt was made in 1955 but was unsuccessful. There were two further attempts made before Hisashi Tanabe and Masahiro Harada of Japan took away the prize for the first successful ascent of Himalchuli on May 24, 1960. They had followed the "sickle ridge" from the southwest and believe it or not they did without bottled oxygen. Talk about grit! Himalchuli West (7540m) is a mere 300m shorter than its big brother and belongs to the Mansiri Himal range. The first ascent was done in the year 1978 by a Japanese expedition. Since there are so many successful ascents in the name of Japanese mountaineers we sometimes doubt if there's a pipeline on some of the peaks. All they have to do is appear on top just like Mario. Himalchuli North (7331m) is the shortest of the three Himalchuli mountains but don't take away anything away from it as it still is higher than all the 7 summits of the world except for the big daddy Everest. And Asians seem to have a deep inclination with Himalchuli peaks as a Korean expedition was the first to successfully ascend Himalchuli North in 1985. The ridge towards the northwest connects this mountain with the Ngadi Chuli peak.