Kongur and Muztagh Ata



The peaks of Kongur and Muztagh Ata have been mistaken for one another by many travellers. Captain Trotter was the first trigonometrical observer of Kungur, and from the plains of Kashgar he determined its height at 25350 feet; he named the peak "Tagharma."
Muztagh Ata is 26 miles south of Kungur and is not visible from Kashgar. Travellers have frequently thought that they have seen Muztagh Ata from Kashgar: but they have been misled by the natives, who believe Kungur and Muztagh Ata to be one summit. Colonel Wahab called the Muztagh Ata peak " Tagharma."


The fact that both Kungur and Muztagh Ata were named "Tagharma'  by surveyors has tended to increase the confusion. The name Tagharma is given by natives to the peak of Muztagh Ata because it towers above the town of Tagharma in the Sarikol valley, and Wahab was correct in his application of the name. But Trotter made a mistake in adopting the assumption of Kashgarians, that the great snow peak they see to the south-west is the same peak as seen from Tagharma.

There has not only been a confusion of names, but differences of opinion have existed as to which of the two peaks is the higher, Kungur, the northern, or Muztagh Ata, the southern. The values of height entered in tables iv and v are those derived from the data at the disposal of the Survey of India, but it has to be acknowledged that the observations are less reliable than those of the Himalayan and Karakoram peaks. In the case of observations taken to peaks from stations in India the height of the place of observation is accurately known, but the same cannot be said of the points from which Kungur and Muztagh Ata were observed. Though all our information goes to show that Kungur is higher than Muztagh Ata, by about 758 feet, the great weight of Sven Hedin's authority is on the side of Muztagh Ata. "Muztagh Ata," he writes, "the loftiest mountain of the Pamirs and one of the "loftiest mountains in the world, towers up to the height of 25600 feet, and like a "mighty bastion overlooks the barren wastes of Central Asia. It is the culminating point "in a meridional chain. The unchallenged pre-eminence of Muztagh Ata over the peaks "which cluster around it is proved by its name, which means the Father of the Ice "Mountains."

Sven Hedin made three attempts to climb Muztagh Ata, but was not successful. Lord Curzon describing the peaks of Kungur and Muztagh Ata wrote: 

The second and southerly peak, which from Sarikol obscures the first, is the real Muztagh Ata, the height of which is probably a little less than its nameless brother, being calculated at about 25000 feet, but which is a far finer mountain since it is conical and comparatively isolated, whereas the more northerly mountain is the highest crest of an extended ridge.
Kongur Tagh 
Elevation: 7,649 m (25,095 ft)
Ranked 37th


Kongur Tagh is within a range called the Kongur Shan (Chinese: 公格尔山; pinyin: Gōnggé'ěr Shān), located just north of Muztagh Ata and visible from Karakul Lake. Some sources use "Kongur Shan" mistakenly to refer to the peak itself. The Kongur and Muztagh Ata ranges are sometimes considered a subrange of either the Kunlun Mountains or the Pamir Mountains. In either case Kongur Tagh would be the highest summit of those ranges.
Kongur Tagh 
Range: Kongur Shan
Coordinates: 38°35′38″N 75°18′48″ECoordinates: 38°35′38″N 75°18′48″E
First ascent: 1981 by British team

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