Nice small map titled Le Gaourisankar, from wood engraving with fine  detail and clear impression, nice hand coloring. Overall size approx. 19 x 16 cm, image size approx. 12 x 10.5 cm. From La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes, 19 vol. (1875-94), great work of Elisee Reclus. Cartographer is Charles Perron.

Gaurishankar

Gaurishankar (also Gauri Sankar or Gauri Shankar; Tibetan: Jomo Tseringma;) is a  mountain in the Himalayas, the second highest peak of the Rolwaling Himal,  behind Melungtse (7,181m). The name comes from the Hindu goddess Gauri, a  manifestation of Durga, and her Consort Shankar, denoting the sacred regard to  which is afforded it by the peoples of Tibet and Nepal. The Buddhist Sherpas  call the mountain Jomo Tseringma.

Location

Gaurishankar lies near the western edge of the Rolwaling Himal, about 100  kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Kathmandu. (It is almost directly between  Kathmandu and Mount Everest, and is visible from Kathmandu.) To the west of the  peak lies the valley of the Bhote Kosi, the western boundary of the Rolwaling  Himal. To the north lies the Menlung Chu, which separates it from its sister  peak Melungtse. To the south lies the Rolwaling Chu, which leads up to the Tesi  Lapcha pass, giving access to the Khumbu region. It is in Dolakha District.

Notable features

The mountain has two summits, the northern (higher) summit being called Shankar  (a manifestation of Shiva) and the southern summit being called Gauri (a  manifestation of Shiva's consort). It rises dramatically above the Bhote Kosi  only 5 km away, and is protected on all sides by steep faces and long, corniced  ridges.

Climbing history

The first attempts to climb Gauri Sankar were made in the 1950s and 1960s but  weather, avalanches and difficult ice faces defeated all parties. From 1965  until 1979, the mountain was officially closed for climbing. When permission was  finally granted in 1979, an American-Nepalese expedition finally managed to gain  the top, via the West Face. This was a route of extreme technical difficulty.  The permit from the Nepalese Ministry of Tourism stipulated that the summit  could only be reached if an equal number of climbers from both nations were on  the summit team. John Roskelley and Dorje Sherpa fulfilled that obligation.

In the same year, a British-Nepalese expedition led by Peter Boardman climbed  the long and difficult Southwest Ridge. Boardman, Tim Leach, Guy Neidhardt, and  Pemba Lama made it to the south "Gauri" summit (7010m. ) on November 8, 1979.  Though they did not make the long additional traverse to the main "Shankar"  summit, their climb was a significant achievement in itself.

In 1983 Gaurishankar was reached again by a Slovenian team. The main summit  (7134m) was reached on November 1 by Slavko Cankar (expedition leader), Bojan  Šrot and Smiljan Smodiš; and three days later by Franco Pepevnik and Jože Zupan.  They climbed the left side of the South Face to reach the Southwest Ridge, then  continuing to the main summit.

The Himalayan Index lists only two additional ascents of the main summit of  Gauri Sankar. The second ascent was made in the spring of 1984 by Wyman Culbreth  and Ang Kami Sherpa, via a new route on a ridge on the southwest face. The third  ascent (and the first winter ascent), in January 1986, was by South Korean Choi  Han-Jo and Ang Kami Sherpa.

In the fall of 2013, the complete south face was finally climbed by a four-man  team of French climbers. After reaching the top of the south face at 4 pm on  October 21, they decided not to continue to the 7,010 m south summit. It took  them 11 hours to descend to the bottom of the face.