Climb every mountain (or maybe not)

“What are men to rocks and mountains?” (Jane Austen)

So much of the planet has already been colonized, commodified, and corrupted. Thus, it’s no surprise that so many humans don’t like to talk about those places that have managed to elude modern’s man penetrative predation.

Case in point: Gangkhar Puensum.

There are hundreds or maybe thousands of unclimbed mountains on the planet (not counting, of course, underwater peaks). To the best of our mainstream knowledge, the highest of these unclimbed mountains is Gangkhar Puensum. 

The 24,836-foot “virgin” (yes, some actually call it that) is believed to be the 40th highest mountain on earth and it’s located in Bhutan — near its border with China.

Attempts have been made to scale it, but in 1994 Bhutan banned climbing any mountain higher than 20,000 feet. 

The reasons for this ban range from practical to philosophical, e.g:

• The ban conforms to local customs

• Bhutan doesn’t want an Everest-like environmental mess within its borders 

• The country lacks the necessary high-altitude rescue resources

• Gangkhar Puensum and other peaks are the sacred homes of protective deities and spirits

Spiritual rationale aside, the ban ignores the apparent possibility that such mountains have been ascended many times by indigenous humans — in an age long before viral videos or any kind of “recorded” history.

The ban might also willfully ignore the reality that man is unable to conquer [sic] Gangkhar Puensum, thus it’s more sour grapes than high standards. 

In case anyone is wondering, the world’s highest unclimbed yet unbanned mountain is Pakistan’s 24,449-foot Muchu Chhish (a.k.a. Batura V).

Located in the virtually inaccessible Batura Muztaghsub range of the Karakoram, a few modern-day attempts to scale Muchu Chhish have failed. 

Perhaps it’s time for Pakistan to institute its own ban — you know, due to customs and all. We Homo sapiens can’t just let nature think it’s won anything over us, right?

Me, I’d prefer to merely say thank you to the mountains for supplying half the world’s population with drinking water, and then just leave them alone.