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Showing posts from September, 2014

South Simvu: Kanchenjunga’s last kept Secret

South Simvu: Kanchenjunga’s last kept Secret Text & Photographs: Anindya Mukherjee “Maps, if caviare [1]  to the general, are, as Louis Stevenson has insisted, very suggestive to persons with proper imagination.” - Douglas Freshfield, Round Kangchenjunga, p-20 Story of maps and an invisible glacier For the last few years I have been trying to explore the valleys and glaciers of the south-eastern flanks of Kangchenjunga. To be a bit more specific, my explorations were focused on the little or completely unknown glaciers like Talung, Tongshyong ,South Simvu glaciers and the valley system created by their rivers ( Rukel-Rongyoung or Talung Chu) emanating from them.  From the south summit of Kangchenjunga (8476m) a high ridge extends east separating the Zemu glacier valley on the north from South Simvu, Tongshyong and Talung glaciers to the south. These three glaciers form the head of the Talung Basin. Although both Tongshyong and Talung glaciers have been visited by