Muztagh Ata

Muztagh Ata rises in Xinjiang, China, at the point where the Pamir Mountains meet the Kunlun range along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, reaching an elevation of about 7,546 meters. It is a non-volcanic, heavily glaciated massif raised by the same tectonic uplift affecting the wider Pamir-Kunlun region, and its name, meaning Father of Ice Mountains in Turkic languages, reflects its broad icy dome. Its unusually gentle western slope makes it one of the more approachable peaks above 7,000 meters, first climbed by that route in 1956, and in 1980 a team led by Ned Gillette completed the first ski descent of any mountain above 7,500 meters on its slopes. The peak is visible from Karakul Lake along the Karakoram Highway. This entity documents Muztagh Ata specifically as a geological formation, a broad glaciated Pamir-Kunlun massif known for its gentle slopes and pioneering high-altitude ski descent.