Kongur Tagh

Kongur Tagh rises in Akto County, Xinjiang, China, generally reckoned the highest peak of the Pamir Mountains at about 7,649 meters, though a nearby northeastern summit reaching some 7,625 meters is close enough in height that a few sources' higher figures for the range remain disputed. It is a non-volcanic rock, snow and ice massif raised by the same tectonic uplift affecting the wider Pamir region, and it lies just north of the lower Muztagh Ata, both visible from Karakul Lake along the Karakoram Highway. Its name means Brown Mountain in Turkic languages, and its remoteness kept it essentially unknown to Europeans until around 1900. Its first ascent was made in 1981 by a British expedition that included the noted mountaineers Chris Bonington, Peter Boardman, Alan Rouse and Joe Tasker. This entity documents Kongur Tagh specifically as a geological formation, the highest summit of the Pamir Mountains and the highest peak lying entirely within Xinjiang.