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Home » Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region nature. Climbing in the Pamir.

Southwestern Pamir.

Rock-climbing tour in Pamir mountains.

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving” 

Terry Pratchett. “A Hat Full of Sky”.

Camping trip in Tajikistan mountains.

In the mountainous region of the Southwestern Pamir, there are ranges located to the south of the Bartang river valley: Rushansky, Shugnansky, Shakhdara and Ishkashim. The South-Western Pamir is located in the territories of the Ishkashim, Roshkalinsky, Shugnansky, Rushansky and Murgabsky districts of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan.
In the northwestern part of the region, the ridges rise to 6,000 - 6,500 meters above sea level, their slopes are dissected by deep valleys. There are numerous valley and caravan glaciers. To the east, the relative height of the ridges above the river valleys decreases; flat surfaces of the landscape are often found in the crested parts.
Short valley and slope glaciers appear. The height of the firn line increases from 4400 - 4600 meters above sea level in the northwestern part of the region to 5000 meters above sea level in the southeast. In total, there are 1873 glaciers in this region with a total area of ​​1309.7 square kilometers.
83% of all glaciers are smaller than 1.1 square kilometers, only 8 glaciers are larger than 10 square kilometers, and not a single glacier exceeds 25 square kilometers in area. Simple and complex valley and caravan glaciers make up about a third of all glaciers and occupy 70% of the area of ​​glaciation. 12.5% ​​of the number and 6.5% of the area are slope glaciers.

Authority:
"Glaciers." L.D. Dolgushin, G.B. Osipova. Series "Nature of the world." Moscow, the publishing house "Thought". 1989.