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May Himal: Nilgiri
| FROM ISSUE # 149 (May 2008) | IN THIS ISSUE | |||
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Nilgiri, the "blue mountain", is dwarfed by nearby Annapurna and Dhaulagiri across the Kali Gandaki Valley. But the striking view of this mountain from Tatopani is etched in the minds of most people ever since Swiss Geologist Toni Hagen put his famous photograph on the cover of his 1958 classic, Nepal. 
The mountain looks blue because its south face is too steep for snowfields and the black granite looks blue from a distance. However, from Jomsom on the north side of the mountain, Nilgiri's frozen mass towers over the arid terrain of the trans-Himalaya.
 KUNDA DIXIT |
Nilgiri towers from Tatopani which can now be reached in one day from Pokhara via a new road to Baglung and Beni. The army has completed the road to continue north towards Jomsom. There is worry that this pristine valley has now been destroyed by the highway, but the road also gives acess to people to remote side valleys of the Kali Gandaki, like the Mirsiti Khola leading up to the north base camp of Annapurna I and the East Dhaulagiri Glacier. Toni Hagen had to walk two weeks from Butwal to get to take this picture. Now, anyone can do it.
• Kunda Dixit
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Ram Hari Thapa from Thamel, Chhetripati
May HIMAL QUIZ
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wave[at]himalmedia.com, with your name and contacts. The winner of the quiz will receive a shopping voucher worth Rs 1,000 from Singpore Enterprises, Kichhapokhari.