Water-conserving Irrigation Strategies Minimize Overwatering, Runoff Nov 6, 2009
25, 2006) New research into climate change in the Western Himalaya and the surrounding Karakoram and Hindu Kush mountains could explain why many glaciers there are growing and not melting. The findings suggest. (Science Daily)
Just one more climb to reach the pinnacle of his career Sep 12, 2009
Known as the 14 "8000-ers", they're all more than 8000 metres, their summits well within the Death Zone, and all but four are in the Himalayas (the others are in Pakistan's Karakoram Range). Lock has climbed 13 of these extreme peaks, which is a feat in itself. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Australia)
Ladakh: Land of serene Buddhist legacies and pristine lakes Aug 27, 2009
Ladakh is bound by two of the worlds mighty mountain ranges the Himalayas and the Karakoram and has two other ranges, the Ladakh and Zanskar as a second line. With altitudes ranging between 9,000 and 25,000 ft, the winter temperatures fall way below -20C in the higher regions, with Drass having the lowest recorded temperature of -60C. (India Times)
Ladakh no longer cool Jul 15, 2009
The boom in tourism, the lifeline of this ancient trading post spread across 97,000 square km along the Himalayan and Karakoram Silk Route, is accelerating degradation, local eco-tourist operators said. According to department of wildlife officials who met the operators for the first time June 30 in Leh to discuss curbs on tourism to save Ladakh's environment, "75,000 tourists visited the district in 2008 and the number would go up by 2009-end". (India Times)
Ethnic Unrest in China Jul 7, 2009
by Jeffrey Tayler (March, 1999) Days of adventure and moments of transcendence along the Karakoram Highway ... The Pamir, Karakoram, and Kunlun Mountains cut off the region on the west and south; to the north and east spread Siberia and the Gobi Desert ... The fortunes of Xinjiang were for centuries intimately connected to the Silk Road, which led from central China through the Hexi Corridor, and then forked around the desert and the Tien Shan to pass through oasis settlements and continue up... (The Atlantic Online)
Kohistan nerves May 29, 2009
The only road that passes through the district is the key Karakoram Highway (KKH) that connects Pakistan with China. Officials are worried that once inside Kohistan, the Taliban could render this highway permanently insecure. (BBC News -- South Asia)
Al-Qaeda keeps its eyes on Afghanistan May 23, 2009
The Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok River, Shigar and Gilgit streams carry glacial waters into the main river. (Asia Times Online)
U.S. Humanitarian Mortenson Will Receive Pakistan's Highest Civil Award, Sitara-E-Pakistan (Star Of Pakistan), for Sixteen-Year Effort to Promote Rural Education and Literacy for Girls Mar 22, 2009
Greg Mortenson, his son Khyber, and daughter, Amira Mortenson, with students at Gultori War refugee school, Bromolo Colony, Karakoram mountains. These students escaped massive Indian artillery bombardment during the 1999 Kargil crisis on the Pakistan - India border. (PR Newswire)
• In Central Asia, helping kids for peace Feb 22, 2009
Mortenson never made it to the top, got lost in the Karakoram Mountains and stumbled into the Pakistani village of Korphe. The people of the village were so poor that children used sticks to write out school lessons in the dirt. (Burley South Idaho Press, ID)
Oak Grove Elementary students donate quarter-ton of pennies Feb 11, 2009
Mortenson s book details his quixotic quest to build a school in a remote village in the Karakoram mountains of northwestern Pakistan, starting in 1993, and the ensuing literacy campaign that has swept around the globe. Mortenson, who will speak Wednesday at Agnes Scott College, built his first school for $12,000. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- Living)
Mom and Pop Whitman track the elusive snow leopard Feb 8, 2009
They range amid the most formidable series of mountains on Earth: the Himalaya and Karakoram; the Plateau of Tibet; adjoining Kunlun; the Hindu Kush, Pamirs, and Tian Shan; the Altay, whose peaks define Mongolia's border with China, Kazakhstan, and Russia; and the Sayan chain west of Lake Baikal. One satellite-tracked leopard ranged between Pakistan and Afghanistan at elevations of from about 5,000 feet to almost 17,000 feet. (Weymouth News, MA)
