Himalayas

The Himalayas are the highest chain in the world stretching over a length of 3,800 km. The Himalayan "snow residence" in Sanskrit, is crowned by Mount Everest which rises to 8,846 meters.
Even today, the Himalayas continue to rise a few millimeters a year. At the same time, the mountain range is eroded by wild torrents.
It's a real struggle between the forces of nature that has been going on for more than 50 million years.
The Himalayas do not have any active volcano. It is one of the youngest mountain belts on Earth.
The Himalaya has become for some years the eldorado of trekkers. Indeed, Nepal is the cradle of trekking. Long hikes in the valleys and on the crests of the Himalayas are organized with permanently imposing landscapes in the background .

Birth of the Himalayas

The mountain range runs south-east from northern Pakistan and India to Bhutan via Nepal.

Formed over the last 50 million years, the Himalayas are largely composed of deformed and metamorphosed rocks of the Indian crust.

Himalayas

Mount Everest in the Himalayas. By Top Gold

Layers of lava and ash from extinct volcanoes are very rare in the Himalayas. It is found in very large quantities on the other side of the Ganges plain.
From 60 to 70 million years ago, countless craters expelled 500,000 km3 of lava and ashes.

Gokyo in Nepal

Gokyo in Nepal. By Mbollino

Their eruptions probably marked the beginning of the most violent collision between two land masses in the recent history of the Earth.

The Indian plaque, a fragment of Gondwana, collided with the Eurasian landmass, including present-day Tibet.

Himalayas

Himalayas. By Gulf 2001

It is thus the collision of the Indian plate and that of Southeast Asia which is at the origin of the appearance of the Himalayas.
The elevation of the Himalayas transformed the climate of the region, giving rise in Southeast Asia to the annual monsoon.

Himalayas. Ngozumpa Glacier

Ngozumpa Glacier. By Mckaysavage

For more than 60 million years, the Indian subcontinent continues to penetrate the Eurasian continent, over a distance of about 2,000 km. The process is far from over.

Eurasia opposes a fierce resistance by coming in turn to ride India. If this movement continues, India will disappear in the distant future.

Structure of the Himalayas

The Himalayas is a virtually impassable barrier. However, the bar-headed goose regularly crosses the summits.

Himalaya in Tibet

The eternal snows of the Himalayas in Tibet. td Stevenson

Number of peaks of this chain exceed 8000 meters and are covered with eternal snow and glaciers:

Everest is the highest point in the world with 8,856 meters. On May 29, 1953 New Zealand's Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest for the first time.
Since the first ascents of Everest, several hundred mountaineers have climbed the mountain and more than a hundred have left their lives.

Mount Everest

Mount Everest. By 'Owen

This tourism is welcome for a very poor local population.
However, the removal of waste left by shipments has become a real problem.

Tibet

Desert expanses of the Tibetan plateau. By Matthew Winterburn

The K2 is the second highest in the world. It rises to 8,611 m above the sea. It was conquered in 1954 by Italian mountaineers.

The Annapurna culminates at 8,078 m. Its north face was climbed for the first time in 1950 by the French mountaineer Maurice Herzog.

Two major rivers, the Indus and the Brahmaputra, take their source in these mountains.

To the south, the mountains rise from the Ganges plain to the Siwalik mountains. A large gap separates the Siwalik from the central Himalayas, which rises to 5,000 m.

Annapurna

Annapurna. By Ron Layters

To the north is the Great Himalayas, which rises to more than 7000 m above sea level. To the north of the Great Himalayas lies the vast Tibetan plateau.

Trekking in the Himalayas

Highly visited pilgrimage sites, the pristine high peaks of the Himalayas are a symbol of purity for Hindus.

This mountain range seems compact but actually forms a mosaic of climatic zones and very varied natural and cultural regions.

Trekking in the Himalayas

Trekking in the Himalayas. By Smiling Camel

It is in Nepal that the best trekking is organized. Just come with suitable clothes and his sleeping bag.
Facilities and courses are supported by local organizers.

Trekking in Nepal

Trekkers in Nepal. KK Condon

Trekking is also practiced in northern India, Tibet and Bhutan, but the organization is much smaller.

Pakistan also offers beautiful treks. Since the first Himalayan highway, the Karakorum highway, which connects northern Pakistan to western China, was opened to tourists in 1986, this route is attracting more and more people.

Ama Dablam. Himalayas

Ama Dablam in the Himalayas. By McKay Savage

Nepal also offers rafting. More and more trekkers combine mountain trekking with rafts on the Sun Kosi or Trisuli.

Nepal. Phewa Lake

Phewa Lake, Himalayas, Nepal. By Ironmanixs

The foothills of the Himalayas shelter several grandiose reserves. Corbett-National-Park is home to a tiger protection project.

Between two treks, you can spend a few days in the houseboats of Srinagar, Simla, Kathmandu or Sikkim.

The Himalayas allow to flee the modern world and the stress of everyday life. Those who try the adventure never stop coming back.