FAN MOUNTAiN's & PAMiR's

Fann Mountains
Tajikistan is landlocked, and is the smallest nation in Central Asia by area. It is covered by mountains of the Pamir range, and more than fifty percent of the country is over 3,000 meters (approx. 10,000 ft) above sea level. The only major areas of lower land are in the north (part of the Fergana Valley), and in the southern Kofarnihon and Vakhsh river valleys, which form the Amu Darya. Dushanbe is located on the southern slopes above the Kofarnihon valley. Fan Mountain's The most raised central part of the Zeravshan ridge located between Archamaydan valley on З and Fandarya on В, on c-3. In height over 5000 m (the greatest = 5489 m, Chimtarga). Are combined mainly by Paleozoic limestones. Freakish forms of a relief; peaked tops. There are glaciers. The river (pool Zeravshana) have developed narrow and deep gorges. Many picturesque high-mountainous lakes (Iskanderkul, Kulikalon, etc.). In valleys of the rivers there is a poplar, a maple, a birch, some kinds of fruit trees, a hawthorn, etc.; on slopes to height 3000 m grows fur tree. his place is created by the nature especially for climbers, mountaineers and other fans of active vacation in the entire Central Asia. They attract travelers not only by captivating beauty of the nature but also by variable environment, rich flora and fauna.

Dozens of routes across the Fan Mountains passes will help you to get better acquainted with the rich nature of this corner of mountain Tajikistan, to see its most beautiful places. Everyone who has visited them once, left with indelible impressions for the rest of his life.

"I left my heart in the Fan Mountains. Now I heartlessly walk o’er plains" - Jury Vizbor, a famous song writer used to sing. So does everyone who has spent a vacation in the Fans.

The Fan's boast about a hundred peaks, with several rising to altitudes of more than 5000 meters and relative elevations of up to 1500 meters. The highest point in Fann Mountains is Chimtarga peak (5489 m). Other 5000 m peaks are Bodkhona (5138 m), Chapdara (5050 m), Big Hansa (5306 m), Little Hansa (5031 m), Zamok (Castle, 5070 m), Mirali (5132 m), and Energy (5120 m).

The best time for visiting is May-October for trekking and July-September for mountaineering , when the weather is usually at its best. Access is generally from Dushanbe which can be reached either from Khujand and Uzbek border Oybek.

Mountain- Height- Location
Ismoil Somoni Peak (highest)    7,495 m                24,590 ft                  North-western edge of Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO), south of the Kyrgyz border

Ibn Sina Peak (Lenin Peak)         7,174 m                23,537 ft                  Northern border in the Trans-Alay Range, north-east of Ismoil Somoni Peak

Peak Korzhenevskaya   7,105 m                23,310 ft                  North of Ismoil Somoni Peak, on the south bank of Muksu River

Independence Peak (Revolution Peak)                6,974 m                22,881 ft                  Central Gorno-Badakhshan, south-east of Ismoil Somoni Peak

Akademiya Nauk Range               6,785 m                22,260 ft                  North-western Gorno-Badakhshan, stretches in the north-south direction

Karl Marx Peak 6,726 m                22,067 ft                  GBAO, near the border to Afghanistan in the northern ridge of the Karakoram Range

Mayakovskiy Peak          6,096 m                20,000 ft                  Extreme south-west of GBAO, near the border to Afghanistan.

Concord Peak   5,469 m                17,943 ft                  Southern border in the northern ridge of the Karakoram Range

Kyzylart Pass     4,280 m                14,042 ft                  Northern border in the Trans-Alay Range

The Amu Darya and Panj rivers mark the border with Afghanistan, and the glaciers in Tajikistan's mountains are the major source of runoff for the Aral Sea. There are over 900 rivers in Tajikistan longer than 10 kilometers.

About 2% of the country's area is covered by lakes, the best known of which are the following:

Kayrakum (Qairoqqum) Reservoir (Sughd)
Iskanderkul (Fann Mountains)
Kulikalon (Kul-i Kalon) (Fann Mountains)
Nurek Reservoir (Khatlon)
Kara-Kul (Tajik: Qarokul; eastern Pamir)
Sarez (Pamir)
Shadau Lake (Pamir)
Zorkul (Pamir)

Lesser known lakes (all in the Pamir region) include
Bulunkul
Drumkul
Rangkul
Sasykkul
Shorkul
Turumtaikul
Tuzkul
Yashilkul

PAMiR's

The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range in Central Asia formed by the junction or knot of the Himalayas, Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush ranges. They are among the world’s highest mountains and since Victorian times they have been known as the "Roof of the World" a probable translation from the Persian.

In other languages they are called: Kyrgyz Памир тоолору; Persian: رشته کوه های پامیر Reshte Kūh-hāye Pāmīr; Tajik: Кӯҳҳои Помир; Hindi: पामीर पर्वतमाला; Urdu: پامیر کوهستان; Uyghur: پامىر ئېگىزلىكى; Chinese: 帕米尔高原; pinyin: Pàmǐ'ěr Gāoyuán. Another Chinese name is Congling (cōnglǐng 葱嶺), (Wade-Giles: Ts'ung-ling) or "Onion Range" (after the wild onions growing in the region).

The precise extent of the Pamir Mountains is debatable. They lie mostly in Gorno-Badakhshan province, Tajikistan and Badakshan Province, Afghanistan. To the north they join the Tian Shan mountains along the Alay Valley of Kyrgyzstan. To the south they join the Hindu Kush mountains along the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan/Pakistan, and also Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan. To the east they may end on the Chinese border or extend to the range that includes Kongur Tagh which is sometimes included in the Kunlun Mountains.

The Pamir Mountains were prominently featured in the 1985 film, Spies Like Us starring Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd. They were even described by Austin Milbarge (Aykroyd) as being "the roof of the world" and having "sub-Arctic temperatures".

There are three highest mountains are Ismoil Somoni Peak (known from 1932–1962 as Stalin Peak, and from 1962–1998 as Communism Peak), 7,495 m (24,590 ft); Ibn Sina Peak (still unofficially known as Lenin Peak), 7,134 m (23,406 ft); and Peak Korzhenevskaya (Russian: Пик Корженевской, Pik Korzhenevskoi), 7,105 m (23,310 ft).

There are many glaciers in the Pamir Mountains, including the 77 km (48 mi) long Fedchenko Glacier, the longest in the former USSR and the longest glacier outside the Polar region. Covered in snow throughout the year, the Pamirs have long and bitterly cold winters, and short, cool summers. Annual precipitation is about 130 mm (5 in), which supports grasslands but few trees. Coal is mined in the west, though sheep herding in upper meadowlands are the primary source of income for the region.

This section is based on the book by R. Middleton and H. Thomas

The lapis lazuli found in Egyptian tombs is thought to come from the Pamir area in Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. About 138 BC Zhang Qian reached the Fergana Valley northwest of the Pamirs. Ptolemy vaguely describes a trade route though the area. From about 600 AD, Buddhist pilgrims travelled on both sides of the Pamirs to reach India from China. In 747 a Tang army was on the Wakhan River. There are various Arab and Chinese reports. Marco Polo may have travelled along the Panj River. In 1602 Bento de Goes travelled from Kabul to Yarkand and left a meager report on the Pamirs. In 1838 Lieutenant John Wood reached the headwaters of the Pamir River. From about 1868 to 1880, a number of Indians in the British service secretly explored the Panj area. In 1873 the British and Russians agreed to an Afghan frontier along the Panj River. From 1871 to around 1893 several Russian military-scientific expeditions mapped out most of the Pamirs (Alexei Pavlovich Fedchenko, Nikolai Severtzov, Captain Putyata and others. Later came Nikolai Korzhenevskiy). Several local groups asked for Russian protection from Afghan raiders. The Russians were followed by a number of non-Russians including Ney Elias, George Littledale, the Earl of Dunmore, Wilhelm Filchner and Lord Curzon who was probably the first to reach the Wakhan source of the Oxus River. In 1891 the Russians informed Francis Younghusband that he was on their territory and later escorted a Lieutenant Davidson out of the area ('Pamir Incident'). In 1892 a battalion of Russians under Mikhail Ionov entered the area and camped near the present Murghab. In 1893 they built a proper fort there (Pamirskiy Post). In 1895 their base was moved to Khorog facing the Afghans.

In 1928 the last blank areas around the Fedchenko Glacier were mapped out by a German-Soviet expedition under Willi Rickmer Rickmers.According to Middleton and Thomas, 'pamir' is also a geological term. A pamir is a flat plateau or U-shaped valley surrounded by mountains. It forms when a glacier or ice field melts leaving a rocky plain. A pamir lasts until erosion forms soil and cuts down normal valleys. This type of terrain is found in the east and north of the Wakhan, and the east and south of Gorno-Badakhshan, as opposed to the valleys and gorges of the west. Pamirs are used for summer pasture.

The Great Pamir is around Lake Zorkul. The Little Pamir is east of this in the far east of Wakhan. The Taghdumbash Pamir is between Tashkurgan and the Wakhan west of the Karakoram Highway. The Alichur Pamir is around Yashil Kul on the Gunt River. The Sarez Pamir is around the town of Murghab. The Khargush Pamir is south of Lake Karakul. There are several others.

The Pamir River is in the south-west of the Pamirs. In the early 1980s, a deposit of gemstone-quality clinohumite was discovered in the Pamir Mountains. It was the only such deposit known until the discovery of gem-quality material in the Taymyr region of Siberia, in 2000. The Pamir Highway, the world's second highest international road, runs from Dushanbe in Tajikistan to Osh in Kyrgyzstan through the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, and is the isolated region's main supply route. The Great Silk Road crossed a number of Pamir Mountain ranges. In December 2009, the New York Times featured articles on the possibilities for tourism in the Pamir area of Tajikistan. Historically, the Pamir Mountains were considered a strategic trade route between Kashgar and Kokand on the Northern Silk Road and have been subject to numerous territorial conquests. The Northern Silk Road (about 2,600 km (1,616 mi) in length) connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xian to the west over the Pamir Mountains to emerge in Kashgar before linking to ancient Parthia.In the 20th century, they have been the setting for Tajikistan Civil War, border disputes between China and Soviet Union, establishment of US, Russian, and Indian military bases, and renewed interest in trade development and resource exploration.

Some text is taken from Wikipedia.org