Nanda Devi

The west wall of the Nanda Devi

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The Nanda Devi is after the Kangchenjunga ( Sikkim ) is the second highest mountain and the highest Indian, the completely located on Indian territory. His name means goddess of joy.

In addition to the 7,816 m high main peak there is the 7,434 m high east summit.

As the mountain was climbed for the first time in 1936 by a British- American expedition, he was the highest summit climbed up to the first ascent of Annapurna ( 8,091 m) in 1950.

In the fall of 1965 attempted agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation, on the summit of equipment for fishing expeditions Chinese nuclear activities in Tibet to install. Due to bad weather, they had to stop the rise, but left a generator which was equipped with two pounds of plutonium-238 as fuel, about 600 meters below the summit back. A remounting the following spring the container was swept away by a landslide and was - possibly damaged - the main source of the holy Ganges for 500 million Hindus, which also provides a large part of the Indian water supply. Despite extensive search, the devices could not be found. Instead, the station was installed in 1967 on the adjacent Nanda Kot. The risk of plutonium release is assessed by the Indian government as only small, so that no effort was made to salvage.

With a climbing attempt came in 1976 Willi Unsoelds daughter Nanda Devi Unsoeld killed.

The affected area was closed from 1968 to 1974. In 1982, the nature reserve around the Nanda Devi was converted into a national park. Since the ascent of Nanda Devi is prohibited for environmental reasons. The Nanda Devi National Park was incorporated in 1988 in the list of UNESCO World Natural Heritage.