Major peaks

Story hook

On 27 May 1955, George Band and Joe Brown of the British Kanchenjunga Expedition stopped a few feet short of the summit of Kanchenjunga (8,586 m) — the world's third-highest peak. They had promised the Chogyal (King) of Sikkim that the sacred summit would remain untrodden out of respect for Sikkimese beliefs that the mountain is the abode of a god. This tradition has been honored ever since by almost every Kanchenjunga expedition. Even today, climbers ascend to within a few metres of the actual summit and then turn back.

Compare that with K2 (8,611 m), world's second highest, in the Karakoram of PoK. K2 was first summited on 31 July 1954 by Italians Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli under the leadership of Ardito Desio. With a death rate of ~25% (versus Everest's 4%), K2 is called the "Savage Mountain" — the deadliest of the world's 14 eight-thousanders. Nanga Parbat (8,126 m), also in PoK, is the "Killer Mountain" with a similar reputation. The 1934 German expedition lost 11 climbers in a single storm.

These are the three 8,000-m peaks in Indian-administered territory. Mount Everest (8,849 m) is in Nepal, not India. But beyond the Himalayan giants, India has its own roster of Peninsular peaks: Anaimudi (2,695 m, Kerala) is the highest peak in peninsular India; Doddabetta (2,637 m) is the highest in the Nilgiris; Mahendragiri (1,501 m, Odisha- AP) is among the highest in the Eastern Ghats; Dhupgarh (1,350 m, MP) is the highest of the Satpura range.

This file walks through these eight named peaks plus their neighbours — by location, by altitude, by historical first ascents.

Why this matters for UPSC

UPSC Prelims has asked direct peak-identification questions in most years since 2010. Mains GS-I has asked "How does Anaimudi differ in geology and significance from Kanchenjunga?" (2019), and "Discuss the cultural and ecological significance of named Indian peaks" (2022). Peaks also feed into Geography Optional, Forestry-Environment questions (Western Ghats biodiversity), and even Ethics (Kanchenjunga's "untrodden summit" respect for indigenous belief).