Kanchenjunga

Long ago, India was a big island far away from Asia.

It slowly moved north and pushed into Asia. The land crumpled up into tall mountains.

Kanchenjunga is part of the Himalayas. The US Geological Survey explains that about 200 million years ago India began moving north, across an ocean called the Tethys. Between 40 and 50 million years ago, India collided with Eurasia.

Both landmasses had about the same rock density, so neither could slide beneath the other. Instead, the collision zone was pushed upward and crumpled, building the jagged Himalayan peaks.

The USGS publication This Dynamic Earth describes India as a large island off the Australian coast about 225 million years ago, separated from Asia by the Tethys Sea. After Pangaea broke apart about 200 million years ago, India moved north; about 80 million years ago it lay roughly 6,400 km south of Asia, moving about 9 m a century. Its collision with Eurasia began 40 to 50 million years ago.

Because both continental landmasses have about the same rock density, neither could be subducted; the pressure was relieved by thrusting skyward and contorting the collision zone, raising the Himalayas, of which the Kanchenjunga massif is a part.

Rivers of ice called glaciers slide down from the high peaks.

One big glacier is 26 kilometers long.

Valley glaciers surround the top of Kanchenjunga. In December 2019, an astronaut on the International Space Station photographed the mountain, and NASA points out glaciers such as Yalung in its shadows.

On the mountain's eastern side, India's Khangchendzonga National Park has eighteen glaciers, according to UNESCO, including the Zemu Glacier, which is 26 kilometers long. Many lakes dot the high, bare land.

An astronaut photograph from the International Space Station (16 December 2019) shows Kangchenjunga's apex surrounded by valley glaciers, some, like Yalung, visible in shadow, with low cloud lying over the valley floors. UNESCO records eighteen glaciers in Khangchendzonga National Park, including the 26 km Zemu Glacier, which it calls one of the largest in Asia, along with numerous high-altitude lakes.

Forests grow low down in the park. Higher up, there is only rock and snow.

Snow leopards and red pandas live in the park.

Khangchendzonga National Park climbs from 1,220 meters to 8,586 meters, more than 7 kilometers of height in a fairly small area. That packs subtropical forests, alpine zones and icy peaks close together.

UNESCO says the park is home to nearly half of India's bird diversity and one third of the country's flowering plants. Six kinds of wild cats have been confirmed there, including the snow leopard, along with red pandas, blue sheep and Himalayan tahr.

UNESCO describes an extraordinary vertical sweep of over 7 km (1,220 to 8,586 m) within 178,400 ha, from subtropical to alpine ecosystems, steep because the Himalayas are narrowest here. The park holds nearly half of India's bird diversity, a third of its flowering plants and the widest zone of krummholz (stunted forest) in the Himalaya.

Six cat species are confirmed (leopard, clouded leopard, snow leopard, jungle cat, golden cat and leopard cat), with the snow leopard the largest Himalayan predator; flagship species also include the Tibetan wolf, red panda, goral, blue sheep, Himalayan tahr, mainland serow, two musk deer species, four pikas and the particolored flying squirrel. The park was established in 1977 and more than doubled in 1997.

High in the mountains, the air has less oxygen. Climb slowly and rest.

Tell a grown-up if your head hurts.

The air is thin in high mountains. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says altitude illness often comes from going too high too fast, that children can get it just as easily as adults, and that going up gradually is the key to staying well.

PlayOwl's advice: enjoy views like this one from a safe lookout, stay on marked trails in the park, and watch wild animals from a distance.

The CDC's Yellow Book notes that any unacclimatized traveler sleeping at 2,450 m or higher, and sometimes lower, risks altitude illness; children are as susceptible as adults and fitness does not lower the risk. Above 3,000 m it advises raising sleeping altitude by no more than 500 m a day, with an extra day for every additional 1,000 m. NASA describes the terrain around Kangchenjunga as dauntingly dangerous.

PlayOwl's own advice: keep to marked trails and give wildlife space.