Shishapangma
— the only eight-thousander entirely in Tibet.
Not only on a wall.
“The fourteenth of the world's eight-thousand-metre peaks, and the only one that lies completely inside Tibet. Shishapangma rises to 8,027 metres in the Jugal Himal, about five kilometres north of the Nepal border in Nyalam County, Shigatse Prefecture. A Chinese expedition under Xu Jing put ten climbers on the summit on 2 May 1964, the last of the fourteen highest mountains in the world to be climbed.
Shishapangma, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Shishapangma stands at 8,027 metres in the Jugal Himal of the southern Tibet Autonomous Region, in Nyalam County, Shigatse Prefecture. It is the fourteenth-highest mountain in the world and the only eight-thousand-metre peak whose entire mass lies within China, about five kilometres north of the Nepal border. The Tibetan name, Shisha Pangma, translates roughly as the crest above the grassy plain, after the high pastures on the northern flank. A Chinese expedition led by Xu Jing reached the main summit on 2 May 1964, the last of the world's eight-thousanders to be climbed.
Above 8,000 metres the air pressure drops below a third of its sea-level value, and the body cannot acclimatise indefinitely. Most ascents of Shishapangma now follow the northwest face from a base camp at roughly 5,000 metres on the Tibetan side, with high camps at 6,400, 7,100, and 7,400 metres. The central summit at 8,008 metres is the easier objective and is sometimes climbed by parties claiming the full peak. The true main summit lies along a long, corniced ridge to the east at 8,027 metres, exposed to the full force of the jet stream.
The standard climbing windows are the post-monsoon weeks of late September and October and a narrower spring window in April and May before the monsoon. Winter brings hurricane-force jet-stream winds across the summit ridge. The mountain has held about 50 fatalities against roughly 350 successful ascents, a high ratio for an eight-thousander, partly because of the long, complex traverse to the true summit and a history of avalanches off the south face. Access depends on permits issued by the Chinese Tibet Mountaineering Association.