I liked the way that the turquoise colour of the water China holiday resorts changed according to depth and to the state of the sky, which suddenly clouded over then China holiday resorts came clear again. But Mustagh Ata was left engulfed, making its own clouds.
Sven Hedin made several attempts to climb the mountain, but his best effort took him 3000 feet below the summit. Eric Shipton got to within 200 feet with Tilman in 1947, while he was British Consul General in Kashgar. For a while I watched and pondered Mustagh Ata’s misty bulk, then turned and paddled back to the northern end to look for an exit stream leading towards Mount Kongur. The river flowed out beneath moraine so I carried the canoe until it became navigable.
