Kongur Tagh at 7,649 metres is the highest mountain in the Chinese Pamirs and the dominant northern presence from Karakul Lake, a massive summit with a complex ridge system and satellite peaks. Unlike Muztagh Ata to the south, Kongur is technically difficult: its upper sections involve serious ice climbing, and the peak was not climbed until 1981. Attempted only rarely since, it remains one of the more isolated high peaks in western China.
From the lake, Kongur Tagh appears as a white wall to the north and northwest, often with cloud trailing from its upper ridge. The relationship between Kongur and Muztagh Ata — the two peaks standing on either side of the lake valley — gives the site its dramatic quality. There is no other place in China, and few in the world, where you stand between two separate 7,000-metre peaks and can see both clearly.
Kongur Tiube, at 7,530 metres, is Kongur's subsidiary summit and appears as a separate peak from the lake; the two are connected by a high ridge. Together they form the northern wall of the Karakul basin.