Returning from Bangkok for our family summer holiday, we flew over Northern India and took this picture of a mountain peak through the window. In my ignorance I thought I could just ask cabin staff,...... who had no idea which mountain it was. It would usually not matter, but we happened to use this particular photo to finish our photobook of the whole trip and would really like to find which mountain it is. I'm guessing Annapurna or Annapurna II but it is such a distinctive double peak with the slightly lower peak having such a recognisable flat top. Someone out there will know it, please help me.


Thank you,

Mark Pugh
Stratford-on-Avon
UK

Also the full photo

Looks rather isolated, so it should be pretty easy to identify; perhaps start with the Garhwal Himalaya page maps and google earth's topo feature and match to your rough flight path - ?

http://www.summitpost.org/garhwal-himalaya/329987

I tried matching to flight path and looking for isolated peaks, this made me consider Annapurna; but I did not pay THAT MUCH ATTENTION at the time, my mistake! From certain angles it could be Annapurna II , but I am hoping someone will recognise it instantly. This forum has got to be a good place to start!!!

That mountain is Elbrus. Your photo is taken from the southeast, looking northwest at Elbrus.

Here's the same mountain from the ground:



Notice that all of the features match exactly.

It's in the Caucasus rather than the Himalaya. It's the highest mountain in Russia and generally considered to be the highest in Europe.

My opinion is based ONLY on the photos here, is that the peaks in questions appear far more flat at the summit and Elbrus looks less so. Maybe because of the angle?

Yes, it's only the angle.



Also from the southeast, but from a little closer and slightly different angle (compare left hand features with original photo):



Elbrus from the east:



Opposite side (from the north):



From the southwest, rather than the southeast:



From the south:





Ushba (mountain) is also visible in the original photo:

[b]EXCELLENT,[b] Thank you Scott, I knew someone out there could help me.

Because we used this as the final photo in the album....everyone asked where it was, and I took photos all the way home (12 hour flight).

Regards,

Mark

I just looked it up on Google Earth; closest I've ever been on the ground is in North Eastern Turkey in 1990. I used to work for a tour operator called "Explore" and in the summer of 1990 I took a group from Istanbul, travelling through Trabzon, Erzurum and onto Mt Ararat where we walked to find fossils all over the lower slopes.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS, I must be getting old!

Hi,

Since you say it is northern india, it could be Nun Kun.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nun_Kun

It is a twin peak massif.