India is home to some majestic mountains. The mountain with the highest peak in India is Kangchenjunga. Kangchenjunga Mountain is located in Sikkim and the Sikkimese believe this mountain to be sacred. The locals believe that the Kangchenjunga Mountain is home to the Kangchenjunga Demon, which is a kind of yeti. Therefore when climbers reach towards the summit, they stay a few steps behind the actual summit to honor the traditional beliefs of the Sikkimese.

The Nanda Devi is the second highest mountain in India. The Nanda Devi Mountain is named after Willi Unsoeld’s daughter. Willi Unsoeld was an American mountaineer who lost his daughter, Nanda Devi on an expedition. The mountain peak was named after his daughter in her memory. The name means, “bliss giving goddess”. There was also a incident in the 1960s when the CIA tried to install a device on Nanda Devi to moniter Chinese nuclear activity in Tibet, but the device was lost in an avalanche.

The Panchchuli Mountain is a mountain with five major prominent peaks. The mountain peaks are located in Uttarakhand, India and range from the highest peak (6, 904 meters) to the lowest peak (6,334 meters). The name for Pancchuli Mountain was inspired by the Pandava. The Pandava are the five sons of Pandu, who was a king in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Part of the allure of the Panchchuli Mountain is the five snow capped peaks that are eternally filled with snow.

Although it’s not the highest mountain peak in India, Trisul Mountain is still famous for its three mountain peaks. The three peaks are famous because they resemble Lord Shiva’s trident. In Hindu legend a trident is Lord Shiva’s main weapon and called a Trishul. The Trisul Mountain is located in the Indian city of Bageshwar and has been successfully climbed by many international climing teams, including a British team in 1905 and a Yugoslavian team in 1960.

There’s something about mountains that has captured the imaginations of people everywhere. Without the people who risk their lives under dangerous conditions to climb these mountains, some of the mountains in India would probably not have the legendary status that they do now. Of course the mountain itself is in and of itself important, but it’s the idea that something that seems so impossible (like climing a high mountain) is, thanks to the sacrifice of a very few people, now achievable.