MUSTANG HIMAL, AUTUMN 2001
Tamotsu Ohnishi
NEW TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP OF WESTERN NEPAL
In the summer of 2001, the new 48 sheets of topographicalmaps of Nepal came out from the Survey Department of His
Majesty's Government of Nepal. These are a part of the western
series of Nepal Topographic Mapping Project which cover mostpart of the mountainous districts in western Nepal. They are in ascale of 1/50,000 and in a division of 15 minutes in longitude andlatitude similar to the 34 sheets of eastern and central Nepal thatwere published in 1997.
They were elaborated with thetechnical cooperation and financial support by the government ofFinland. Beautifully printed in multi-color, contour interval is
40 meters and supplementary contour at 20 meters.
In our reconnaissance to the mountain ranges in Mustang in
the autumn of 2001, we could avail ourselves of the 9 sheets(JOMSOM, MUKTINATH, TILICHO, DAMODAR KUNDA, LO
MANTHANG, PANLHAM, GAMMAR, ALANIKO CHULI,TINJE) out of 11 sheets that we needed at the time of our start.
For the lacking 2 sheets, we substituted rather old and obsolete
maps of the Survey of India and other private maps. Generally
speaking, new maps are useful to obtain the current information
pertaining to the regional administration such as the boundary
between villages and districts, mountain tracks, settlement
names, locations of mountain passes, bridges, schools, gompas
and etc. It was difficult to find such information in detail on themaps of the Survey of India since 1960's.
Reportedly the new maps have been worked out andcompiled being based on the aerial photograph taken by Survey
Department in the autumn of 1995, which were taken in quite
cloudless sky condition of early winter. In this photograph, muchof the Himalaya regions are mantled by fresh snow. We haveinterpreted some of the photographs of Mustang region, and wereconfused to identify the land surface condition exactly. In thesheet of TILICHO, for instance, we can find some errors indrawing and coloration of contours on the maps, especially at theglaciated area to the north of the great ranges. These errors areobviously caused by the insufficient field survey works.
Nevertheless, it was the fact that we were much helped bythe new maps in order to identify the numerous minor peaks seenfrom the top of the passes or hills near by the main road.
Meanwhile, in old maps, there were areas which had lack of thesurveying data. The first group was the area on the boundary
ridge between Mustang and Dolpo district, and the second wasalong the international border ranges extending from Manshail to
Arnikochuli to the north and western part of Lo Manthang.
Some of these ranges had been drawn incorrectly almost owing tovery poor print on the old one inch/one mile Survey of India map.
Many peaks exceeding 6000m exist in these areas. But they were
not listed in “Nepal Himalaya Inventory 1994” published byNepalese government although it is a useful booklet. On the newmaps, the heights of these peaks are determined by GPS
photogrammetric measurement, along with the data from theAttached Map of the Boundary Agreement between Nepal andChina in 1979. The heights of the main peaks along theinternational boundary are seemingly adopted by the Attachment
Map. However, even in this group, some discrepancies are foundin the heights of large number of peaks among the old Indianmaps, the maps of the Boundary Agreement and the new maps.
We also have to point out that there are not a few confusions
and errors in naming of peaks, rivers, villages or historical places
that we have ever used. Now, to our regret, some of these names
are changed, newly created, missing or misplaced on the newmaps. Though the notation in Romanized place name is explainedas "pronounce guide" in the margin of the map, the problem of thedifference between Tibetan name locally used and Nepalese nameon the map is still not solved.
The media news agency
mentioned that all the works of the mapping project would becompleted before early 2002 and accordingly all maps would beprinted and published by this spring. However as all the works

have too hurriedly been done in a shorter time, we are muchconcerned that they would come out without adding the data of
the sufficient field investigations and subsequent amendments.
Although the revision in this regard might be urged, it would be
not easy work to retouch them in a limited time, because they
employed no digital system of the world current trend method forthe map making.
We invited Mr. Katsutoshi Asahi as a scholarly member toour expedition who has been studying on Glaciology andGeomorphology in Nepal, and is now carrying out the steadfast
surveys on fluctuation of glaciers in all over the Nepal Himalaya.
Regarding to his field works done in the northwestern Mustangthat remained ever in blank and the other regions of the western
Nepal, we sincerely hope a fruitful outcome that leads to a successin his study work. His accomplishments in the eastern Nepal(Kangchenjunga, Langtang area) were already appeared in theacademic papers mentioned bellow.
Asahi,KAsahi,K & Watanabe,T: Past and recent fluctuations in Kanchenjunga
Himal, Nepal. Journal of Nepal Geological Society,vol.22,
Society,vol.22, pp481-490,
2000.
Asahi.K:
Inventry and recent variations of Glaciers in the Nepal
Himalaya. "SEPPYO" (Journal of the Japanese Society of Snow andIce) vol.63, pp159-169. 2001.(in2001.(in Japanese with English abstract)
Asahi,K
Issuance of the New Topographical Maps inAsahi,K & Watanabe.T:
Nepal and its problems. "CHIRI" (Monthly Journal of Geography)
vol.43-1, pp81-85,1998. (in(in Japanese)

Panoramic view of Damodar Himal from the point 6000m west of Chharang.