The Avalanche Peaks are two mountain peaks situated above the Arwa Valley to the northwest of Badrinath in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state of Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship...

. The peaks are named for the avalanche

Avalanche

An avalanche is a sudden rapid flow of snow down a slope, occurring when either natural triggers or human activity causes a critical escalating transition from the slow equilibrium evolution of the snow pack. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the...

s experienced by early climbers seeking to cross the glaciers beneath them.

Avalanche Peak I

Avalanche Peak I is situated on north-south massif between Kalindi Bamak and the Arwa Bank. This is the main peak among the two and situated south to the Avalanche Peak II. The altitude of the summit is 6196 metres.

The peak was first climbed in 1931 by Eric Shipton

Eric Shipton

Eric Earle Shipton CBE was a distinguished British Himalayan mountaineer.-Early years:Born in Ceylon in 1907 where his father, a tea planter, died before he was three years old. His mother buried her grief by taking Eric and his sister Marge and travelling constantly for the next five years...

 and Frank Smythe

Frank Smythe

Francis Sydney Smythe better known as Frank Smythe was a British mountaineer, author, photographer and botanist. He is best remembered for his mountaineering in the Alps and the Himalayas. He identified a region that he named the "Valley of Flowers", now a protected park...

 with two Sherpa

Sherpa people

The Sherpa are an ethnic group from the most mountainous region of Nepal, high in the Himalayas. Sherpas migrated from the Kham region in eastern Tibet to Nepal within the last 300–400 years.The initial mountainous migration from Tibet was a search for beyul...

s.

Avalanche Peak II

Avalanche Peak II is the higher and more northerly peak. It is situated south of the Kalindi Khal which separates the Chaturangi glacier from the Arwa valley. The altitude of the summit is 6443 metres.