Shipton's Arch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shipton's Arch, also known as Tushuk Tash (Pierced Rock in Uyghur) and (Simplified Chinese: 天洞; Traditional Chinese: 天洞; pinyin: Tiāndòng; Wade-Giles: Tiandong), meaning Hole in Heaven in Chinese, is a conglomerate natural arch, located to the West-northwest of Kashgar, in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
This is very probably the world's highest natural arch. Though long familiar to locals, it was made known to the West in 1947 by English mountaineer Eric Shipton, while he was traveling between Tashkent and Kashgar and reported by him in his book Mountains of Tartary. The arch once figured in the Guinness Book of Records for its exceptional height, but editors of the book could not locate the arch exactly, so the listing was dropped.
It was only as recently as May 2000 that an expedition sponsored by National Geographic finally rediscovered the arch for foreigners. Today, several tourist companies operating out Kashgar operate day trips to the arch for tourists. The arch is about a two to three hour drive from Kashgar, half of which must be traversed off-road. As of July 2006, renting a jeep from Kashgar to the arch for the day cost about ¥1000, making it highly accessible to the average traveler. As the arch becomes increasingly commercialized, the ladders needed to reach the arch have been made permanent, and evidence of other travelers is visible at the site.
The height of the arch is unofficially estimated to be 1,200 ft, about the height of the Empire State Building. The span of the arch is roughly 180 feet.
Approximate location is: 39°53'6.59"N 75°12'59.21"E
