Pico de Orizaba is the largest mountain in Mexico. The Orizaba is volcanic in nature. Though it’s been dormant since the 19th century it could become active again.

Some facts about the peak:

• Pico de Orizaba stands tall at a height of about 5636m.
• It’s the third highest mountain in North America.
• Furthermore, it’s also the highest volcano in North America.
• This beautiful spectacle of nature is considered the second most prominent volcano in the world. The first being Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro
• The peak was first scaled in 1948 by American soldiers.
• Orizaba has a snow covered peak and is home to nine glaciers, including the Gran Glaciar Norte which is the largest glacier in Mexico.
• The volcano’s crater is in the shape of an ellispe, having a maximum diameter of 478m.

Karakoram 2 (K2) is located in the north-western Karakoram Mountain Range, in Northern Pakistan at the border between Pakistan and China. The Karakoram Mountain range is a part of the Himalayas, home of the world’s largest mountains. K2 stands at a towering 8 611 meters. Among mountaineers, K2 is known as The Savage Mountain as it has proved notoriously difficult to climb the mountain’s peak and a number of mountaineers have lost their lives in the attempt.

Here are ten interesting facts about K2:

• K2 has a peak elevation of 8 611m. Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak, is only a mere 237 meters higher at 8 848m.
• K2 is also known as Mount Godwin-Austen, honouring Henry Godwin-Austen an early explorer of the area.
• Locals also call the peak Chogori in Urdu and Balti Language.
• For every four climbers who have reached the mountain’s summit, one has died trying.
• The first, ill-fated, attempt to climb K2 was made in 1902. However despite a number of brave attempts, and much expense, they were only able to reach a height of 6 525m before sickness and poor weather conditions forced them to turn back.
• K2 remained unclimbed until 31 July 1954 when a successful expedition led by Italian explorer Ardito Desio reached the peak.
• The first American ascent was made in 1978 with a team led by the famous mountaineer James Whittaker.
• In 1986 Wanda Rutkiewicz from Poland became the first woman to reach the peak.
• Up until 2009, only eleven women had reached the summit of K2, while four had died making the attempt.
• The most favourable time to climb K2 is during the spring and autumn months. The winter months bring heavy snows and strong winds, while the summer months bring the monsoonal rains.
• K2 has never been successfully climbed during the winter.

K2 remains one of the world’s most dangerous peaks to climb. Extreme weather conditions have seen only 246 climbers reach the summit of K2 to date, with at least 55 climbers dying while making an attempt on the mountain’s peak. The Savage Mountain would seem a fitting name for the world’s second highest mountain.

The Timor Sea is a shallow-bounded body of water located between the Island of Timor (where it forms a natural limit between Indonesia and Timor-Leste) and Australia. On the east and west, it is also bound by the Arafura Sea and the Pacific Ocean, respectively.

Here are a few facts about the Timor Sea:

• It is believed that Australia’s aboriginals may have arrived to the continent by island-hopping across the Timor Sea, around the time when sea levels were significantly lower.
• While the Timor Sea may be shallow, the deep Timor runs through near its northern edge, marking a natural boundary between the Indo-Australian plate and the Timor Plate.
• According to the Arafura and Timor Seas Ecosystem Action Program, this body of water (along with nearby Arafura) is estimated to share over 10% of Earth’s coral reefs, and 0.75% of sea mounts.
• Additionally, because of its relative remoteness, the sea harbors an extraordinary amount of marine wildlife, from shorebirds and dugong, to five out of seven different types of turtles and sea snakes.
• The climate around the Timor Sea is tropical and monsoonal; many weather phenomenons originate in this body.
• Two recent cyclones that disrupted the production of petroleum and hydrocarbons in the sea and human capital in Southeast Asia were Vivienne in February 2005, and Severe Tropical Cyclone Willy a month later.
• The sea contains significant petroleum and gas reserves, from which exploration is shared by Australia and Indonesia. Major petroleum projects in the region are spearheaded by Bayu-Undan (operated by ConocoPhillips), AED Oil, and Woodside Petroleum.

Since the discovery of petroleum in the 1970’s —and specifically, that of Greater Sunrise in 1974—, both Australia and East Timor are locked in a dispute over their national boundaries and the access to these hydrocarbon fields. The first Timor Gap Treaty was signed in 1989 between Australia and Indonesia, which became invalid when Timor-Leste seceded from the latter; another treaty was negotiated in 2002, dividing the sea’s natural reserves in a 90:10 ratio. However, the sea was subject to Australia’s worst oil spill in 2009, when the Montara oil field leaked over 74 days and pumped between 500 and 2,000 barrels of oil a day.

Karakoram mountain range, or translated from Turkic, the black rock range, is a majestic black and brown mountain system that covers 300 miles (500 km) in Afghanistan, and Central and South Asia. The Karakoram Range has the highest peak concentration (approximately 8000 meters in height). Millions of tourists are attracted to these beautiful mountain ranges to either trek through them or admire their beauty from afar.

Facts about the Karakoram mountain range:

Not only are they beautiful and cultural, they’re challenging to climb, have the highest peaks, and are covered in more glaciers than any other area of land other than the North and South poles. The Karakoram mountains are a great place to visit for the adventure lover, the trekker, or just the observer looking for an amazing sight to see.

• About 28-50% of the Karakoram mountain ranges are glaciated. It is the most glaciated place on earth other than the polar regions.
• The Karakoram mountain range has a significant impact on culture. It has been referred to inside of a number of novels (such as the novel Kim by Rudyard Kipling published in 1990), films (such as the film titled Karakoram by Marcel Ichac abouta French expedition to the Karakoram mountains in 1936).
• The sub ranges of the Karakoram mountain range do not have universal agreed names, so there’s no one certain name for the sub ranges.Concordia. Baltoro, Soltoro, Lupghar, Khunjerab, Panmah, Aghil, Masherbrum, Saser, Hispar, Siachin, Rino, Batura, Rakaposhi/Bagrot and Haramosh are some of the unofficial and debated names for the sub-regions of the Karakoram
• TheBaltistan area of the Karakoram mountain range has more than 100 mountain peaks that escalate higher than 6,100 meters from sea level.
• Karakoram mountain glaciers are covered with a type of rubble that insulates ice from the sun, therefore causing the preservation of the mountain range’s abundant glaciers.
• Because it’s ruggedness and high altitude, the Karakoram mountain range is barely inhabited.
• Even in the summer season, the Karakoram mountain range has a snow line of 4,200-4,500 meters.
• Karakoram offers danger and challenge to any mountaineer and adventure lover who would want to explore the mountain range. There’s fractured rocks, guarding vertical characteristics, and sharp angled slopes.
• The Karakoram mountain region has great geopolitical significance.The mountain range covers the borders of Tajikistan, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India.
• The Karakoram mountain range receives about 100 expeditions per year.
• Some of the towering peaks of the Karakoram mountain range remain unscaled and unexplored.
• The Karakoram mountain range is surrounded by 5 rivers: The Shyok, Ishkuman, Gilgit, Shaksgan,and Indus.
• The temperatures in the Karakoram mountain range have a large difference between the lowest and highest mercury in a day.
• Travelers describe the mountains as elegant because of the silk route passing through it, beautiful ranges, dark mountains, rope bridges, and gigantic glaciers.
• It is better to climb the Karakoram mountains between the months of May and September.
• There are no forests in the Karakoram mountains, just mountain ranges.
• The Karakoram mountain range area has four distinct seasons.
• There’s a highway inside of the Karakoram mountain range that stretches North to South, straight through the range, called the Karakoram Highway.