PLANET EARTH Mountains

Like the water running through it, the ice itself is constantly moving, flowing down the valley with unstoppable force. Alpine glaciers may seem immense, but they're dwarfed by those in the great ranges that divide the Indian subcontinent from Tibet.



This is the boulder strewn snout of the giant Baltoro glacier in the Karakoram（喀喇昆仑山脉） mountains of Pakistan. It's the biggest mountain glacier on Earth - 43 miles long and over 3 miles wide. This huge ice-filled valley is so large it's clearly visible from space.



This is the greatest concentration of peaks over 5 miles high to be found anywhere on Earth. They're the most dangerous mountains of all. K2 and her sister peaks have claimed more lives than any others. The peaks here rise so precipitously, the glaciers are so steep and crevassed that few except the most skilled mountaineers can penetrate these ranges.



Markhor（捻角山羊（一种大型野生山羊）） gather for their annual rut. Males must fight for the right to breed, but on these sheer cliffs any slip by either animal could be fatal. A snow leopard - the rarest of Himalayan animals. It's a female returning to her lair（巢穴）. These are the first intimate images of snow leopard（雪豹） ever filmed in the wild.