Machhapuchhre (Fishtail): The Mountain Nobody is Allowed to Climb

Machhapuchhre (also spelled Machapuchare) is a 6,993 m peak in Nepal’s Annapurna region, and no one is allowed to climb it. Local Gurung communities and Hindus revere it as a home of Lord Shiva, and the Nepal government has issued no climbing permits since 1957. The only official attempt stopped roughly 46 m below the top, so the summit of Fishtail Mountain has never officially felt a human footprint.

That single fact makes Machhapuchhre one of the most unusual mountains on Earth. Peaks far higher and harder have been climbed hundreds of times, yet this one remains closed by faith, a royal promise and a request from the man who led the only attempt. This guide covers the full story, the rumoured illegal ascent, the beliefs behind the ban, and every practical way to see the mountain up close.

Key Takeaways

• Machhapuchhre stands at 6,993 m (22,943 ft), about 25 km north of Pokhara in Kaski District.
• Climbing has been banned since the 1957 British expedition, and no permits are issued.
• Wilfrid Noyce and David Cox stopped about 150 ft (46 m) below the summit, not 150 m as many sites claim.
• Expedition leader Jimmy Roberts personally asked the government to close the mountain afterwards.
• A rumoured illegal ascent by New Zealander Bill Denz has never been proven.
• Gurung tradition once barred meat and eggs from the Annapurna Sanctuary below the peak.
• Trekkers can reach Machhapuchhre Base Camp (about 3,700 m) with an ACAP permit and a licensed guide.

Machhapuchhre Quick Facts

Detail	Information
Height	6,993 m (22,943 ft), south summit
North summit	6,997 m
Prominence	1,233 m
Coordinates	28°29′42″N, 83°56′57″E
Location	Kaski District, Gandaki Province, Nepal
Distance from Pokhara	About 25 km north
Range	Annapurna Himal
Protected area	Annapurna Conservation Area
Climbing status	Closed; officially unclimbed
Only official attempt	1957, British expedition led by Jimmy Roberts
Highest point reached	About 6,947 m, via the north ridge
Nickname	Fishtail Mountain; also called the “Matterhorn of Nepal”

Where is Machhapuchhre Located?

Machhapuchhre sits in the Annapurna massif of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It lies at the end of a long spur ridge running south from the main Annapurna backbone, roughly 25 km north of Pokhara.

That ridge forms the eastern wall of the Annapurna Sanctuary, a high glacial basin ringed by Annapurna I, Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Gangapurna and Annapurna III. Machhapuchhre and Hiunchuli stand on either side of the narrow gorge that leads into the Sanctuary, so the Fishtail acts as a guardian at the entrance.

The Modi Khola river drains the Sanctuary and cuts south through this gorge. Every trekker heading to Annapurna Base Camp follows the Modi Khola valley and walks directly beneath the western face of Machhapuchhre.

Why Does Machhapuchhre Look So Tall From Pokhara?

Pokhara sits at around 822 m, and Machhapuchhre rises almost 6,000 m above it in a short horizontal distance. Few places on Earth offer that much vertical relief from a city lakeside.

The mountain also stands in front of the main Annapurna range. Annapurna I (8,091 m) is more than 1,000 m higher, but it sits further back, so Machhapuchhre looks like the tallest peak on the skyline and dominates the view from nearly all of the best places to visit in Pokhara.

Its steep, symmetrical pyramid adds to the effect. That clean shape earned it the nickname “Matterhorn of Nepal”, a comparison to the famous Alpine peak on the Swiss-Italian border.

What Does Machhapuchhre Mean?

The name comes from Nepali: “machha” means fish and “puchhre” means tail. The mountain has two summits joined by a sharp ridge, and from certain angles they split apart like the fork of a fish’s tail.

Spelling	Where It Appears
Machhapuchhre	Most common Nepali transliteration
Machapuchare	Wikipedia and most English search results
Machhapuchchhre	Closest to the Devanagari माछापुच्छ्रे
Machhapuchre, Machapuchre	Shortened spellings on travel sites
Fishtail Mountain, Mt Fishtail	English name used by visitors

The Gurung (Tamu) people, whose villages sit below the mountain, have their own name for the peak in the Tamu language.

From Pokhara, the mountain looks like a single sharp pyramid, and the tail is hidden. The twin-summit shape appears from the west and northwest, and the sunrise viewpoint on the Ghorepani Poon Hill trek is one of the easiest places to see the fishtail profile clearly.

How Was Machhapuchhre Formed?

Machhapuchhre is a product of the collision between the Indian tectonic plate and the Eurasian landmass, which began around 50 million years ago. That collision pushed up the entire Himalaya and continues to lift the range today.

The Annapurna region holds clear evidence of that ancient past. The nearby Kali Gandaki valley contains fossils from the Tethys Sea, the ocean that once lay between India and Asia, dating back around 60 million years.

Why is Machhapuchhre Sacred?

The local Gurung community believes the mountain is the abode of Shiva, one of the principal deities of Hinduism. Many Hindus across Nepal share that belief, and the summit is treated as the god’s private home.

The whole Annapurna Sanctuary was traditionally seen as the home of several deities from Hinduism, Buddhism and older animistic beliefs. A well-known local explanation holds that the daily plume of snow blowing off the summit is the smoke of Shiva’s divine incense.

These beliefs shaped real rules on the ground:

• No meat or eggs: Until recent decades, Gurung villagers forbade anyone from bringing eggs or meat into the Annapurna Sanctuary.
• Restricted entry: Historical taboos also limited who could enter the Sanctuary at all.
• No climbing: Standing on the summit would mean trespassing on a sacred home, which is the foundation of the modern ban.

Why Has No One Climbed Machhapuchhre?

Faith is the core reason, but the ban also has a very human origin. In 1957, King Mahendra allowed a British team to attempt the mountain only on the condition that no one would set foot on the summit.

After returning, expedition leader Jimmy Roberts formally asked Nepalese authorities to ban all future expeditions to protect the peak’s spiritual significance, and the request was accepted. The man who came closest to climbing Machhapuchhre is the same man who closed it.

Since then, no climbing permit has been granted. The mountain has remained untouched for nearly seven decades while its neighbours have seen hundreds of expeditions.

Is It Illegal to Climb Machhapuchhre?

Yes. Every Himalayan peak in Nepal requires a government climbing permit, and no permits have been granted for Machhapuchhre since the 1957 expedition. Any attempt would be unauthorised and would carry legal penalties.

The exact year the ban became formal is unclear. Some sources date the closure to 1964, others to 1965, and others treat it as effective right after 1957. In practice, the result is the same: no legal route to the top exists.

Who Was Jimmy Roberts?

Lieutenant Colonel James Owen Merion “Jimmy” Roberts was a British Army officer who served with Gurkha regiments and spent decades exploring the Nepal Himalaya. Roberts had dreamed of climbing Machhapuchhre for around 20 years before the 1957 attempt.

Roberts is remembered today as the “Father of Trekking in Nepal”. The idea of guided walking holidays in the Himalaya, now the backbone of Nepal’s tourism economy, traces back to Roberts’ later work.

Roberts scouted the mountain in spring 1956 with Lal Bahadur Gurung and Ang Nyima Sherpa, then returned the following spring with a full team.

Who Were Wilfrid Noyce and David Cox?

Wilfrid Noyce was one of Britain’s finest climbers of the era and a writer. Noyce was a member of the 1953 British Everest expedition and later made the first ascent of Trivor (7,577 m) in the Karakoram in 1960, before dying on Mount Garmo in the Pamirs in 1962 at the age of 44.

David Cox, credited in records as A. D. M. Cox, was a historian and a strong rock climber known for hard routes in Wales. The pair formed the summit team on Machhapuchhre after illness and logistics thinned the expedition.

What Happened on the 1957 Expedition?

The team was small by Himalayan standards: four British climbers, Roberts as leader, and two Sherpas, 25-year-old Ang Nyima Sherpa and 17-year-old Ang Tshering Sherpa.

Stage	What Happened
Spring 1956	Roberts scouted the mountain with Lal Bahadur Gurung and Ang Nyima Sherpa
Late April 1957	Base Camp set up at about 3,960 m
Early setback	Roger Chorley withdrew after contracting polio
May 1957	The team pushed along the north ridge and up the northeast face
Logistics	Problems reduced the summit party to Noyce and Cox; Roberts helped others descend
Camp IV	Charles Wylie stayed at about 6,200 m with a Sherpa to secure the return
Final push	Noyce and Cox climbed to about 6,947 m, then turned back below the summit

The route beyond Camp IV required crossing an ice ridge and descending by rope to a glacier before continuing upward. While the pair pushed for the top, British army officer Charles Wylie and the Sherpa Tashi dug a tunnel roughly 15 ft long through that small ridge, 25 ft below its crest, to make the return shorter and safer.

Noyce documented the entire climb in the book Climbing the Fish’s Tail, published the following year. It remains the only climbing record of the mountain.

How Close Did Climbers Get to the Summit?

The correct figure is about 150 feet (46 m). Noyce and Cox reached within 150 ft of the summit via the north ridge, at an approximate altitude of 6,947 m.

Figure Quoted Online	Accurate?
150 feet (46 m)	Yes, matches the expedition record
150 metres	No, a unit mix-up that places the high point 100 m too low
50 metres	Close, a rounded version of 46 m
500 feet	No, overstates the gap by more than three times

The arithmetic confirms it: 6,993 m (summit) minus 6,947 m (high point) equals 46 m.

Whether faith or conditions turned them around is still debated. Some accounts argue that bad weather, hard ice and technical difficulty forced the retreat as much as the royal condition did.

Should Machhapuchhre Be Opened for Climbing?

The debate returns every few years, and both sides make serious points.

Arguments for Opening	Arguments for Keeping the Ban
Permit fees would fund local development	The mountain is sacred to local communities
A prestigious, unclimbed objective for alpinists	Consent of Gurung villages matters more than fees
Nepal already manages many technical peaks	The summit stays free of ropes, waste and crowds
Other sacred peaks have been climbed respectfully	The ban itself is now part of the peak’s identity and tourism appeal

For now, the prohibition stands, and no official proposal to lift it has advanced. As other Himalayan peaks struggle with fixed ropes and rubbish, Machhapuchhre is one of the few summits guaranteed to stay pristine.

What Wildlife Lives Around Machhapuchhre?

Machhapuchhre lies inside the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal’s first and largest protected area at 7,629 sq km. The area began as a pilot project in Ghandruk in 1986 and became a gazetted conservation area in 1992.

According to the National Trust for Nature Conservation, which manages it, the area holds 1,226 species of flowering plants, 105 mammals, 523 birds, 40 reptiles and 23 amphibians. More than 100,000 people also live inside its boundaries.

Species	Where to Look
Himalayan monal (Nepal’s national bird)	Forest edges above 2,500 m
Himalayan tahr	Steep grassy slopes and cliffs
Musk deer	Birch and rhododendron forests
Snow leopard	High, remote terrain; rarely seen
Rhododendron (Nepal’s national flower)	Forests below MBC, blooming March to April

Where are the Best Places to See Machhapuchhre?

The mountain is visible from dozens of spots, but each viewpoint shows a different face and a different shape.

Viewpoint	Altitude	Effort	Best Time	What Makes It Special
Phewa Lake, Pokhara	742 m	None	Early morning	Reflection on calm water
Sarangkot	About 1,600 m	Short drive, cable car or 2 to 3 hour hike	Sunrise	Classic panorama of the Annapurna range
World Peace Pagoda	About 1,100 m	1 hour hike or drive	Sunset	Lake, city and mountain in one frame
Poon Hill	3,210 m	3 to 5 day trek	Sunrise	Fishtail shape beside Dhaulagiri
Tadapani	2,630 m	On Poon Hill to ABC link	Morning	Peak framed through forest
Chhomrong	2,220 m	On the ABC route	Evening	Full view up the Modi Khola valley
Mardi Himal High Camp	About 4,100 m	5 to 7 day trek	Morning	Closest ridge-top views of the face
Machhapuchhre Base Camp	About 3,700 m	Part of the ABC trek	Dawn and dusk	The wall rises directly overhead

Phewa Lake gives the easiest view. On a still morning, the peak reflects on the water, and boats can be rented from the Lakeside shore.

Sarangkot is the classic sunrise spot above Pokhara and a paragliding launch point. The first light hits Machhapuchhre before the valley below, turning it gold and orange.

Poon Hill is the best low-altitude trek for the true fishtail shape, since the western angle reveals the twin summits.

Mardi Himal runs along the ridge directly southwest of the mountain. For the closest look without entering the Sanctuary, the trail of the Mardi Himal Base Camp trek climbs above 4,000 m with Machhapuchhre filling the view.

Can Trekkers Visit Machhapuchhre Base Camp?

Yes. Machhapuchhre Base Camp (MBC) sits at around 3,700 m, one short day below Annapurna Base Camp at 4,130 m. It is a lodge stop, not a climbing camp, since no expeditions use it.

The standard Annapurna Base Camp trek passes straight through MBC. The route follows the Modi Khola gorge from the last permanent village into the Sanctuary:

Stop	Approximate Altitude	What to Expect
Chhomrong	2,220 m	Last permanent Gurung village; ACAP checkpoint nearby
Sinuwa	About 2,340 m	Entry into the main Modi Khola valley
Bamboo	About 2,310 m	Dense bamboo and rhododendron forest
Dovan	About 2,600 m	Forest lodges beside the river
Himalaya	About 2,900 m	Valley narrows; peaks start to appear
Deurali	3,230 m	Above the tree line; avalanche-prone in winter and spring
Machhapuchhre Base Camp	About 3,700 m	Entrance to the Sanctuary; face of Machhapuchhre overhead
Annapurna Base Camp	4,130 m	360-degree view of the Sanctuary

At MBC, the valley opens out suddenly at a sharp turn, and the steep face of Machhapuchhre rises almost vertically above the lodges. The peak glows with alpenglow long after the sun leaves the valley floor.

Many trekkers spend a night at MBC rather than rushing to ABC. The extra night helps with acclimatisation, since MBC sits above the altitude where symptoms of mountain sickness can begin, and it gives a second chance at a clear sunrise.

How Should Trekkers Respect the Sacred Sanctuary?

The Sanctuary below Machhapuchhre is still a sacred landscape for Gurung communities. Visitors can show respect in simple ways:

• Keep meat out of the upper valley: Follow lodge guidance about meat and eggs above Chhomrong.
• Leave no waste: Carry rubbish back down, since the Sanctuary has no road access.
• Respect shrines and prayer flags: Walk clockwise around shrines and never remove or step on offerings.
• Ask before photographing people: Some villagers and ceremonies are private.
• Never attempt the mountain: Even scrambling onto the lower slopes breaks both law and local belief.

What Permits Do Trekkers Need to See Machhapuchhre Up Close?

Machhapuchhre lies inside the Annapurna Conservation Area, so every trek toward it needs an entry permit.

Requirement	Detail
ACAP permit (foreign nationals)	NPR 3,000
ACAP permit (SAARC nationals)	NPR 1,000
Children under 10	Exempt
Licensed guide	Mandatory for foreign trekkers since April 2023
Where to buy	Nepal Tourism Board offices in Kathmandu or Pokhara, or through an agency
Checkpoint purchase	Can cost up to double the office rate

One ACAP permit covers the whole conservation area, so the same permit works for Poon Hill, Mardi Himal and ABC in a single visit. Current fees, documents and checkpoint locations are covered in detail in the latest Annapurna permit rules.

When is the Best Time to See Fishtail Mountain?

Season	Months	Visibility	Trail Conditions
Autumn	October to November	Clearest skies, sharpest views	Dry, busy, stable weather
Spring	March to May	Good views, some afternoon haze	Rhododendrons in bloom
Winter	December to February	Crystal-clear mornings	Cold at MBC; snow possible above Deurali
Monsoon	June to September	Clouds hide the peak most days	Wet trails, leeches, landslide risk

Clouds build through the day in the Himalayas, so any viewpoint is best between sunrise and mid-morning. The month-by-month weather patterns behind the best time to visit Nepal apply directly to Pokhara and the Annapurna foothills.

How Can Photographers Capture Machhapuchhre at Its Best?

The peak changes colour dramatically through the day, from cold blue-grey before dawn to orange and pink at golden hour.

• Be in position 30 minutes before sunrise: The summit catches light first, and the best colour lasts only minutes.
• Shoot from the west for the fishtail: Poon Hill, Ghorepani and Tadapani show the twin summits.
• Shoot from the south for the pyramid: Pokhara, Sarangkot and the Peace Pagoda show the classic spire.
• Use a telephoto lens at MBC: The face is so close that a wide lens loses the summit detail.
• Watch for the snow plume: The streamer of blowing snow, linked in local belief to Shiva’s incense, appears on windy clear days.

Frequently Asked Questions