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60 free Himalayas trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Himalayas trivia quiz covers the greatest mountain range on Earth from the plains of India to the Tibetan Plateau. The easy questions are the ones any geography fan can handle: the continent, the highest peak, the meaning of the name, the countries the range crosses and the ape-like creature said to roam its snows. From there the set digs into how the mountains came to be: the Indian plate racing north at 20 centimetres a year, the nappes of old sea floor stacked into peaks, the two anchor mountains that bend the Indus and the Tsangpo, and the five millimetres the range still rises every year. The harder end is for mountain lovers and mountaineers: the four parallel ranges, the Kali Gandaki gorge that splits east from west, the 15,000 glaciers of the Third Pole, the highest snow line in the world, Kangchenjunga's climbers who stopped short of the summit to keep a promise, the Rupal Face, Hermann Buhl's solo push on the Killer Mountain, the fourteen eight-thousanders and who climbed them first, the Sherpas' Nyingma Buddhism, the snow leopard that cannot roar, and the 1921 expedition that gave the yeti its Abominable name. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries for the range, its peaks, its peoples and its wildlife before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our Mount Everest, Nepal and world geography quizzes next.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Himalayas separate the plains of the Indian subcontinent from which high region to the north?
The Tibetan Plateau
More than 100 of its peaks exceed 7,200 metres.
Q 02What does the Sanskrit name Himalaya mean?
Abode of snow
It combines hima, meaning frost or cold, with alaya, meaning dwelling.
Q 03Which five countries do the Himalayas span?
Nepal, India, China, Bhutan and Pakistan
Sovereignty over the Kashmir section is disputed among India, Pakistan and China.
Q 04Roughly how long is the Himalayan arc from west to east?
2,400 km
It varies in width from 350 km in the west to about 150 km in the east.
Q 05Roughly how many people live in the Himalayas themselves?
53 million
The rivers rising nearby drain basins home to some 600 million.
Q 06The collision of which two tectonic plates raised the Himalayas?
Indian and Eurasian
The upper Indian crust folded into nappes while the lower crust slid under Eurasia.
Q 07At what speed did India travel northward toward Asia before the collision, faster than any modern plate?
About 20 cm per year
It slowed to about 5 cm a year after impact but still pushed 2,000 km into Asia.
Q 08By roughly how much do the Himalayas still rise each year?
5 mm
The Indian plate keeps moving north at 67 mm a year, making the region seismically active.
Q 09Which peak forms the eastern anchor of the Himalayas, inside the great bend of the Tsangpo river?
Namcha Barwa
Its western counterpart stands beside the northernmost bend of the Indus.
Q 10Which mountain range to the northwest, home to K2, is generally considered separate from the Himalayas?
The Karakoram
The Hindu Kush also borders the Himalayas on the northwest.
Q 11What are the four parallel ranges of the Himalayas, from south to north?
Sivalik Hills, Lower Himalaya, Great Himalaya, Tibetan Himalaya
The Great Himalaya is the highest and central range.
Q 12Which river gorge, between Dhaulagiri and Annapurna, splits the Himalayas into western and eastern sections?
The Kali Gandaki Gorge
The Kora La pass at its head is the lowest point on the ridgeline between Everest and K2.
Q 13Which sub-range contains Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu?
Q 21Which glacier in Uttarakhand is the source of the holy river Ganges?
Gangotri
Yamunotri, source of the Yamuna, lies nearby.
Q 22Roughly how many glaciers does the Himalayan range contain?
15,000
Together they store about 12,000 cubic kilometres of fresh water.
Q 23The Himalayas hold more ice than anywhere but Antarctica and the Arctic, earning what nickname?
The Third Pole
The region's glaciers store some 12,000 cubic kilometres of fresh water.
Q 24At roughly what altitude is the Himalayan permanent snow line, among the highest in the world?
Mahalangur Himal
The Khumbu trekking region lies on its south-western approaches.
Q 14The eastern side of Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, lies in which Indian state?
Sikkim
The former kingdom lies on the main route from India to Lhasa over the Nathu La pass.
Q 15Why did the 1955 first ascensionists of Kangchenjunga stop just short of the true summit?
To honour a promise to Sikkim's ruler that the top stay untouched
Joe Brown and George Band honoured the pledge made to the Chogyal, Tashi Namgyal.
Q 16What does the name Kangchenjunga mean in Tibetan?
The five treasures of the high snow
The Schlagintweit brothers recorded the explanation in the 19th century.
Q 17Which mountain is a strong candidate for the highest unclimbed peak in the world?
Gangkhar Puensum
It is the highest mountain in Bhutan, where climbing high peaks is forbidden.
Q 18Which sacred mountain is revered by Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Bonpo alike?
Kailash
It stands in the Kailash Ranges just across Lake Manasarovar from Gurla Mandhata.
Q 19What is the largest city in the Himalayas?
Kathmandu
It lies south of the 8,000-metre peak of Manaslu.
Q 20Which hill station in Himachal Pradesh served as the summer capital of the British Raj?
Shimla
Nearby Dharamsala is home to the Tibetan government in exile.
5,500 m
Equatorial mountains in New Guinea and Colombia have snow lines about 900 m lower.
Q 25By 2020, studies measured what decrease in Himalayan glacial coverage over 40 to 50 years?
13%
Mass loss has accelerated since 1975, from about 5-13 to 16-24 gigatonnes a year.
Q 26Which large lake straddles the India-China border at the far western end of Tibet?
Pangong Tso
It covers about 700 square kilometres.
Q 27Which Nepalese glacial lake, at 4,580 m, is rated the most dangerous for an outburst flood?
Tsho Rolpa
It has grown considerably over 50 years as its glacier melts.
Q 28The Himalayan rivers drain into which two great systems?
The Indus and the Ganges-Brahmaputra
The Ganges and Brahmaputra meet in Bangladesh and reach the sea through the Sundarbans delta.
Q 29What is the source river of the Brahmaputra, which flows along the suture zone north of the Himalayas?
The Yarlung Tsangpo
It marks the eastern limit of the range as it bends around Namcha Barwa.
Q 30Which seasonal wind brings the Himalayas most of their rain between June and September?
The Southwest Monsoon
Trekking is confined to the months before and after it.