All 14 Highest Mountains, Nepal

Published September 17, 2022 • Updated September 17, 2022

All the 14 Highest Mountain Peaks, Nepal.

This pack contains 52 cards and 2 jokers, one of which provides information about the publisher –the Himalayan MapHouse, Kathmandu. The pictures of 13 of the highest peaks are repeated on each suit, while the 14th peak is shown on the joker. These constitute the “eight-thousanders” i.e. the 14 mountains that are more than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) in height above sea level.

Rather than using the whole face of the card to depict each mountain, the cards are surprisingly double-ended which, at first sight, makes the image appear somewhat strange. The name of the mountain and the height is given on each card. It should be noted that while most of the mountains are located in Nepal, some of the peaks are actually in neighbouring countries. For example, Shishapangma (the 14th-highest mountain in the world) is actually located in Tibet, while Nanga Parbat is in Kashmir.

Above: All 14 Highest Mountains playing cards published by the Himalayan MapHouse, Kathmandu, Nepal. 52 cards + 2 jokers.

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By Peter Burnett

United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022

I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.

• Russian Playing Cards

Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.

Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.