Directions: Study the following information carefully and answer the question given below.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The ascent along the razor-sharp granite arรชte of Shivling had begun under a deceptive canopy of cobalt blue, but by midday the Garhwal sky had curdled into an ominous bruised purple. Julian Mercer paused on a narrow ledge, leaning his forehead against the icy stone as spindrift hissed across his Gore-Tex parka. At six thousand metres, each inhalation felt like drawing shards of frozen glass into his burning lungs. Below him, the Gangotri glacier resembled a frozen, crevassed serpent snaking through the shadowy gorges of Uttarakhand. Julian was not an amateur seeking vainglorious adrenaline; thirty years of alpinism had taught him that mountains did not tolerate pride.
Yet this expedition was shadowed by a private grief that no summit could heal. His climbing companion and lifelong mentor, Thomas Vance, had perished on these very slopes two seasons prior, swept into an abyss by an unanticipated slab avalanche. Returning to Shivling was not an act of triumphant conquest, but an arduous pilgrimage of acceptance. As the gale shrieked with mounting fury, blinding him in a whiteout of churning snow, Julian realized that surviving the mountain required surrendering the illusion of mastery. Groping with frostbitten mittens, he secured his ice screw into the bedrock, choosing to descend rather than perish in defiance of the storm.
In the context of mountaineering described in the passage, what does the word 'arรชte' refer to?
๐ก Solution & Explanation:
Correct Answer: (A)
Core Concept: Contextual Geomorphological Vocabulary
Step-by-Step Solution:
1. The passage opens: 'The ascent along the razor-sharp granite arรชte of Shivling had begun...'
2. In geomorphology and alpinism, an 'arรชte' is a sharp, narrow crest or ridge separating two valleys or glacial cirques.
3. Option (A) gives the exact definition.
Key Shortcut / Exam Tip: Arรชte = Razor-sharp mountain ridge.