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Precipitation is one of the main factors which controls surface processes and landscape morphology. Large orogenic belts such as the Himalayas control precipitation distribution as a result of orographic effects due to their prominent relief. However, precipitation is difficult to monitor because mountain regions are largely inaccessible and therefore not sufficiently covered by ground‐based gauge stations. The complexity of orographic effects resulting from the interaction between elevation and climatic processes and the lack of precise meteorological data thus limit our understanding of climatic influence on landscape formation. Therefore, high‐quality precipitation observations with good spatiotemporal coverage are needed. Here we evaluate five gridded precipitation data sets derived from remote sensing and interpolation of rain gauge data with ground‐based precipitation measurements. First, we evaluate the …