Beauty of Kanchenjunga

Beauty of Kanchenjunga

Kanchenjunga

The main peak of Kanchenjunga is the second highest mountain in Nepal after Mount Everest, the third highest mountain in the world. Three of the five peaks main, central and south – are on the border between North Sikkim and Nepal.Two peaks are in the Taplejung District, Nepal. Kanchenjunga Main is the highest mountain in India, and the easternmost of the mountains higher than 8,000 meters. It is called Five Treasures of Snow after its five high peaks, and has always been worshipped by the people of Darjeeling and Sikkim. Until 1852, Kanchenjunga was assumed to be the highest mountain in the world, but calculations based on various readings and measurements made by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India in 1849 came to the conclusion that Mount Everest, known as Peak XV at the time, was the highest. Allowing for further verification of all calculations, it was officially announced in 1856 that Kanchenjunga is the third highest mountain.

Kanchenjunga was first climbed on 25 May 1955 by Joe Brown and George Band, who were part of a British expedition. They stopped short of the summit as per the promise given to the Chogyal that the top of the mountain would remain inviolate. Every climber or climbing group that has reached the summit has followed this tradition.Other members of this expedition included John Angelo Jackson and Tom Mackinon. Kanchenjunga is the official spelling adopted by Douglas Freshfield, A. M. Kellas, and the Royal Geographical Society that gives the best indication of the Tibetan pronunciation. Freshfield referred to the spelling used by the Indian Government since the late 19th century.There are a number of alternative spellings including Kanchendzönga, Khanchendzonga, and Kanchenjunga. The Kanchenjunga landscape is a complex of three distinct ecoregions: the eastern Himalayan broad-leaved and coniferous forests, the Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows and the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands.The Kanchenjunga trans boundary landscape is shared by Bhutan, China, India and Nepal, and comprises 14 protected areas with a total of 6,032 km2. 

The main ridge of the massif runs from north-north-east to south-south-west and forms a watershed to several rivers. Together with ridges running roughly from east to west they form a giant cross.These ridges contain a host of peaks between 6,000 and 8,586 meters. The northern section includes Yalung Kang, Kanchenjunga Central and South, Kanbachen, Kirat Chuli and Gimmigela Chuli, and runs up to the Jongsang La. The eastern ridge in Sikkim includes Siniolchu. The southern section runs along the Nepal-Sikkim border and includes Kabru I to III.This ridge extends southwards to the Singalila Ridge.The western ridge culminates in the Kumbhakarna, also known as Jannu.

Four main glaciers radiate from the peak, pointing roughly to the north-east, south-east, north-west and south-west. The Zemu glacier in the north-east and the Talung glacier in the south-east drain to the Teesta River; the Yalung glacier in the south-west and the Kanchen glacier in the north-west drain to the Arun and Kosi rivers.The glaciers spread over the area above approximately 5,000 m (16,000 ft), and the glacialized area covers about 314 km2 (121 sq mi) in total.There are 120 glaciers in the Kanchenjunga Himal, of which 17 are debris-covered. Between 1958 and 1992, more than half of 57 examined glaciers had retreated, possibly due to rising of air temperature. Kanchenjunga Main is the highest elevation of the Brahmaputra River basin, which forms part of the southeast Asian monsoon regime and is among the globally largest river basins.Kanchenjunga is one of six peaks above 8,000 m (26,000 ft) located in the basin of the Koshi river, which is among the largest tributaries of the Ganges.The Kanchenjunga massif forms also part of the Ganges Basin.

In 1899, British mountaineer Douglas Freshfield set out with his party comprising the Italian photographer Vittorio Sella. They were the first mountaineers to examine the lower and upper ramparts, and the great western face of Kanchenjunga, rising from the Kanchenjunga Glacier.

In 1905, a party headed by Aleister Crowley was the first attempt at climbing the mountain. Aleister Crowley had been part of the team attempting the 1902 ascent of K2. The team reached an estimated altitude of 6,500 m (21,300 ft) on the southwest side of the mountain before turning back. The exact height reached is somewhat unclear; Crowley stated that on 31 August, "We were certainly over 21,000 ft (6,400 m) and possibly over 22,000 ft (6,700 m)", when the team was forced to retreat to Camp 5 by the risk of avalanche. On 1 September, they evidently went further; some members of the team, Reymond, Pache and Salama, "got over the bad patch" that had forced them to return to Camp 5 the day before, and progressed "out of sight and hearing" before returning to Crowley and the men with packs, who could not cross the dangerous section unassisted with their burdens. It is not clear how far Reymond, Pache and Salama had ascended – but in summarizing, Crowley ventured "We had reached a height of approximately 25,000 ft (7,600 m)." Attempting a "mutinous" late-in-the-day descent from Camp 5 to Camp 4, climber Alexis Pache (who earlier that day had been one of three to ascend possibly higher than any before), and three local porters, were killed in an avalanche. Despite the insistence of one of the men that "The demon of Kanchenjunga was propitiated with the sacrifice", Crowley decided enough was enough and that it was inappropriate to continue.

In 1907, two Norwegians set about climbing Jongri via the Kabru glacier to the south, an approach apparently rejected by Graham’s party. Progress was very slow, partly because of problems with supplies and porters, and presumably also lack of fitness and acclimatisation. However, from a high camp at about 6,900 meters they were eventually able to reach a point 50 or 60 ft (15 or 18 m) below the summit before they were turned back by strong winds.

In 1929, the German Paul Bauer led an expedition team that reached 7,400 meters on the northeast spur before being turned back by a five-day storm.

In May 1929, the American E. F. Farmer left Darjeeling with native porters, crossed the Kang La into Nepal and climbed up towards the Talung Saddle. When his porters refused to go any further, he climbed alone further upwards through drifting mists but did not return.

In 1930, Günter Dyhrenfurth led an international expedition comprising the German Uli Wieland, Austrian Erwin Schneider and Englishman Frank Smythe who attempted to climb Kanchenjunga. They failed due to poor weather and snow conditions.

In 1931, Paul Bauer led a second German expedition team who attempted the northeast spur before being turned back by bad weather, illnesses, and deaths. The team retreated after climbing only a little higher than the 1929 attempt.

In 1954, John Kempe led a party comprising J. W. Tucker, S. R. Jackson, G. C. Lewis, T. H. Braham and medical officer Dr. D. S. Mathews. They explored the upper Yalung glacier with the intention to discover a practicable route to the great ice-shelf that runs across the south-west face of Kanchenjunga. This reconnaissance led to the route used by the successful 1955 expedition.

Notable Ascents

• In 1955, Joe Brown and George Band made the first ascent on 25 May, followed by Norman Hardie and Tony Streather on 26 May. The full team also included John Clegg (team doctor), Charles Evans (team leader), John Angelo Jackson, Neil Mather, and Tom Mackinnon.
• The ascent proved that Aleister Crowley's 1905 route (also investigated by the 1954 reconnaissance) was viable. The route starts on the Yalung Glacier to the southwest of the peak, and climbs the Yalung Face, which is 3,000 metres high. The main feature of this face is the "Great Shelf", a large sloping plateau at around 7,500 metres, covered by a hanging glacier. The route is almost entirely on snow, glacier, and one icefall; the summit ridge itself can involve a small amount of travel on rock. The first ascent expedition made six camps above their base camp, two below the Shelf, two on it, and two above it. They started on 18 April, and everyone was back to base camp by 28 May.
• 1973 Climbers Yutaka Ageta and Takeo Matsuda of the Japanese expedition summitted Kanchenjunga West (Yalung Kang) by climbing the SW Ridge.
• 1977 The second ascent of Kangchenjunga, by an Indian Army team led by Colonel Narendra Kumar. They completed the northeast spur, the difficult ridge that defeated German expeditions in 1929 and 1931.
• 1978 Polish teams made the first successful ascents of the summits Kanchenjunga South (Wojciech Wróz and Eugeniusz Chrobak, 19 May) and Kanchenjunga Central (Wojciech Branski, Zygmunt Andrzej Heinrich, Kazimierz Olech, 22 May).
• 1979 The third ascent, on 16 May, and the first without oxygen, by Doug Scott, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker establishing a new route on the North Ridge
• 1983 Pierre Beghin made the first solo ascent. It was accomplished without the use of supplemental oxygen.
• 1986 On 11 January, Krzysztof Wielicki and Jerzy Kukuczka, Polish climbers, made the first winter ascent.
• 1988 First successful American Expedition; led by Carlos Buhler, from the North Face. Summiting were Buhler, Peter Habeler (Austrian) and Martin Zabaleta (Spanish Bask)
• 1989 A Soviet expedition successfully traversed all four summits of Kanchenjunga that are higher than 8,000m. Two separate teams traversed the summits in opposite directions.
• 1989 American Expedition led by Lou Whittaker, with six people summiting on the Northwall: George Dunn, Craig van Hoy, Ed Viesturs, Phil Ershler, Larry Nielson, Greg Wilson.
• 1991 Slovenian Marija Frantar and Joze Rozman attempted the first ascent by a woman. Their bodies were later found below the summit headwall.
• 1991 Slovenian Andrej Stremfelj and Marko Prezelj completed an alpine-style climb up the south ridge of Kanchenjunga to the south summit (8,494 m).
• 1992 Carlos Carsolio made the only summit that year. It was in a solo climb without supplementary oxygen.
• 1992 Wanda Rutkiewicz, the first woman in the world to ascend and descend K2 and a world-renowned Polish climber, died after she insisted on waiting for an incoming storm to pass, which she did not survive.
• 1995 Benoît Chamoux, Pierre Royer and their Sherpa guide disappeared on 6 October near the summit.
• 1998 Ginette Harrison was the first woman who climbed Kanchenjunga North face.
• 2005 Alan Hinkes, a British climber, was the only person to summit in the 50th anniversary of the first ascent year.
• 2006 Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, an Austrian mountaineer, was the second woman to reach the summit.
• 2009 Jon Gangdal and Mattias Karlsson reached the summit, becoming, respectively, the first Norwegian and the first Swedish mountaineer to summit this mountain.
• 2009 Edurne Pasaban, a Spanish mountaineer, reached the summit becoming the first woman to summit twelve eight-thousanders.
• In May 2009, Kinga Baranowska was the first Polish woman to reach the summit of Kanchenjunga.
• 2011 Tunc Findik became the first Turkish man to reach the peak of Kanchenjunga, his seventh eight thousander, with Swiss partner Guntis Brandts via the British 1955 SW Face route.
• 2011 Indian mountaineers Basanta Singha Roy and Debasish Biswas of Mountaineers' Association of Krishnanagar, {MAK}, West Bengal, India, successfully scaled Kanchenjunga Main on 20 May 2011.
• In May 2013, five climbers including Hungarian Zsolt Eross and Péter Kiss reached the summit, but disappeared during the descent.
• In May 2014, Bulgarian Boyan Petrov reached the peak without using oxygen. Petrov is a diabetic.
• Despite improved climbing gear the fatality rate of climbers attempting to summit Kanchenjunga is high. Since the 1990s, more than 20% of people died while climbing Kanchenjunga's main peak.