Kangchenjunga Summit Push Aborted

After days of battling deep snow and high winds, the Sherpa team in charge of fixing the ropes to the summit of Kangchenjunga has turned around at 8,200m. They are back in Base Camp, although they are not yet ready to go home.

Kangchenjunga is the only one of Nepal’s seven 8,000m peaks that has not yet been summited this season.

Everybody down

Clients were at Camp 4, waiting for the Sherpas to summit, preparing to follow. But when the rope-fixing team led by “Speed” Dawa Sherpa turned around, so did they.

“From May 14 to 18, our small group attempted to summit Kangchenjunga, but strong winds above 7,000m cut this attempt short, forcing everyone to descend,” Valery Babanov of Russia, a member of the Seven Summit Treks team, confirmed.

Climbers on Kangchenjunga. Photo: Valery Babanov

Hoping for a second chance

“While some teams have chosen to abort their expeditions and return to Kathmandu, we are closely monitoring the weather and will return as soon as a suitable window opens to complete the rope fixing to the summit,” Seven Summit Treks stated today.

Babanov confirmed he will stay too, hoping for the next suitable weather window. “Something that is, generally speaking, a rare occurrence in the Kangchenjunga region,” he admitted.

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