The first exploratory climbers are landing in Nepal with unclimbed peaks and new routes in mind. Among them are Hidesuke Taneishi and Tetsu Hashimoto of Japan, who will try for a first ascent of 7,140m Gangapurna West on the Annapurna massif.
As its name suggests, it is the western point of Gangapurna, a 7,455m peak on the Annapurna ridge, between the main Annapurna I and Annapurna III.
Location of Gangapurna West on a Google Earth map. Labels by Lindsay Griffin for the American Alpine Journal
The peak opened to climbers in 2014 and was renamed by Nepal’s government as Lachenal Peak, after French pioneer Louis Lachenal. It has been twice attempted since then: by a Korean team led by Kim Chang-ho in 2016 from the south face, and by Italians Simon Messner and Phillip Pruenster in 2017 via the north face.
The Korean route followed on their 2016 attempt up Gangapurna’s south face. Photo: Apymon Blog/AAJ
One of the duo, Hidesuke Taneishi, was nominated for a Piolet d’Or last year after his first ascent of 6,652m Pholesobi Peak, also in Nepal, via a direct route up its vertiginous north face with Hiroki Yamamoto:
