On October 24, German climber Jost Kobusch made the first ascent of Amotsang (6,393m) in the Damodar Himal region of Nepal. No details were given on the route or its difficulties.
A French expedition reconnoitered Amotsang in 2003 but decided against an attempt. A few years later, Australian climber Damien Gildea spotted a potential route during his research back home, but when climbing in that region, he and partner Chris Warner “only got to see the second part of this route once, for an hour, due to terrible visibility, and that was late in the trip.” Still, what he saw convinced Gildea that a small team could succeed, as he wrote later in the American Alpine Journal.
Amotsang (6,393m). Photo: Damien Gildea
Kobusch is currently in Nepal, preparing a grander project: to solo climb Everest in winter via the rarely attempted West Ridge and Hornbein Couloir. “[It’s] a real adventure, real alpinism, not just the usual traffic jam,” he explained.
Kobusch summited late in the day. Photo: Jost Kobusch.
