Akihiro Oishi, Hiroki Suzuki, and Suguru Takayanagi have made the second ascent of the northeast face of 6,673m Pandra near Kangchenjunga. The three Japanese climbers have already descended safely and are on their way home.
Pandra. Photo: Hiroki Suzuki
Pandra is not well-known but lies in the Ohmi Kangri Himal northwest of Lhonak. It first opened for climbers in 2002, and Allan Christensen, Bo Belvedere Christensen, and Jan Mathorne of Denmark made the first ascent in October of that year via the south face/south ridge route.
In the autumn of 2015, the late Kei Taniguchi and Junji Wada from Japan attempted Pandra up the northeast face from the south. They solved the face but, exhausted, did not reach the summit, turning around at 6,600m.
Two years later, on October 18, 2017, Pierre Julien Labbre, Mathieu Maurice, Paul Detrie, and Benjamin Vedrines of France successfully summited by the northeast face.
Akihiro Oishi, Hiroki Suzuki, and Suguru Takayanagi load up on the broccoli. Photo: Hiroki Suzuki
This autumn, the three Japanese wanted to do a different line from the 2017 French route. We will update once we have details of the line they ultimately chose.
The Japanese climbers indicate the height of Pandra as 6,850m, as did earlier climbers in their reports to the American Alpine Journal. However, the Himalayan Database registers the altitude as 6,670m, while 8000ers.com says it’s 6,673m.
Another Japanese ascent
Also in the Kangchenjunga region, Hidesuke Taneishi and Hiroki Yamamoto of Japan have made the first ascent of 6,652m Pholesobi Peak. They climbed a direct route up the 1,400m-high north face.
The two climbers first attempted that wall a year ago but had to turn around because of health problems. This time, they succeeded, continuing the Japanese mountaineering tradition of exploration far from crowded peaks.
Images from Pholesobi. Photo: Hidesuke Taneishi
