The three-member Japanese team attempting unclimbed Sharpu VI launched their last-ditch summit push on schedule from a high camp yesterday. Then their plans changed.
Takahiro Kaneko, Saki Terada, and Takahiro Ishikawa had set up two camps and fixed part of the route up Sharpu VI. The 6,076m peak lies in the Kangchenjunga region of eastern Nepal, in a valley midway between Kangchenjunga and Jannu. They fly home to Tokyo later this week, so they had no time to spare.
Yesterday, they were ready to go for the top from their highest camp. The weather was good, but during the 18-hour push, they encountered a seemingly impassable section at 6,000m on the Sharpu Glacier.
Takahiro Kaneko, center, flanked by Takahiro Ishikawa, left, and Saki Terada, right. Photo: Takahiro Kaneko
It was too late in the day to find another passage to the summit. On their way back, they climbed a lower mountain that lay just off their route. According to the information available at the time, the peak was also unclimbed and known as Tha Nagphu (5,980m). Later, however, they discovered that another party had climbed it in 2017.
