Nepal’s Department of Tourism recently added four Kangchenjunga secondary summits and two Lhotse subpeaks to its list of 8,000m peaks. We examine the climbing history of Kangchenjunga’s subpeaks and the challenges they present. Note that Nepal inflated the 8,000m list without international approval.
Five subpeaks – or is it six?
Kangchenjunga (8,586m) is the third-highest mountain in the world. Located on the border between Nepal and India, the name means “the five treasures of the great snows,” and it has several subpeaks. These are: 8,505m Yalung Kang, 8,476m Kangchenjunga South Peak, 8,473m Kangchenjunga Central Peak, 8,077m Yalung Kang West, 8,150m Kangchenjunga Southeast Peak, and 7,938m Kangchenjunga North.
To add to the confusion, one of these (Yalung Kang West) is the subsummit of a subpeak (Yalung Kang).
Nepal has added Yalung Kang, Yalung Kang West, Kangchenjunga South, and Kangchenjunga Central to its 8,000m peak list.
Yalung Kang. Photo: Sanjib Gurung
Yalung Kang, 8,505m
According to The Himalayan Database, 22 expeditions have targeted Yalung Kang (sometimes called Kangchenjunga West) as their primary goal. Most of these took place in the 1980. The last attempt was 11 years ago.
Japanese climbers Yutaka Ageta and Takao Matsuda made the first ascent on May 14, 1973 with bottled oxygen. During the descent, Matsuda died in a fall from 8,100m.
Of the 22 expeditions, 12 were successful. Fifty-three climbers have summited Yalung Kang, including 14 without supplemental oxygen.
An aerial view of the Kangchenjunga Massif from the southwest. Photo: Gunter Seyfferth
The first person to summit Yalung Kang without bottled oxygen was Sergio Hugo Saldana Meneses from Mexico. He topped out late in the day on May 4, 1980, but then suffered a fatal fall from 8,400m.
The first person to summit without bottled oxygen and return alive was Tadeusz Karolczak of Poland, who summited on Oct. 7, 1984.
Ten people have died on Yalung Kang: seven foreign climbers and three Sherpas. The last fatalities were on May 20, 2014, when Chhanda Gayen, Dawa Wangchu Sherpa, and Temba Sherpa fell from 8,200m. All three used supplemental oxygen.
The 10 climbers who perished on Yalung Kang all died from falls between 8,100m and 8,500m.
Yalung Kang was last climbed in May 2004.
Yalung Kang West. Photo: Sanjib Gurung
Yalung Kang West
Yalung Kang West (8,077m) is the western subsummit of Yalung Kang. It’s 1.7km south-southeast from Kangbachen and 1.3km west of Yalung Kang. Yalung Kang West remains unclimbed.
Kangchenjunga South. Photo: Sanjib Gurung
Kangchenjunga South
Six teams have targeted 8,476m Kangchenjunga South as their main goal, and it has 31 successful ascents.
Wojciech Wroz and Eugeniusz Chrobak made the first ascent on May 19, 1978, using bottled oxygen.
Russians Vladimir Karataev and Mikhail Mojaev made the first no-O2 ascent on April 17, 1989.
Of the 31 summiters, 12 made it without bottled oxygen: eight foreign climbers and four Sherpas. No one has died on this subpeak.
Kangchenjunga South was last summited in February, 2011.
Eugeniusz Chrobak on the summit of Kangchenjunga South. Photo: Wojciech Wroz
Kangchenjunga Central
Kangchenjunga Central (8,473m) lies between Kangchenjunga’s main summit and Kangchenjunga South. To date, 27 climbers have summited this subpeak.
Zyga Heinrich, Kazimierz Olech, and Wojciech Branski of Poland made the first ascent of Kangchenjunga Central on May 22, 1978. They used bottled oxygen.
Kangchenjunga Central, a subpeak of Kangchenjunga. Photo: Sanjib Gurung
Of the 27 summiteers, only Slovenian Uros Rupar summited without bottled oxygen. He summited on May 1, 1991, and this is the most recent successful ascent.
No deaths have occurred on this subpeak.
The 1991 ascent of the South Summit of Kangchenjunga, made by Slovenians Andrej Stremfelj and Marko Prezelj. Photo: Marko Prezelj
It’s worth noting that several expeditions have traversed these subpeaks as part of a larger goal to reach the main summit of Kanchenjunga.
Lhotse’s subpeaks have hosted some mountaineering epics. You can read our stories on Lhotse Shar and Lhotse Middle here.
