Kangchenjunga

Kangchenjunga from Gangtok from

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The Kangchenjunga ( Tib: Gangs chen mdzod lnga, English name: Kangchenjunga ) is with 8586 m the third highest mountain in the world and also the easternmost eight-thousanders. Runs over its peak the border between Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim.

Until 1852 it was believed that the Kangchenjunga is the highest mountain in the world. Only the calculations of the trigonometrical survey of India by the British in 1849 proved that Mount Everest and K2 are even higher and thus Kangchenjunga is the third highest mountain in the world.

The Kangchenjunga was climbed on 25 May 1955; band George and Joe Brown for the first time. The British honored the faith of the people of Sikkim, who worship the summit as a holy mountain by they stopped a few steps before the actual summit. Many successful ascents talked since then this tradition. Mountaineering difficulties no longer offer the last few meters.

Since the accession of the former kingdom of Sikkim to the Indian Union in 1975, the Kangchenjunga is (abbreviated from the older spelling Kantschindschinga ), as he is called in the jargon often climbers, the highest mountain in India.

Name

The name Kanchenjunga is derived from the Tibetan and consists of the four words ' Kang ' or 'gear' (Tibetan: Gangs; snow), 'Chen ' (Tibetan: chen, large), ' Dzö ' (Tib.: mdzod, treasury, memory) and ' Nga ' (Tib.: lnga; five), which can be "Five treasures of the great snow " translated. Thus, either the five highest peaks or, according to GO Dyhrenfurth, the five main glaciers of the mountain could be meant.

The summit

The Kanchenjunga is the only eight-thousanders, which reach a height of more than 8000 m except the main peak, three other peaks. The ( presumably) eponymous five peaks of Kangchenjunga are:

Other mountains of the massif

Go from the main summit of Kangchenjunga four long ridges X-shape in all directions from the North and West Ridge start at the main summit, south-east follows the almost horizontal ridge over the mid- to south summit at which South and East Ridge branch. The west ridge runs on the Nepalese side over the west summit and Kangbachen up to 7710 m high Jannu. To the east of the ridge eventually ends at Siniolchu ( 6888 m) in Sikkim. The south ridge runs over Kabru North ( 7338 m ), South ( 7316 m) and up to 6678 m high summit Rathong and forms the border between Nepal and India. Also on the border are the peaks of the northern ridge, which extends over the side peak Kangchenjunga North ( 7741 m), the Twins and Tent Peak up to 6120 m high Jongsong La, a pass on the border with Tibet, extends.

Climbing history

In 1905, Aleister Crowley led the first expedition that attempted the ascent of Kangchenjunga. They reached a height of about 6500 m. Four members of the group were killed by an avalanche. 1929 reached a German expedition led by Paul Bauer on the Northeast a height of 7400 m, before she was forced by a five-day storm to repentance. A year later, the second German expedition already took place, this time under the direction of Günter Dyhrenfurth and Ulrich Wieland. She chose a route through the northern flank and failed because of the bad weather and a snowstorm. 1931 had another expedition under the direction of Bauer, who again tried the route of 1929, be terminated at an altitude of about 7700 m due to extreme avalanche danger. In the following years, the interest of the German expedition from Kangchenjunga being on the Nanga Parbat postponed. A total of five German Nanga Parbat expeditions were carried out from 1932 to 1939.

On May 25, 1955 succeeded George ribbon and Joe Brown, members of a British expedition led by Charles Evans, on a route through the southwest flank of the first ascent of the main summit. 10 days after the first ascent of Makalu, this was the seventh ascent of an eight -thousand-meter. Just one day later were with Norman D. Hardie and Antony HR Streather two other expedition members on the summit.

1979 succeeded Doug Scott, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker made ​​the first ascent of the main summit without oxygen. They opened a new route on the north ridge. Four years later, the Frenchman Pierre Beghin was the first who reached the summit solo and without oxygen. On January 11, 1986 Jerzy Kukuczka and Krzysztof Wielicki managed the first winter ascent. Three years later, a Russian expedition (including Anatoli Bukrejew ) exceeded for the first time all four peaks over 8000 m, where two teams vorgingen in the opposite direction.

In the 1990s, especially the summit attempts of women were significant. Until then, it had no women made ​​it to the summit. In 1991, the mountaineers and Joze Rozman Marija Frantor died on the mountain, their bodies were later found below the headwall. The following year was the most successful at this time climber, Wanda Rutkiewicz, died after she refused despite approaching storm dismount. 1998 Ginette Harrison became the first woman who could reach the top. A year later she died on Dhaulagiri in an avalanche. The second woman on the summit was the Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner. They achieved this together with other climbers, including Ralf Dujmovits, Norbert Joos and Veikka Gustafsson, on 14 May 2006.

Kangchenjunga National Park

In the Indian Kangchenjunga National Park, which was established in 1977 and covers an area of 849 square kilometers covering five different types come from gebirgsbewohnenden caprine ago. The park is home to Seraue, Goral, Himalayan Tahre, blue sheep and Tibetan argali.

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