Changabang is a mountain in the Garhwal Division Himalayas of Uttarakhand, India. It is part of a group of peaks that form the northeast wall of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary. It is a particularly steep and rocky peak, and all routes on it are serious undertakings. It has been the site of many significant climbs. It does not have a high topographic prominence, being slightly lower than its near neighbour Kalanka to the east, and lower than many other peaks in the immediate vicinity, but its steep rocky profile has made it a more attractive destination than its elevation would indicate. Changabang loosely translated means "shining mountain" in Hindi.
Climbing
- First ascent
Changabang was first climbed on 4 June 1974 by an expedition led by Lt. Col
Balwant Sandhu and
Chris Bonington, via the Southeast Face, leading to the East Ridge. This is the easiest route on the mountain, and one of the few that is primarily a snow/ice climb, as opposed to a
rock climbing with some snow, ice, or mixed terrain.
- Notable ascents
Other notable ascents include some of the hardest climbs ever done in the Himalayas.
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1976 Southwest Ridge, Naoki Toda, Akira Kobayashi, Masahide Aida, Harumi Ohno, Yukio Asano and Teruyoshi Karino (Japanese Alpine Club) all reached the summit after 33 days of effort.
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1976 West Wall, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker, summit reached 15 October 1976. The route took over 25 days to ascend, and their use of big wall climbing techniques to overcome the serious, sustained difficulties was revolutionary. Boardman's account of the ascent, The Shining Mountain, won the 1979 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for literature.
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1978 Direct South Face, Wojciech Kurtyka (Pol.), Krzysztof Żurek (Pol.), Alex MacIntyre (UK) and John Porter (US-UK), summit reached 27 September 1978.
[. (available also internet version, see External links)]
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1997 North Face, Andy Cave and Brendan Murphy (summit) with Mick Fowler and Steve Sustad (to summit ridge) made the first ascent of the North Face of Changabang, a 1,600 m (5,250 ft) route involving steep, sustained ice, mixed, and rock climbing. (Murphy was hit by an avalanche and swept off the face to his death on the descent.)
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1998 The Lightning Route, Carlos Buhler (US) and a team of Russians (Andrei Volkov, Andrei Mariev, Ivan Dusharin and Pavel Chabaline) established a demanding new route on the north face: (VII 5.9 A4 WI4, 1580m)
Carlos Buhler (1999). 093041084X, American Alpine Club. 093041084X
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2006 A New Route, On 12 October 2006, two Mexican people climbers, Andrés Delgado and Alfonso de la Parra, summitted Changabang by a new route. While descending, they encountered a storm and were officially reported missing by the Indian Mountaineering Federation on 15 October, when they last made a contact via satellite phone. An initial rescue effort was made despite harsh weather conditions, but on 8 November 2006 the search was cancelled due to continued harsh weather.
[ El Universal Grafico ]
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2022 The 2nd Ascent of West Wall, Matthew Scholes, Kim Ladiges from Australia and Daniel Joll from New Zealand scripted history in the first week of May, by making the second ascent of Changabang by the legendary West Ridge. It took 46 years for this, the second successful ascent.
External links
