Yalung Kang

 ( Mountains Of Koshi Province ) 

Yalung Kang ( Yalungkar or alternatively Kangchenjunga West) (Limbu language: ᤕᤠᤗᤢᤱᤗᤢᤱᤔᤠ, Yallunglungma: , in Limbu) (Nepali language: यालुङ हिमाल, Yalung Himal , in Nepali) is a high minor summit of the Kangchenjunga massif found in the Himalayas.

The peak lies west of Kanchenjunga's main summit in Taplejung, Nepal. The mountain range continues west to the final subsidiary peak of the massif, Kangbachen.

While Yalung Kang has long been recognized by geographers to be over 8,000 m, there has been hesitation to consider Yalung Kang the 15th eight-thousander. At high, Yalung Kang would be the fifth highest mountain on earth if it were an independent peak, only eleven meters shorter than Lhotse.

In 2014, Nepal officially recognized Yalung Kang as an independent peak and opened it for climbing.

Despite Nepal's recognition, the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (UIAA) refuses to recognize Yalung Kang as an independent peak. Its lack of recognition as an independent peak has led Yalung Kang to be scarcely climbed when compared to Kangchenjunga's central summit.

As of 2024, there have been only 22 recorded expeditions to Yalung Kang, compared to 201 on Kanchenjunga, according to the Himalayan Database. 12 of these have had successful summits, and five expeditions have experienced a fatality (22%), making it the most dangerous of the Kangchenjunga peaks.

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Climbing history The first successful summit of Yalung Kang was by the Kyoto University Yalung Khang Expedition in 1973. Two members of the 16 member expedition team reached the summit via the Southwest ridge, Yutaka Ageta and Takao Matsuda. Matusda was lost on the descent, all that could be found was part of a broken ice ax.

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1980s In 1980, Sergio Hugo Saldano Meneses from the University of Mexico Himalayas Expedition made the first successful summit of Yalung Kang without bottled oxygen, climbing via the SE face. He, along with Alfonso Medina and Chowang Renzi Sherpa, were lost on the descent.

In 1984, Laurence de la Ferrière made the first successful female ascent of Yalung Kang.

On April 22, 1985, Tomo Česen and Borut Bergant, members of a Slovenian climbing expedition claimed to have made the first successful summit of Yalung Kang via the North. The two climbed without supplemental oxygen, unfortunately, Bergant was lost on the descent. This ascent has been disputed.

Yalung Kang was first successfully climbed in winter by the 1989-90 Korean Winter Yalung Kang Expedition. Climbing via the SE face, Kyo-Sup Jin, Ang Dawa Sherpa and Tchiring Thebe Sherpa all reached the summit on December 20, 1989, but were killed in the descent.

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Recent history

In 2014, Chhanda Gayen and her two sherpa guides, Tembu Sherpa and Dawa Wengu Sherpa, died in an avalanche while attempting the summit of Yalung Kang. Gayen had become the first Indian woman to climb Kangchenjunga two days before.

In 2024, 18-year-old Nima Rinji Sherpa became the youngest person ever to summit Mt. Kanchenjunga and also Yalung Kang.

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External links

• Yalung Kang Peak Profile on Nepal Himal, Nepalese Tourism Department
• Kanchendzönga documentary of the successful 1975 German-Austrian expedition to Kangchenjunga West

Categories: Mountains Of Koshi Province, Eight-thousanders Of The Himalayas, Taplejung District, Mountains Of The Himalayas

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