author, mountaineering writer – books, blog, opinion
We had ascended a long valley to climb our peak and see the north side of Kangchenjunga. Now it was time to see the south side, and the nature of the trekking was about to change as we crossed a number of passes. This is part two of my Kangchenjunga trek report.
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Here at the Footsteps on the Mountain blog, we try to take a look at the quirkier side of mountaineering by highlighting stories that don’t get much attention elsewhere. I bet you can’t think of a single fish that has scaled Everest, but there are a few.
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I was long overdue a visit to Kangchenjunga, one of the 8,000m peaks I have read most about, but seen least of. Here is the first of two trip reports about our trek to the Nepalese side last month, covering our visit to the north base camp.
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A quick plug to UK readers of my blog and other writing. If you or friends have not bought my book Seven Steps from Snowdon to Everest yet, then Amazon are currently running a promo and flogging it for the bargain price of £0.99.
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While I was in Kathmandu last month, I learned that Chongba Sherpa passed away last year after a short battle with cancer. He climbed with me on Manaslu in 2011 and Everest in 2012, and we stood on both summits together. He climbed Everest a remarkable 14 times.
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A quick book update. I’m in the process of publishing revised editions of the Footsteps on the Mountain Travel Diaries. The revised digital edition of The Manaslu Adventure is available now at a bargain price from the main online bookstores.
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If you ever trek to Pangpema to see the north side of Kangchenjunga, then you should definitely allow an extra half day to climb Drohmo Ri, even if you’re just a trekker. It’s a piece of piss to get up, and the view is something special.
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Maiella is Italy’s equivalent of the Cairngorms, but at a much higher altitude. It’s a huge plateau of multiple summits linked by broad ridges, and divided by deep, mouth-watering gorges. You can walk for miles without dropping below 2,000m.
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It’s not often I’ve sat through a whole silent movie that doesn’t feature slapstick comedy and a honky-tonk piano playing in the background, but in this case I made an exception. It’s archive footage of the 1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition.
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By the time you read this I will be somewhere in the Kangchenjunga region of Nepal, in the far east of the country near its eastern border with India. It’s a region dominated by one huge mountain, 8,586m Kangchenjunga, the third-highest mountain in the world.
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