원정 개요

Subsidiary peak Kangchenjunga Central summited on April 18 by Narcis Serrat Comerma and Furi Sherpa.


SR Sharma, Tourism - 2 Aug 78

Leader of Yalung Kang expedition barred from climbing in Nepal for 5 years from June 1978 as penalty for his expedition's climbing on Kangchenjunga Central Peak, which is not on permitted list and for which no permission given.

After expedition left Nepal, they wrote from New Delhi to say they had been on Kangchenjunga Central Peak


Shailendra Raj Sharma, Tourism - 20 June 78

Spanish Yalung Kang leader said his team climbed Yalung Kang. LO's of both Yalung Kang and Kangchenjunga say climbed Yalung Kang. Sharma is meeting Sherpa summiters tomorrow to question him. So far only Poles say Spaniards climbed Kangchenjunga Central summit.


Dr. Browski, Polish Kangchenjunga Expedition - 16 June 78

Spaniards did not attempt to climb Yalung Kang, maybe because of snow conditions. Instead went up Central Summit of Kangchenjunga. Used Polish route to C3, one or 2 days behind Poles, using Polish fixed ropes, but when had climbed to their highest point, found they were not on the highest point of Central summit.

Leader had pneumonia. No accidents or serious frostbite.


SR Sharma, Tourism - 21 May 78

Scaled 18 May 16:20 hours by
1) Narcis Serrat Comerma
2) Furi Sherpa, 20, Junbesi

C4 16 May (altitude ?) returning to KTM; leave BC 22 May.


Prunes & Marti - 7 March 77

Expect others by truck from Terrassa. Were in Belgrade 24 Feb and after this no news: arrive Rorland 8-10 March and go direct to Biratnagar and Dharan at Dharan 12 March earliest.

5 Sherpas above BC and sirdar Ang Tsering.
Oxygen for climbing above 7500m in C4 and last day
Will follow 1975 spring German route on South Face to main peak

3 weeks Dharan to BC about 3 weeks so early April. BC 5500m like Germans (with acclimatizations and with dump 4800m).

C4 just under couloir at about 7800m = highest camp probably
Summit about 15-20 May.
2 first camps - 10 days; 10 days about C2 -> C3; easy C3 -> C4, then wait for good weather.


Letter from Joaquim Prunes

On April the 20th, 7 members of our expedition slept at the Base Camp for their first time. On the 22nd the Polish that had already installed the Camp 1 an open part of the way to the C1 proposed to us the following:

"Due that the two expeditions will follow the same route up to the Plateau at 7200m, it is convenient to get an unification of the efforts. To gain that, the best procedure would be to open the path two expeditions alternatively, but as they see that it is possible due to our lack of acclimatization to the height (and we agree completely with that, because as we only have two days sleeping at 5100m we cannot try in a few days to open from C2-6500m to the plateau), we are told to use their fixed ropes against bringing them. Some 800m to 1000m of our ropes to the plateau up to 7200m before the 3rd May as maximum.

Also in the event of a necessity both expedition can use the resources of the other (tents, food, gas, material) is different regarding the oxygen due to the limitation of the quantity, but it reminded open to a mutual agreement.

The C3 at 7150m was installed on the 3rd May. On 11 May the roped party composed by Narcis Serrat and Francesc Martinez Troya left C3 to try to go up to C4 at the foot of the Yalung Kang Couloir, following the way open by the Germans in 1975. But when they were up to 7700m they found the way fully broken by crevasses, what made them to go backwards and also to forget about such an itinerary. They also saw that the condition of the snow there was really bad and there was great danger about avalanches. We were also advised by the Polish that were opening their way to the Yalung Kang couloir, that they saw several avalanches and also stone falls down the couloir.

After a careful investigation of the situation there and having in mind every consequences of changing the peak, we all decided to try central peak. Therefore, on 15th May Luis Ambros and a Sherpa installed C4 up to 7750m at the principle of the Central Peak couloir. Two days later three members with three Sherpas supplied the mentioned camp with every material to initiate an attempt. The day after, 18th May, F. M. Troya, N. Serrat and Sherpa Phuri, started their climbing to the couloir and they saw that before arriving to the top they had to follow a diagonal rock to the right where they believed would go to the highest point. At 50m the pass N. Serrat and Sherpa initiated a rock while Troya had to go backwards he saw that their companions were going up to an important peak, but that it was not the one they wanted to climb in the first instance, and this is placed much more to the right (South).

The rope Serrat - Phuri followed the ascention through a "tower" of red rock, followed by rock rock ridge that went up to the snow ridge up to the top of the snow, where they considered was the Kangchenjunga Central, in spite that there were several peaks of the same characteristics to the S-direction, when going down they "climb down" following the same way as the ascent to go much more to the North and and after a rappel of 60 or 70m they reached the pass emplaced between the central and principal peaks. They followed by the couloir and reached C3 the same day.

The height we thought to have climbed after a careful investigation of several informations and by the height marked by our "altimeters" was superior to 8400m but as we had no topography device we could not get a more precise reference.

After this attempt we had no food enough at any of the high camps, due to the little time on which we had to furnish them. Therefore we had no possibilities for a new attempt of ascention till ten days later, but the over effort we had done during the approach march and during the ascent was the symptom of many expeditions, also the Sherpas had worked during a whole week without rest at all, carrying charges up to 25 kgs to heights over 7500m. All that added to the facts that this area is the first place of the Himalayan where the monsoon attacks and the trouble that the return march represented, following the Polish on such a season of the year on which porters are devoted to the field work, made us to decide about not intending a second attempt.

The day after our ascent two Polish climbed the South Peak (which at the same style as the Central is composed by several needles of the same height).

The very 19th, when at the BC, we were asked by the Polish to use our C4 for their attempt to climb the Central Peak, also they asked if we had oxygen there.