원정 개요

BC near Land Phu
C1 = ABC at Lachung Co lake
C2 below rock wall
C3 on plateau
C4 on NE Spur
High point on East Ridge.

Himalayan Journal 2002, page 203-6

During September a mature eight member Japanese expedition comprising Kinichi Yamamori (57, leader), Yoshihide Higami (57, deputy leader), Hideki Sato (53, climbing leader), Seiko Mantoku (47), Yasuji Moriyama (51), Yasuo Ota (48), Kunihiko Sato (48) and Masakatsu Tamura (59) made the first ever attempt on 7429m Ganesh from Tibet. The highest summit in the Ganesh group lies on Nepal-Tibet border and is referred to in Tibet by its local name, Yangri Kangri. The peak has only been climbed once. On the 24th October 1955 Eric Guachet, Claude Kogan and Raymond Lambert from Franco Swiss expedition reached the summit via the South East Face from the Sang Jing Glacier in Nepal. Tragically the young Guachet slipped on the descent and fall to his death.

The Japanese project to climb Yangra Kangri from the north started with an invitation from Tibet Mountaineering Association, proposing a joint expedition with the Himalayan Association of Japan (this partnership had successfully made the first ascent of 7367m Labuche Kang in 1987). Yamamori organized a reconnaissance in September 1996, but lack of time meant that he was not able to make much progress on a possible northern approach and instead continued down the Kyirong Zangbo River inspect a route from the south via the Sang Jing Glacier. Poor weather prevented any view of the mountain.

A second expedition in October 1998 found a route from Ruka (3050m) on the Kyirong Zangbo towards the foot of the North East Spur of the mountain. However, members were unable to reach the Pawa Glacier on the north side of the peak due to heavy undergrowth and marshy terrain.

The 2001 exepedition built a bridge over the Ramu River opposite the base of the North East Spur and established BC at 3350m in the forest below the peak. By late September they had made Camp I at 4400m beside a lake named Lachang Co close to the start of the North East Spur. This spur is a branch of the East Ridge and itself splits into two branches at about 6100m. The Japanese started climbing on the 30th, aiming for the easterly branch of the spur. Camp 2 (5350m) was established below a glass-shaped rock wall, where the route became difficult. Two pitches on the rock wall, followed by a thin and narrow snow ridge, led to an icefall. After climbing the latter, C3 was established on the plateau above at 6000m.

From there the climbers progressed up a huge and crevassed snow face towards the East Ridge. A shortage of ropes meant that in order to extend the route they had to remove those that had been fixed lower down. On the 24th October they placed C4 at 6860m just below the ridge. Four members stayed there on the 26th climbed up the East Ridge without ropes or pitons (which had all been used below) until they were forced to give up at 6900m. No high altitude porters were used above C1.