Kanchenjunga (also called Kangchenjunga, Kangchen Dzö-nga, Khangchendzonga, Kanchenjanga, Kachendzonga, or Kangchanfanga) is the third highest mountain in the world and the second highest in Nepal, located in the Taplejung district.

Kanchenjunga is translated along the lines of "Five Treasures of the Snow" as it contains five peaks over 8,000 metres. Up until 1852, Kanchenjunga was believed to be the highest mountain in the world. Calculations made from the British 1849 Great Trigonometric Survey made Mount Everest the highest and Kanchenjunga third highest.

Kanchenjunga was first climbed on May 25, 1955 by George Band and Joe Brown of a British expedition. The British expedition honored the beliefs of the Sikkimese who believe the summit sacred, by stopping a few feet short of the actual summit. Most successful summit parties since then have followed this tradition. After 1975 it became the tallest peak in India.

Climbing History

• 1905 First attempt but four members of that party were killed in an avalanche. Some claims say they reached around 21,300' before turning back, however Crowley's autobiography claims they reached about 25,000'. This party was headed by Aleister Crowley.
• 1929 A German expedition reaches 7400m/24,300' before being turned back by a 5 day storm.
• 1955 First ascent on May 25.
• 1978 A Polish team makes the first successful ascent of the south summit (Kangchenjunga II).
• 1983 Pierre Beghin makes the first solo ascent and without oxygen.
• 1986 On January 11, Krzysztof Wielicki and Jerzy Kukuczka, Polish climbers make the first winter ascent.
• 1991 Marija Frantor and Joze Rozman attempt the first ascent by a woman but their bodies are later found below the summit headwall.
• 1992 Wanda Rutkiewicz perished on a summit attempt after she refused to descend in an approaching storm.
• 1998 Ginette Harrison becomes the first and only woman to summit. She died in an avalanche while attempting Dhaulagiri in 1999.

See Kangchenjunga History for a more detailed account.

The Kanchanjunga Conservation Area (KCA) covers 2035 km² surrounding the mountain on the Nepalese side.

See also: Kanchenjungha

In literature

• In the Swallows and Amazons series of books by Arthur Ransome, a high mountain in the Lake District is given the name Kanchenjunga when it is climbed by the children in 1931. It was based on the actual mountain The Old Man of Coniston. Presumably Ransome used the name as Kanchenjunga was in the news when he wrote the book.

External link

• Kangchenjunga on Peakware - photos

Kanchenjunga is also a visual RAD tool for producing Java client applications for use with Postgres95.