Monday, November 10, 2008

Climbers Achieve First Ascent on Kang Nachugo


Climbers David Gottlieb and Joe Puryear completed the first ascent on Kang Nachugo in Nepal a few weeks back and have written about their adventure on their Climb Nepal Blog. The pair went up the mountain over the course of five days, climbing in alpine style, finally topping out on the 17th of October.

Kang Nachugo is located in the Rolwaling Himal region of Nepal, and stands 6735 meters (22,096 feet) in height. The mountain is a prominent point in the area, and it's peak can be seen from six of the 8000m mountains, but it has remained unclimbed until now, in part because of the remote nature of the Rolwaling valley.

The blog details their climb, from their arrival back on September 16th right up through the climb and descent a month later. The writing is accompanied by some amazing photos that help to tell the tale even more vividly. After spending some time exploring the valley and acclimatizing at altitude, David and Joe gave it a go on the South Face, which proved to be more difficult than they had imagined, in no small part thanks to the weather.

After retreating to base camp for some R&R, and a two day party with the locals, they returned undaunted to the mountain, this time setting their sites on the West Ridge instead. Eventually their persistence and determination payed off, and five days after they set out, they stood on the summit at last.

The story of their climb is a good one, and well worth the read. You'll be amazed at their tale and the photos as well. Great stuff! Congrats guy!

Thanks to ExWeb for the heads up on this one.

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