Varanasi

Kangchenjunga - 8586m - #3 in the World

Kangchenjunga, Peak IX of the Indian survey, is the world’s third highest mountain at 8586m. It is the most easterly of the 8000m peaks, standing on the border between Nepal and Sikkim. From almost any direction, the peak looks like a vast tent, the massif being created by four ridges radiating virtually on the cardinal points from the summit.

Three of its subsidiary summits are over 8000m: the south summit, sometimes called Kangchenjunga II, at 8476m; the central summit, between the south and main summits, at 8482m, and the west summit, called Yalung Kang, at 8505m. Long considered sacred, the Tibetan name (Kang-chen-dzö-nga) has been translated as ‘The Five Treasures of the great Snows’. Although some claim this to be a reference to it five distinct summits, it is more likely to stem from the number of glaciers flowing from it.

In 1848/9, the British botanist Joseph Hooker made two long journeys in Sikkim, traveling within a few kilometres of Kangchenjunga. In 1899, Douglas Freshfield and a small team including the famous Italian mountain photographer Vittorio Sella made a complete circuit of the Kangchenjunga massif, and wrote a book called Round Kangchenjunga.