The 1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition succeeded in climbing the Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, for the first time. The expedition complied with a request from the Sikkim authorities that the summit should not be trodden on so the climbers deliberately stopped about five feet below the summit. George Band and Joe Brown reached the top on 25 May 1955, and they were followed the next day by Norman Hardie and Tony Streather. The expedition was led by Charles Evans who had been deputy leader on the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition.
The expedition trekked from Darjeeling in India along the border with Sikkim and then through Nepal to the Yalung Valley. They unsuccessfully attempted a climbing route reconnoitred by a team led by John Kempe the year before but succeeded along a different route up the Yalung Face, one that Aleister Crowley's 1905 Kanchenjunga expedition had first attempted.
In mountaineering circles at the time and more recently, the climb is sometimes regarded as a greater achievement than the ascent of Mount Everest two years earlier.
Background Political
Following the ascent of Everest in 1953 and K2 in 1954, Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, had become the highest unclimbed mountain. The mountain is on the border between Nepal and Sikkim and can be approached from either side. It is the most widely visible of the 8000-metre peaks and can be well seen from Darjeeling in West Bengal. In 1955 Sikkim had a degree of control over its internal affairs and would not allow any attempt to climb the mountain. However, from 1950 Nepal had been permitting a few mountaineering expeditions, particularly enabling reconnaissance of routes to Everest, and were willing to allow an attempt on Kangchenjunga from the west.
Exploration
Kangchenjunga is a highly active mountain with avalanches constantly streaming down its sides. It is somewhat distanced from the line of the Himalayas and, because it is near where the monsoon approaches from the Bay of Bengal, the monsoon season persists longer than for any other of the eight-thousanders.
Throughout the 20th century and from even before that time, the mountain had been explored by many teams and the two routes attempted in 1955 – both of them up the Yalung Face of the mountain from the Yalung glacier – had been reconnoitred in 1905 by a Swiss team led by Jules Jacot-Guillarmod with Aleister Crowley as climbing leader and by John Kempe in 1954. Kempe's report led to the Alpine Club agreeing to sponsor a reconnaissance effort which might also attempt to reach the summit.
A detailed map of the region was produced by in 1931.
Team members The members of the team were led by Charles Evans (36 years of age at the time of the climb), who had been deputy leader on the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition. The rest of the team included: Norman Hardie (30 years), a New Zealander, was deputy leader and had explored the Barun Valley with Edmund Hillary in 1954. George Band (26 years), had been on the 1953 Mount Everest expedition and was responsible for food. Joe Brown (24 years), was an outstanding rock climber in Britain and the Alps. John Clegg (29 years) was the expedition doctor and an Alpine climber. John Jackson (34 years), with considerable Himalayan experience, had been on the 1954 Kangchenjunga reconnaissance expedition. Tom McKinnon (42 years) was the expedition photographer with considerable Himalayan experience. Neil Mather (28 years) was an ice and snow climber in the Alps. Tony Streather (29 years), with broad mountaineering experience including on the 1953 American Karakoram expedition, was responsible for porters and had knowledge of Hindustani. Dawa Tensing (about 45 years) was sirdar (chief Sherpa). He had been Evans' personal Sherpa on the 1952 Cho Oyu and 1953 Everest expeditions where he had twice reached the South Col. Annullu, deputy sirdar, had also been at the South Col in 1953. There were about 30 Sherpas from Solu Khumbu and 300 porters from Darjeeling.
Equipment Considerable advances had been made in equipment in preparation for the 1953 Everest expedition and so additional changes for 1955 were less substantial. Rather than taking vacuum-packed, high-altitude food, they took packs for ten-man-days to be shared out so individual tastes could be better accommodated.
Their high-altitude boots were of a neater design which allowed for canvas overboots and crampons on top of the whole lot. Their oxygen equipment was improved in design. Supplemental oxygen was used by the climbers above Camp 3 and by the Sherpas above Camp 5. They took two closed-circuit sets, largely for experimental purposes, but they relied on open-circuit systems which were also found to be generally more satisfactory. A set weighed only 80% of the Everest design. The flow valves were made of rubber to avoid problems of blockage by ice but unfortunately, when the rubber became cold and rigid overnight, the valves would leak badly when turned on in the morning. Early starts were sometimes delayed while the equipment was being warmed up. Another problem was that the climbers lost weight during the climb so that their face masks no longer fitted well and this also caused a waste of gas. Worse, the leak could cause their goggles to mist up – removing these, even just to wipe them, risked becoming snowblind. In all, of supplies had to be carried from Darjeeling.
Expedition Departure for Darjeeling Shortly before they sailed from Liverpool on 12 February 1955, they were told that for spiritual reasons the Sikkim government objected to any attempt at all to climb the mountain, even from Nepal, so before they departed Darjeeling Evans went to Gangtok to visit the Dewan (prime minister) with whom he reached a compromise that the expedition could go ahead provided that once they were sure of being able to reach the summit they would go no higher and they would not desecrate the vicinity of the summit.
March-in and first base camp
They left Darjeeling on 14 March for the journey to Mane Bhanjyang transporting their baggage in a convoy of dilapidated trucks. This was the last large village on the road before their 10-day trek started on a track up to the crest of the Singalila Ridge from where, at , there were three Indian government rest houses along the route north, the first being at Tonglu. At Phalut they turned west to enter the jungles of Nepal. After Chyangthapu they headed north again through intensively cultivated terraced land. At Khebang (now Khewang) there was a long climb up to the pass leading to the Yalung valley where there was again jungle, which eventually turned into the gravel outwash of the Yalung glacier. After Tseram (now Cheram) were the remains of a monastery at Ramser and, near the terminal moraine of the Yalung glacier at , the porters were paid off because the route up the glacier was too difficult for them. Yalung Camp was established as a substantial camp from where to acclimatise by climbing many nearby peaks. Accurate theodolite measurements were taken of features in the vicinity of Kangchenjunga's Yalung, or southwest, face. A supply chain for food for the Sherpas – tsampa and atta – was organised from Ghunsa village two days carry away. Also, plans were made for the future moving of goods from Yalung to a base camp much higher up the glacier.
The trek to Yalung Camp had taken 10 days and when they left after their acclimatisation period there was a four-day trek up the glacier to a base camp to be established at the foot of Kempe's Buttress, at the foot of the route suggested by the reconnaissance of the year before. Because the porters had been paid off the trek to base camp had to be done repeatedly in very poor weather. The left bank (southeastern side) of the glacier was subject to continual avalanches from Talung so they took the right bank even though the ice was very broken there.
Attempt via Kempe's Buttress Kempe's Buttress flanks the eastern side of an icefall that descends Kangchenjunga from about to the glacier at . The top of the buttress is at and from there Kempe had thought there might be a feasible way further up the icefall. From the top of the Buttress, however, Band and Hardie took two days trying to get onto the icefall itself. Evans and Jackson joined the effort and although they then managed to get onto the icefall they could make no further progress. Band, who had climbed Everest's Khumbu Icefall, wrote: Fortunately, Hardie spotted a small glacier descending the Western Buttress – the wall on the far side of the glacier – and the small glacier reached down from a location they called the "Hump" to a point on the icefall roughly level with their vantage point. So, they decided to abandon their present attempt and try all over again hoping to reach the western side of the icefall. The intention was to climb up to the Hump along the western side of the Western Buttress and to achieve this involved moving base camp.
Attempt starting at Kempe's Buttress Camp Altitude Date occupied(1955) Description feet metres Base 18,000 12 April Kempe's second base camp Camp 1 19,500 19 April Top of Kempe's buttress highpoint 20,000 22 April Height reached on this route by 1955 party. They descended after observing an alternative route.
Attempt from Pache's grave
As it happens the location of the second base camp was where, on Crowley's 1905 expedition, Alexis Pache and three porters were laid to rest after they had been killed in an avalanche. The wooden cross and gravestone still stood there. Kempe's team had investigated the area the previous year but considered it would tend to lead towards the subsidiary peak Kangchenjunga West leaving a difficult traverse to the main summit. Also, the route was vulnerable to avalanches.
Evans' plan was to climb to the Hump and then drop down to the Lower Icefall. They would then attempt the short climb to the top of the Lower Icefall to reach a plateau at the foot of the Upper Icefall. From there the Great Shelf – a snow shelf cutting across the Yalung Face from about in the southeast to in the northwest – should lead to a dark rock cirque, the "Sickle", beside a steep snow gangway leading to within striking distance of the summit. The rocks of the Sickle were the first outcrop to be reached after the Hump.
Locations of camps Camp Altitude Date occupied(1955) Description feet metres Base 18,100 23 April at Pache's Grave Camp 1 19,700 26 April above the "narrows" Camp 2 20,400 28 April on the "Plateau" above Lower Icefall Camp 3 21,800 4 May Advanced Base camp at the "Valley" below Upper Icefall Camp 4 23,500 12 May above Upper Icefall, level with and before Great Shelf Camp 5 25,300 13 May ledge below ice cliff at foot of "Sickle" and "Gangway". Camp 6 26,900 24 May small site dug out halfway up "Gangway" Summit 28,168 25 May stopped five feet below summit.
Lower and upper icefall
By 26 April Band and Hardie had pitched Camp 1 two-thirds of the way up the very steep snow slopes on the western side of the Western Buttress. To go higher involved crossing a crevasse wide which was eventually made suitable for Sherpas with a ladder and of ropes. Up to the Hump and down the ramp on the other side the slopes were about 40° and the descent to the icefall was a drop of some . They struggled up the edge of the icefall to reach the spacious avalanche-free plateau between the Upper and Lower Icefall. The Plateau was an excellent location for Camp 2 which was soon established by Evans and Brown. For three weeks without a single day being missed, supplies were ferried between Base Camp and Camp 2, stopping overnight at Camp 1 on the way up.