Annapurna III ( ne, अन्नपूर्ण ३) is a mountain in the

Annapurna Annapurna (; ne, अन्नपूर्ण) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the tenth highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the difficu ...

mountain range located in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

, and at tall, it is the 42nd highest mountain in the world and the third highest peak of the Annapurna mountain range (Annapurna Fang is technically taller at , but lacks the prominence to be considered a fully independent peak).

History

It was first ascended 6 May 1961 by an Indian expedition led by Capt.

Mohan Singh Kohli Captain Mohan Singh Kohli (b. 11 December 1931 at Haripur) is an internationally renowned Indian mountaineer. An officer in the Indian Navy who joined the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, he led the 1965 Indian expedition which put nine men o ...

via the Northeast Face. The summit party comprised Mohan Kohli, Sonam Gyatso, and Sonam Girmi. A Japanese Women's expedition led by

Junko Tabei was a Japanese mountaineer, author and a teacher. She was the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest and the first woman to ascend the Seven Summits, climbing the highest peak on every continent. Tabei wrote seven books, organized e ...

succeeded in putting the first women on top on 19 May 1970. Several teams had attempted to summit Annapurna III via the southeast ridge, with all efforts prior to 2021 ending in failure. The first attempt up this ridge was in 1981 by Nick Colton and Tim Leach who reached about 1000 feet below the peak before turning around. Twice in 2010, Pete Benson, Nick Bullock and Matt Helliker unsuccessfully attempted the southeast ridge. Their first attempt started at the southeast pillar, and the second attempt started at the east ridge where the team began by flying a helicopter into basecamp to save time. In 2016,

David Lama David Lama ( ne, डेभिड लामा; 4 August 1990 – 16 April 2019) was an Austrian sport climber and mountaineer. He won the European Championship in bouldering in 2007 and the European Championship in lead climbing in 2006. He ...

filmed a documentary of his unsuccessful attempt up the southeast ridge along with

Hansjörg Auer Hansjörg Auer (; 18 February 1984 – 16 April 2019) was an Austrian mountaineer, noted for his free solo climbs, and particularly of ''Fish Route'' in the Italian Dolomites, the first-ever big wall solo at . ''National Geographic'' descr ...

and Alex Blümel winning the UIAA awarded the Best Climbing Film. The firs
successful southeast ridge ascent
was made on 6th November 2021 by Mykyta Balabanov, Vyacheslav Polezhayko and Mykhailo Fomin. Before them, the route was one of unfinished challenges in the Himalayas. The route is about 2800-3000 meters on vertical face whose crux emerges in the form of a technically demanding chimney shown in the video of the 2016 attempt. The summit was made in bad conditions, because of strong wind. It was the second attempt by this Ukrainian expedition, their first one being in 2019.

References

External links

''Annapurna III – Unclimbed''
a short documentary by

Seven-thousanders of the Himalayas Mountains of the Gandaki Province {{Nepal-mountain-stub