Mount Kumbhakarna or Jannu (
Limbu: ''Phoktanglungma'') is the 32nd-highest mountain in the world. It is an important western outlier of
Kangchenjunga
Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā (), and Khangchendzonga, is the third highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the T ...
, the world's third-highest peak. Kumbhakarna is a large and steep peak in its own right, and has numerous challenging climbing routes.
The official name of this peak is Kumbhakarna, but the designation Jannu is still better known. It is called Phoktanglungma, literally "mountain with shoulders" (''phoktang'' means "shoulder" and ''lungma'' means "mountain"), in the
Limbu language
Limbu (Limbu: , ''yakthuṅ pan'') is a Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Limbu people of Nepal and Northeastern India (particularly Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Sikkim, Assam and Nagaland) as well as expatriate communities in Bhutan. The Limbu refe ...
, and is sacred in the
Kirant
The Kirati people, also spelled as Kirant or Kiranti, are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group. They are peoples of the Himalayas, mostly the Eastern Himalaya extending eastward from Nepal to North East India (predominantly in the Indian state of Sikkim ...
religion.
Location
Kumbhakarna is the highest peak of the Kumbhakarna Section of the Kangchenjunga Himal (using
H. Adams Carter
Hubert Adams "Ad" Carter (June 6, 1914 – April 1, 1995) was an American mountaineer, language teacher and was editor of the ''American Alpine Journal'' for 35 years.
Biography
Carter was born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1914, and made his fir ...
's classification
H. Adams Carter
Hubert Adams "Ad" Carter (June 6, 1914 – April 1, 1995) was an American mountaineer, language teacher and was editor of the ''American Alpine Journal'' for 35 years.
Biography
Carter was born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1914, and made his fir ...
, "Classification of the Himalaya", ''American Alpine Journal
The ''American Alpine Journal'' is an annual magazine published by the American Alpine Club. Its mission is "to document and communicate mountain exploration." The headquarters is in Golden, Colorado.
Subtitled as a compilation of "The World's M ...
'' 59 (1985), pp. 109–141), which straddles the border between Nepal and
Sikkim
Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligur ...
, and lies entirely within Nepal. A long ridge connects it with Kangchenjunga to the east.
Notable features
Kumbhakarna is the 32nd
highest mountain
Currently, There are at least 108 mountains on Earth with elevations of or greater above sea level. The vast majority of these mountains are located on the edge of the Indian plate, Indian and Eurasian plate, Eurasian plates in China, India, ...
in the world
(using a cutoff of 500m
prominence
In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...
, or re-ascent).
It is more notable for its climbing challenge, and is one of the hardest peaks in the world in
terms of technical difficulty because of its complex structure, its vertical relief, and the particularly steep climbing near the summit. The north face, in particular, has been the scene of some of the most technical (and controversial) climbing achieved at altitudes over 7000m.
Climbing history
Kumbhakarna Jannu was first reconnoitered in 1957 by Guido Magnone, and first attempted in 1959 by a French team led by Jean Franco. It was first climbed in 1962 by a team led by the French alpinist
Lionel Terray
Lionel Terray (25 July 1921 – 19 September 1965) was a French climber who made many first ascents, including on the 1955 French Makalu expedition in the Himalaya (with Jean Couzy on 15 May 1955) and Cerro Fitz Roy in the Patagonian Andes (wit ...
. Those reaching the summit were
René Desmaison
René Desmaison (April 14, 1930, in Bourdeilles, Dordogne – September 28, 2007) was a veteran French mountaineer, climber and alpinist.
Desmaison had climbed more than 1,000 mountains since the 1950s. He made the first ascent of 114 previo ...
, Paul Keller, Robert Paragot and Gyalzen Mitchung Sherpa (April 27) and Lionel Terray, André Bertraud, Jean Bouvier, Pierre Leroux, Yves Pollet-Villard, Jean Ravier and Wangdi Sherpa (April 28).
[Liz Hawley, ''Himalayan Database''][Andy Fanshawe and Stephen Venables, ''Himalaya Alpine Style'', Hodder and Stoughton, 1995.][''High Asia: An Illustrated History of the 7000 Metre Peaks'' by Jill Neate, ]
Their route started from the
Yamatari Glacier
The Yamatari glacier valley is located in Taplejung district
Taplejung District ( ne, ताप्लेजुङ जिल्ला ) is one of 77 districts of Nepal and one of the 14 districts of Province No. 1. It is remotely located in th ...
south of the peak and followed a circuitous route to the large plateau known as the Throne (a hanging glacier south of the summit), continuing to the summit via the southeast ridge.
The Huge, steep north face (the so-called "Wall of Shadows") was first climbed in 1976 by a Japanese team led by Masatsugu Konishi (
:ja:小西政継, by a route that starts on the left side of the face and then meets the east ridge, avoiding the steep headwall at the top of the face (though a New Zealand team had climbed the north face the previous year without proceeding to the summit). A Slovenian climber,
Tomo Česen
Tomislav "Tomo" Česen (born November 5, 1959) is a Slovenian mountaineer; he specialises in solo ascents in the Alps and the Himalayas.
At the age of 26, he reported that he had enchained the three Great north faces of the Alps, becoming the fir ...
, claimed a solo ascent of a more direct route on the face in 1989, but this claim is considered suspect by many in the climbing community.
In 2004, after a failed attempt the previous year, a Russian team led by Alexander Odintsov succeeded in climbing the direct north face route through the headwall. This required
big-wall aid techniques in a sustained, committing setting at over 7500m, a major achievement. However some in the climbing community were upset to learn that the Russians left a good deal of equipment on the wall, provoking a debate over what constitutes appropriate modern style on such a route.
['']American Alpine Journal
The ''American Alpine Journal'' is an annual magazine published by the American Alpine Club. Its mission is "to document and communicate mountain exploration." The headquarters is in Golden, Colorado.
Subtitled as a compilation of "The World's M ...
'' 79 (2005), pp. 56–63. Despite the controversy, the team won the
Piolet d'Or
An ice axe is a multi-purpose hiking and climbing tool used by mountaineers in both the ascent and descent of routes that involve snow, ice, or frozen conditions. Its use depends on the terrain: in its simplest role it is used like a walking ...
for the ascent.
Th
Himalayan Indexlists over a dozen ascents of Jannu; there may be others that have not been written up in climbing literature.
Gallery
Image:Jannu Gyabla Pass.jpg, Jannu from the west, a pass between Olung and Gyabla
Image:Jannu North Face.jpg, The impressive north face of Jannu
References
External links
Himalayan Index(Corrected versions of SRTM data)
{{Authority control
Seven-thousanders of the Himalayas
Mountains of the Province No. 1