Kangchenjunga | 2019 SW Face

A India expedition to Kangchenjunga in 2019 via SW Face, led by Biplab Baidya. Summit reached on 15th May 2019. 20 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 10271
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID KANG19104
Peak ID KANG
Year 2019
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality India
Leaders Biplab Baidya
Sponsor Peak Promotion International Kangchenjunga Expedition 2019
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Bulgaria, Chile, Germany, Nepal, Singapore
Approach Heli frfom Tseram for most members
Basecamp Date 2019-04-17
Summit Date 2019-05-15
Summit Time -
Summit Days 28
Total Days 31
Termination Date 2019-05-18
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8586
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 10
Summit Members 9
Member Deaths 3
Total Hired 11
Summit Hired 9
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb True
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep True
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(17/04,5500m),C2,C3(13/05,6980m),C4(14/05,7360m),Smt(15/05)
Route Notes Peak Promotion International Kangchenjunga expedition was a combination of several independent teams (1-5 climbers each). Peak Promotion provided transportation, base camp facilities and various levels of high altitude support (oxygen, high-altitude porters, tents, etc) as required and contracted for by each team. The individual accounts for each team are given below: Swee Chiow Khoo (Singapore) Name: Singaporean on Kangchenjunga 2019 Appr: Heli to BC Camps: BC(01/05,5500m),C2(06/05,6240m),C3(13/05,6890m),C4(14/05,7360m), Smt(15/05) Left: 16/05 by heli to Tumlingtar Hired: 2 Term: Success by Khoo and Da Jangbu at 8 am Summit team set out from C4 at 6 pm on 14/05. Straightforward climb to about 8200m, from there rock. There were about 60 people on the route so moving was slow. They spent about 20 minutes on the summit and descended to C4, where they arrived at 3 pm. There was no tent for Khoo so they descended to C3, where they arrived at 6 pm. On his descent, Khoo saw Rodrigo Vivanco in the rocky section (above 8000m) at about noon. They talked, Vivanco was slow, but seemed fine and lucid and said he was headed for the summit. That was the last time Khoo saw him. Da Jangbu developed an eye problem on the descent, perhaps snowblindness and when the helicopter tried to rescue the Indians from C4 and could not do it, it landed at C2 and picked up Da Jangbu. The Indians, the helicopter was supposed to rescue, were from the Bengali team and unfortunately, they died up there. According to Khoo, the bodies will be retrieved from C4 in the next few days. Ang Tendi (Vajpai’s Sherpa in 2018) reached about 8100m. He had problems with his oxygen and turned back to C4. On 16/05 Khoo to BC and left BC on 17/05 by heli to Tumlingtar. Oxygen: Used from C3 to top to C3 by Khoo; from C4 to C4 by Da Jangbu. Sherpa: Da Jangbu, Gudel-6, (Kangchenjunga summit 20/05/2018) Ang Tendi, Bupsa Atanas Skatov (Bulgaria) Franck Irnich (Germany) Name: Bulgarian/German Kangchenjunga Expedition 2019 Appr: Heli to BC (Irnich); Happo Khola->Ramche by trek (Skatov) Camps: BC(17/04,5500m),C2(28/04,6240m),C3(13/05,6890m),C4(14/05,7360m), Smt(15/05) Left: 18/05 Skatov by heli to Tumlingtar Hired: 2 Term: Success by Skatov and Pasang Sherpa at 7:33 am, Irnich and Ang Dano at 8 am Summit team left C4 at 6 pm on 14/05. Ropes were fixed by the Indian team. After about three hours Irnich felt his feet getting cold. He was contemplating turning back, but there were too many people on the route. He did not have a headlamp as he had given it to his Sherpa and decided to stay with Ang Dano. It was very windy. Otherwise straightforward climb. Skatov had problems with his oxygen regulator and only got a very low flowrate. Skatov and Irnich spent about 5 minutes on the summit together. Skatov was up there for about 40 minutes and Irnich for about half an hour. Skatov and Pasang descended (they had to wait for about half an hour due to heavy traffic). Skatov headed down ahead of Pasang and rested at C4 for a bit and descended all the way to BC, where he arrived at around 11:45 pm. Pasang Sherpa stayed the night at C3. On his descent with Ang Dano, Irnich stopped at C4 at about 3:30 pm. He also had to wait for a long time on his descent due to traffic jam and too many people. Even though they wanted to continue to C2, they fell asleep and when he woke up, Irnich had almost lost his eye sight. His eyes were swollen and he could not see. He thinks it could have been the beginning of HACE. Ang Dano went out to get more oxygen. They stayed the night at C4. Irnich’s other Sherpa Tek Bahadur Rai (who summited with Babu from India) arrived in the night after the summit and joined the team in the tent. The next morning, Irnich had a lot of pain in his eyes, Tek Rai put a buff over his eyes to put some pressure on them. They started to descend at about 9:30 am. Babu from India also developed an eye problem and was evacuated by helicopter between C3 and C4 (Maya Sherpa joined his ride). When Irnich arrived at the place where the helicopter could land the weather had turned bad and the helicopter could not land. Irnich continued to descend all the way to C3 blind-folded. He was NOT short-roped, but the Sherpas directed him where to go. It took them about 8 hours to get down. He got the news that a helicopter could not rescue him from C3. They stayed the night at C3. There was a big thunderstorm during that night. On 17/05 there was fresh snow on the ground and they had to descend to C2 as he could only be rescued from C2. They descended to C2 which took them about 10 hours. It was cold and windy. When they reached C2 they hoped that a helicopter would come for rescue, but the weather was too bad. Ang Dano descended to BC and Tek stayed with Frank. At 8:30 am the helicopter could land and picked up Irnich. Tek was also flown from C2 to BC with all the bags. Irnich flew directly to Tseram on 18/05, then from Tseram to Kathmandu and straight to CIWEC. His eyes got already a bit better at C2 and when he was back in Kathmandu his eyes were 90% back to normal. Irnich has frostbite on right index finger and on big toes on both feet, and right foot on two more toes. Skatov left on 18/05 by heli to Tumlingtar. Accidents: Irnich snow-blindnness, frostbite Oxygen: Used from C3 (intermittently) to C4 and to top to C4 by Skatov and Pasang Used from C4 to top C2 by Irnich, used from C3 to top to between C3 and C2 by Sherpas. Maya Sherpa (Nepal) Name: Kangchenjunga Eco Cleaning Expedition 2019 Appr: Heli to BC Camps: BC(01/05,5500m),C2(11/05,6240m),C3(13/05,6890m),C4(14/05,7360m), Smt(15/05) Left: 18/05 by heli to Tumlingtar (together with Skatov) Hired: 1 Term: Success by Maya Sherpa, Mingma Sherpa at 9 am, Tek Bahadur Rai at 9:30 am. On summit push, Maya and Mingma left C4 at 5:45 pm on 14/04. Straightforward climb. They stayed about 30 minutes on the summit and descended to C4 where they arrived 5 pm. On their descent, they met Rodrigo Vivanco (the Chilean who died on Kangchenjunga), who was on his way up at about 8400m. He recognised them, but looked tired. On 16/05 Maya and Mingma descended to C2, where they stayed the night. They arrived there at 3 pm and because they were tired they stayed the night. On 17/05, Maya Sherpa took the same helicopter Babu (Indian on same team) was picked up in from C2. She had very painful fingers and toes and found it hard to walk. Maya left BC on 18/05 by heli to Tumlingtar (together with Skatov) Oxygen: Used from C3 to top C2 by Maya Sherpa From C4 to top to C3 by Mingma Sherpa Sherpas: Mingma Gyalzen Sherpa, Makalu-Barun (Everest summit) Tek Bahadur Rai, 03/03/1988 1st 8000m summit for Tek Bahadur (1st Rai on Kangchenjunga). Biplab Baidya (India) Rudra Prasad Halder (India) Ramesh Roy (India) Kuntal Kanrar (India) Sahabuddin (India) From www.dreamwanderlust.com website: 14th May, Night - Five climbers (Sk Sahabuddin, Rudra Prasad Halder, Ramesh Roy, Kuntal Kanrar and Biplab Baidya) from Bengal were left for the summit from C4. 15th May, Morning - Four climbers (Sk Sahabuddin, Rudra Prasad Halder, Ramesh Roy and Biplab Baidya) have reached the summit. 15th May, 11:19 - Nirmal Purja along with his project possible teammates have scaled Kangchenjunga. 15th May, 14:30 - Purja's team started the rescue mission of Biplab Baidya and Kuntal Karar from an elevation of 8450m and 8300m respectively. 15th May, 15:12 - One member of the Bengal team (possibly Rudra) sent an SOS to his family via GPS device asking for urgent help from an elevation of 8271m. 15th May Night- Purja's team called off the rescue operation due to lack of helps and O2. 15th May, 22:00 - Frostbitten Ramesh Roy brought to C4. 16th May, Morning - Biplab Baidya and Kuntal Kanrar have died presumably in the early hours due to shortage of supplementary oxygen (as reported by the rescuer Nirmal Purja) leading to HAPE (High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema) on their way back from summit or near summit. 16th May, Evening - Ramesh and Rudra reached C2. Another climber of the same team Sahabuddin has reached the Base Camp. 17th May, 06:30 - Two injured climbers Ramesh Roy and Rudra Prasad Halder have been heli-rescued from C2. Rodrigo Vivanco (Chile) Approach: Heli to Tseram 1 de Mayo 02.00 AM BC 2 de Mayo CB 3 de Mayo CB 4 de Mayo CB 5 de Mayo CB 6 de Mayo CB 7 de Mayo CB 8 de Mayo CB 9 de Mayo CB to C1 Left BC at 3 am and arrived C1 at 10 am 10 de Mayo C1 to C2 Left C1 at 4 pm 11 de Mayo C2 to bivouac between C2 and C3. Left C2 at 8 am 12 de Mayo bivouac to C3 13 de Mayo rest day at C3 14 de Mayo C3 to C4 arrived at C4 at 9 am and at 6:45 pm started summit push 15 de Mayo arrived at summit around 6 pm, approximate minute in which the signal of the Inreach continues emitting from the same point 18 hours later. Tek Bahadur Rai summited with the two Indians from Peak Promotion on 15/05 at 8:30 am. He descended to C4 and saw Vivanco at about 12 noon and told him to go down as it was still a long way up. Tek Rai together with Maya Sherpa and Babu arrived at C4 at 7 pm on 15/05. Tek Rai stayed in the tent with Irnich (see Irnich’s report). When Vivanco was not back at 11 am on 16/05 he decided to pack up Vivanco’s gear and take it down as he did not think he was coming back. Oxygen: Not taken, not used No Sherpa support. Hernan Leal report on Rodrigo Vivanco: Leal arrived at BC 20/04. Rodrigo arrived on 01/05 when Leal was at BC after his rotation and he was very tired and did not meet Rodrigo before 03/05. Leal invited Rodrigo to his camp on 03/05 to meet him. Rodrigo left BC for summit rotation on 09/05, one day before 10/05. They were both at C2 together when the vestibule of Rodrigo’s tent broke. The weather forecast was bad for the following days. When Leal was on his way from C2 to C3 the storm started and they were looking for Rodrigo, who was coming up very slowly as he had carried all his gear. He never arrived at C3 as he did a bivouac between C2 and C3. At C3, Rodrigo told Leal that he could no longer use his tent as it was broken. He slept in the Peak Promotion Sherpa tents. At C3 Rodrigo put his sleeping bag on top of the tent and the tent blew it away and threw it into a crevasse. Rodrigo wanted to get his sleeping bag in the crevasse, but the others talked him into going back. Leal was at C4 on 13/05 and Rodrigo arrived at C4 on 14/05. On summit day, Leal met Rodrigo when he came down. Rodrigo was on his way up. They were at about 8000m and Rodrigo was lucid but, of course, tired. They talked and then they parted. That was the last time Leal saw Vivanco. Apparently Nirmal Purja overtook Rodrigo on his way up and Nirmal tried to convince him to come down. But of course, he refused. Rodrigo Vivanco sighting (25 May 2023) by Vadim Druelle: Then VD started his descent. 15 minutes later, after starting to down-scramble the upper traverse section, down to the route VD saw some blood on a stone and lower down to it, at circa 8560m, a dead body wearing classic La Sportiva boots (“I can recognize this type very easily”): that was the one of Rodrigo Vivanco, who died in 2019 after summiting. Continuing further down, VD would see an other dead body, all black, apparently sitting stiff on the ridge down to “5c” (see topographic report). Real body? Or just a black rock? [Afterwards the second option seems the most likely since no one has been reported dead in such awkward location in a recent time, plus many of such black rocks are to be found in the area]. Since he felt cold, he didn’t make much stops and went back down smoothly.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Peak Promotion
Commercial Route False
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2462303
Year 2019
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) sw face

Members

20 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Biplab Baidya M 1970 India Leader Kolkata (Calcutta), India Environmental engineer Details Other expeditions
Rudra Prasad Halder M 1977 India Climber Raidighi, West Bengal, India West Bengal police Details Other expeditions
Frank Hanns Irnich M 1961 Germany Climber Geretsried, Bavaria, Germany Physiotherapist Details Other expeditions
Kuntal Kanrar M 1972 India Climber West Bengal, India - Details Other expeditions
Swee Chiow Khoo M 1964 Singapore Climber Singapore Adventurer Details Other expeditions
Ramesh Chandra Roy M 1972 India Climber Kolkata (Calcutta), India Customs inspector Details Other expeditions
Mohammed Sahabuddin M 1977 India Climber West Bengal, India - Details Other expeditions
Maya Sherpa F 1978 Nepal Climber Patle-5, Okhaldhunga Alpinist Details Other expeditions
Atanas Georgiev Skatov M 1978 Bulgaria Climber Sliven, Bulgaria Alpinist Details Other expeditions
Rodrigo Francisco Vivanco Figueroa M 1969 Chile Climber Santiago, Chile Glacier scientist & physiologist Details Other expeditions
Densa Bhote M 1981 Nepal H-A Worker Hungung, Hatiya-1, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Tek Bahadur Rai M 1988 Nepal H-A Worker Mapya Dudhkoshi-2, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Ang Babu Sherpa M 1989 Nepal H-A Worker - - Details Other expeditions
Ang Dawa Sherpa M 1990 Nepal H-A Worker - - Details Other expeditions
Ang Tendi Sherpa M 1985 Nepal H-A Worker Bupsa, Jubing-5, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Da Jangbu Sherpa M 1983 Nepal H-A Worker Gudel-6, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Dawa Sherpa M 1992 Nepal H-A Worker Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Dawa Tshering (Dawa Chhiri) Sherpa M 1987 Nepal H-A Worker Lelep, Taplejung - Details Other expeditions
Mingma Ongya/Wangchu Sherpa M 1989 Nepal H-A Worker Makalu-2, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Pasang Sherpa M 1984 Nepal H-A Worker Rakha Bangdel-5, Khotang - Details Other expeditions

References

3 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
KANG19104 - - http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/bodies-of-mountaineers-kuntal-karar-biplab-baidya-reach-home-354921 - - -
KANG19104 - - https://scroll.in/latest/923656/two-indian-climbers-die-while-scaling-mount-kanchenjunga - - -
KANG19104 - - http://www.dreamwanderlust.com/news/kangchenjunga-ramesh-and-rudra-heli-rescued-biplab-and-kuntal-dead-on-summit-slopes - - -