Kangchenjunga | 2024 SW Face

A Russia expedition to Kangchenjunga in 2024 via SW Face, led by Alina Pekova. Summit reached on 27th May 2024. 24 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 11381
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID KANG24102
Peak ID KANG
Year 2024
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Russia
Leaders Alina Pekova
Sponsor Seven Summit Treks (SST) Kangchenjunga Expedition 2024
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 Australia, Austria, Cyprus, Germany, Kosovo, Kyrgyz Republic, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, UK, Ukraine
Approach By heli to BC
Basecamp Date 2024-04-18
Summit Date 2024-05-27
Summit Time 1445
Summit Days 39
Total Days 52
Termination Date 2024-06-09
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8586
Traverse False
Ski True
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 18
Summit Members 5
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 17
Summit Hired 6
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb True
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(18/04,5400m),C2(6200m),C3(6900m),C4(7200m),Smt(27/05,08/06)
Route Notes Report from Oswald Rodrigo Pereira: BC 20/05 5600m heli to Tseram C1 6240m C2 23/05 6220m C3 24/05 6836m C4 25/05 7200m (lower C4 site) Smt 27/05 by Bartek and Oswald at 2:45 pm. The reason why they summited from lower C4 was that the Sherpas did not want to move to upper C4. On 26/05 after the rest of the SST and other teams descended due to the Sherpas not fixing the ropes, the team left C4 at 6:55 pm. When they reached the end of the fixed ropes at about 7500m they cut about 50m of the rope and climbed to the couloirs roped up. Conditions were Ok, but snow partially deep. Weather was good, no wind. Ski descent from summit by Ziemski: They spent about half an hour on the summit and then Ziemski put on his skis and skied for about 10 metres. He took them off on the rocky traverse where he walked for about 20 horizontal metres and then continued to ski. In the summit section there was another short section where he took off the skis for about 10 metres. From there he skied all the way to lower C4, where he arrived at 7 pm. Descent by Rodrigo Pereira: Pereira started his descent at about 8450m he fell and rolled down for a few metres. He hit a rock with his head, but fortunately he was wearing a helmet. At about midnight, he realised that he was going down very slowly and about 7600m he started to have some hallucinations. When he talked to Bartek on the radio, Bartek realised that Oswald was a bit confused. His watch had run out of battery and he could not follow the tracks. At about 2 am at about 7600m, he was not sure where to go and Bartek who could see him from C4 was trying to direct him down. He spent about 3 hours looking for the trail and when it got light, he saw the trail and a big crevasse. As he was worried that he may not have the strength to jump across it he sat down and slept for about three hours. At 6:50 am he told Bartek that he would be at C4 shortly. Bartek started from C4 at 11 am and met Oswald at noon at 7400m. He was still asleep, but when Bartek shouted his name he woke up and they descended to C4 together where they arrived 1:30 pm and spent the night. Bartek put on skis at C4 and skied to C2 but had to take off the skis just next to lower C3 there was a big crevasse which had opened a few weeks earlier. He skied a bit farther than C2 and then took off the skis for the uphill. From C1 he skied all the way to crampon point at 5600m and then walked to BC. Oswald descended to BC from C4 in 5 hours. FB entry by Oswald of 31/05: Kangchenjunga Summit and First Ski Descent in History for MAD Ski Project This is how history is made. On May 27th at 2:45 PM, we summited Kanchenjunga as the first and, so far, the only ones in the present season. Bartek also descended from this 3rd highest peak on Earth on skis, becoming the first person in history to do so. We started our climb on May 23rd, going from Base Camp to Camp 2 (6200m). The next day, we slept in Camp 3 (6900m). We reached lower Camp 4 (7200m) on May 25th and spent the entire next day there. On the evening of the 26th, we found out that no one else was going for the summit and that the route was fixed up to 7500-7600m. Therefore, we decided to proceed solo. We started from 7200m at 6:55 PM and, after climbing all night, reached the highest point of Kanchenjunga 20 hours later (last 100 vertical m took us 5 hours). Bartek put on his skis. He removed them two times on the summit part due to the horizontal rocky traverses (two sections of 20 and around 5 meters). "The skiing conditions were excellent, which, by the way, made our ascent quite difficult," said Bartek. The rest of the descent to Camp 4 was done in pure style, apart from a 20-meter climb on a serac just before Camp 4. Bartek reached Camp 4 around 7 PM and waited for me. Oswald encountered some adversities on my way down. First, I fell a few meters around 8400m and hurt my left foot. I continued my descent, but my long exposure to high altitude created problems with reality evaluation and forced me to stop for a night bivouac at 7600m. We kept in contact via radio and satellite communicator, but our equipment ran out of battery in the morning. Bartek secured the situation in case a rescue operation was needed and went up. When he met me, I was stable and able to move by myself, so we descended to Camp 4, where we spent the night. On May 29th, we continued our descent. Bartek skied from Camp 4 to Camp 2 in pure style, apart from a short (10m) climb and descent of a serac near lower Camp 3. Between Camp 2 and Camp 1, the terrain mainly ascends through a rocky section, so Bartek did this part on foot. It is impossible to ski down this section any other way, which is why this 8000er is "impossible to be skied down in pure style." Bartek also used the fixed rope for about 5 meters between Camp 1 and the lowest point with snow (5600m). We made it to Base Camp on May 29th shortly before 3 PM. The whole expedition was executed without supplementary oxygen and without personal support from Sherpas. Report from Anja Blacha: Approach: On 18/05: KTM-Lukla by heli On 19/05: Lukla-Tseram by heli On 20/05: Tseram-BC by heli BC 20/05 5446m C1 team never slept at C1 C2 23/05 6200m C3 24/05 6900m C4 25/05 7200m Smt 08/06 by Pekova, Nima Rinje, Pasang Nurbu, Phurbu Kusang, Fura Tshering, Dendi, Ang Tenji at 9:30-10:30 am Smt 08/06 by Blacha, Sona Sherpa at 12:25 pm Initial plan was to do large summit push with all 8K and SST members. On 25/05 Sherpas went up and tried to fix route, but ropes were buried and there was too much snow. Ropes were fixed only to 7600-7700m. After that Sherpas reluctant to free ropes and fix route. Members only reached 7200m on first push due to unfixed route to the summit. On 26/05 everyone back to BC. Between 27/05-28/05 most members (8K) aborted expedition. Blacha and Pekova stayed behind and negotiated with SST about new summit push. Blacha and others to KTM by heli and back to Tapethok on 03/06. On 04/06 to BC. Blacha, Pekova and Sherpas the only ones left. On 05/06 everyone to C2. On 06/06 Blacha with Ang Tenji to C4, others to C3. On 07/06 others to C4, Blacha and Ang Tenji to upper C4 (7250m). From upper C4 everyone started summit push at 6 pm. Blacha and Sona on the summit at 12:25 pm, stayed on the summit for 15 minutes, good conditions, not too windy. Then down to lower C4 (Blacha, Sona) for the night. Others summitted between 9:30 and 10:30 am, and down to BC same day. Next day Blacha, Sona to BC. On 09/06 by heli to Taphetok, on 10/06 to KTM. Blacha and Pekova the first ever females of their countries to summit Kangchenjunga. Nima Rinje was climbing as a member, not as hired. Members : Anja Blacha (S) Alina Pekova (S) Nima Rinje Sherpa (S) Hired : Pasang Nurbu Sherpa (S) Phurbu Kusang Sherpa (S) Fura Tshering Sherpa (S) Dendi Sherpa (S) Ang Tenji Sherpa (S) Sona Sherpa (S) Oxygen: Not taken, not used by Blacha Taken and used by other members and Sherpas from 7200m Fixed rope: 1000m Other peaks: Makalu (Blacha) Records: Blacha first German woman to summit Kangchenjunga; Pekova first Russian woman. Report from Uta Ibrahimi: Approach: BC by heli BC 28/04 5600m C1 6240m C2 03/05 6220m C3 04/05 6836m C4 10/05 7200m HPt 11/05 7550m by Ibrahimi HPt 11/05 7300m by Taraman Tamang who turned around due to sickness; On 11/05, Ibrahimi started her first summit attempt from C4. The team of about 40 people consisted of clients of SST, 8K and Imagine. Ibrahimi was with Taraman Tamang who felt sick and turned back at 7300m and descended to C4. Ibrahimi continued carrying 3 oxygen bottles. When she caught up with the team at about 7550m one Sherpa said the conditions were too dangerous to continue. Everyone turned back and slept at C4. On 12/05 back to BC. The team stayed at BC for several days to plan and wait for the Sherpas to fix the ropes. Some 8K Sherpas left for fixing on 17/05, but when they were near lower C3 a serac collapsed and opened a crevasse. Nobody was hurt and the Sherpas came back to BC again. The team started their 2nd summit push on 23/05. Ibrahimi went directly to C2; on 24/05 to C3; on 25/05 to C4. On 26/05 she descended to BC as the Sherpas informed the team that they could not fix to the summit due to deep snow. There are some controversies about the rope-fixing Sherpas as most clients are of the opinion that the conditions were better than they said. Ibrahimi left BC 29/05 Oxygen: Taken and used from 7200m to high point to 7200m by Ibrahami and Taraman Report from Hans Wenzl and Sajid Sadpara: Approach: BC Tserang by heli by Wenzl; trekking all the way by Sadpara BC 18/04 5600m and 15/04 Sadpara C1 24/04 6200m C2 29/04 6220m C3A 04/05 6800m C3B 09/05 6900m C4 10/05 7200m HPt 10/05 7500m by Wenzl at 10 pm. 7600m by Sadpara at 10 pm First summit attempt the team left C4 at 7:30 pm on 10/05. They climbed to their high points, but turned back due to the high winds. Wenzl saw the fixing team stuck at about 7800m and he realised that there was no point to carry on. They returned to C4 where they spent the night. On 11/05 back to BC. They spent a few days at BC and on 23/05 they ascended to C2. On 24/05 C3 high. On 25/05 to lower C4. They spent one night at C4, but when the Sherpas told them that they could not fix ropes, they descended to BC on 26/05 and left on 29/05. Sadpara and Wenzl carried their own tents and climbed without Sherpa support. Oxygen: Not taken, not used
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Seven Summit Treks
Commercial Route False
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2462662
Year 2024
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) sw face

Members

24 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Alina Pekova F 1993 Russia Leader - - Details Other expeditions
Sajid Ali Sadpara M 1998 Pakistan Climber Skardu, Pakistan Alpinist Details Other expeditions
Anja Karen Blacha F 1990 Germany Climber Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Self-employed Details Other expeditions
Adrian Michael Hayes M 1959 UK Climber Dubai, United Arab Emirates Airbus sales director Details Other expeditions
Afsaneh Hesami Fard F 1976 Iran Climber Boujnord, Iran Physician (high altitude specialist) Details Other expeditions
Flutura (Uta) Ibrahimi F 1983 Kosovo Climber Prishtine, Kosovo Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Oleg Ivanchenko M 1984 Ukraine Climber Odessa, Ukraine Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Igor Kushnir M 1971 Ukraine Climber Kiev, Ukraine Restaurant and shop owner Details Other expeditions
Oksana Kushnir F 1967 Cyprus Climber Mikola, Cyprus - Details Other expeditions
Alla Mishina F 1966 Russia Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Alessandra Kate (Allie) Pepper F 1975 Australia Climber Hazelbrook, NSW, Australia Outdoor activities instructor Details Other expeditions
Dorota Lidia Rasinska-Samocko F 1973 Poland Climber Warsaw, Poland - Details Other expeditions
Victor Hugo Rimac Trejo M 1986 Peru Climber Huaraz, Peru Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Oswald Szymon Rodrigo Pereira M 1984 Poland Climber Warsaw, Poland PR manager Details Other expeditions
Sergey Seliverstov M 1979 Kyrgyz Republic Climber Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan Engineer Details Other expeditions
Nima Rinji Sherpa M 2006 Nepal Climber Walung, Makalu-9, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Johann (Hans) Wenzl M 1970 Austria Climber Metnitz, Carinthia, Austria Construction site manager Details Other expeditions
Bartosz Kacper (Bartek) Ziemski M 1995 Poland Climber Bielsko-Biala, Poland Student Details Other expeditions
Ang Tezin (Ang Tenji) Sherpa M 2002 Nepal H-A Worker Makalu-9, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Dendi Sherpa M 1995 Nepal H-A Worker Mali-8, Dolakha - Details Other expeditions
Fura Tshering Sherpa M 1994 Nepal H-A Worker Thami, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Pasang Nurbu Sherpa M 1990 Nepal H-A Worker Makalu-9, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Phurba Kusang Sherpa M 1997 Nepal H-A Worker Makalu-5, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Sona Chhiri Sherpa M 1989 Nepal H-A Worker Makalu-9, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions

References

5 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
KANG24102 - - https://explorersweb.com/kangchenjunga-a-bitter-ending-with-no-summit/ - - -
KANG24102 - - https://explorersweb.com/last-minute-attempt-on-kangchenjunga/ - - -
KANG24102 - - https://explorersweb.com/kangchenjunga-poles-reach-base-camp/ - - -
KANG24102 - - https://explorersweb.com/kangchenjunga-angry-crossfire-in-base-camp-as-poles-descend/ - - -
KANG24102 - - https://explorersweb.com/two-surprises-kangchenjunga-cho-oyu/ - - -