Kang Nagchugo | 2013 SW Face-E Smt

A Slovenia expedition to Kang Nagchugo in 2013 via SW Face-E Smt, led by Domen Kastelic, Santiago Padros. Summit reached on 22nd October 2013. 2 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 8323
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID KNAG13301
Peak ID KNAG
Year 2013
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Face-E Smt
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Slovenia
Leaders Domen Kastelic, Santiago Padros
Sponsor -
Success 1 False
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Spain
Approach -
Basecamp Date 2013-10-20
Summit Date 2013-10-22
Summit Time 1200
Summit Days 2
Total Days 3
Termination Date 2013-10-23
Termination Reason 2
Termination Notes Abandoned at E Smt due to difficult and dangerous ridge to Main Smt
High Point (m) 6640
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 2
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 0
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired True
O2 Used False
O2 None True
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites ABC(20/10,5200m),Biv1(21/10,6400m),E-Smt(22/10,6640m)
Route Notes Monsoon Kang Nachugo East, by Santiago Padros Domen Kastelic from Slovenia and I set off at the end of September on an exploratory expedition in the semi-unknown Rolwaling valley, close to Everest. This year though the monsoon was longer than normal and surprised us with more than 2 metres of fresh snow in mid-October above 5500m! This dashed all our hopes of "extreme" alpinism and with just five days remaining we had to take some fast decisions. Our base camp was located at Na, a small village at 4200m where the only fresh vegetables are potatoes and wild chicory! A group of three 6000m summits is located 2500m above the village: Chekigo 6257m, Bamongo 6400m (still virgin) and Nang Nachugo 6735m (climbed just once). The base of these south faces were almost completely devoid of snow and so we decided to check out the SW Face Kang Nachugo as this seemed to offer something not too difficult that could be climbed relatively quickly. In 2008 David Gottlieb and Joseph Puryear attempted the line which we would now finish, but at the time they were forced to bail at 6400m due to a sudden change in the weather (Ed. the Americans then went on to climb the West Ridge). On 20 October, just 5 days before our return, we made our way to Advanced Base Camp at 5200m at the base of the face. The next morning we started up ramps which didn't exceed 60° and alternated at breaking trail. At 9:00 the sun began to warm our heads... towards midday we breached the 6000m barrier. We began to feel tired and tied in for safety, and continued up slightly more vertical terrain, past some icy sections. From 15:00 onwards we began to look out for a place to pitch our tent but it wasn't to be! In fact, we climbed until 18:30 and failed to find a suitable place for our micro-tent, brr! A 20m abseil led to below a small roof; here we hacked a small ledge to lie down and spend the night, but sleeping was out of the question! We got up at 6:00, tired of trying to keep our feet warm, the -15°C temperatures certainly didn't help matters. We were at 6400m and needed almost 2 hours to get ready. Three difficult ice pitches and one up snow and rock led to the dangerous ridge and the summit. At midday we reached the East Summit of Kang Nachugo at circa 6640m! The main summit lay there, still distant, and since the route was exposed we decided to start the descent and try and exit the face that same day. 7 hours and more than 20 abseils later we returned to ABC in the dark. Tired and happy we celebrated our achievement and slowly descended to Na the next day from where we began to prepare for the long return home.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route False
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2459186
Year 2013
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) sw face-e smt

Members

2 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Santiago Padros Calvache M 1974 Spain Co-Leader Forno di Zoldo, Belluno, Italy Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Domen Kastelic M 1982 Slovenia Co-Leader Ljubljana, Slovenia Alpine guide Details Other expeditions

References

3 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
KNAG13301 - - http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=41352 - - -
KNAG13301 AAJ Kastelic, Domen - - 88:313 (2014) -
KNAG13301 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/13201212616/Kang-Nachugo-6737m-southwest-face-Monsoon-not-to-summit - - -