Yalung Kang | 1978 S Face

A Spain expedition to Yalung Kang in 1978 via S Face, led by Josep Piera Queralt. Summit reached on 11th May 1978. 14 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 2134
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID YALU78101
Peak ID YALU
Year 1978
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 S Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Spain
Leaders Josep Piera Queralt
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 -
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1978-04-17
Summit Date 1978-05-11
Summit Time -
Summit Days 24
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 5
Termination Notes Abandoned at 7600m due to large crevasses and deep snow
High Point (m) 7600
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 13
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 6
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
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 Attempted illegally Kangchenjunga Central (KANC-781-01)
Campsites BC(17/04,5170m),C1(23/04,6050m),C2(27/04,6600m),C3(05/05,7200m),xxx(11/05,7600m)
Route Notes Subsidiary peak Kangchenjunga Central summited on April 18 by Narcis Serrat Comerma and Furi Sherpa. SR Sharma, Tourism - 2 Aug 78 Leader of Yalung Kang expedition barred from climbing in Nepal for 5 years from June 1978 as penalty for his expedition's climbing on Kangchenjunga Central Peak, which is not on permitted list and for which no permission given. After expedition left Nepal, they wrote from New Delhi to say they had been on Kangchenjunga Central Peak Shailendra Raj Sharma, Tourism - 20 June 78 Spanish Yalung Kang leader said his team climbed Yalung Kang. LO's of both Yalung Kang and Kangchenjunga say climbed Yalung Kang. Sharma is meeting Sherpa summiters tomorrow to question him. So far only Poles say Spaniards climbed Kangchenjunga Central summit. Dr. Browski, Polish Kangchenjunga Expedition - 16 June 78 Spaniards did not attempt to climb Yalung Kang, maybe because of snow conditions. Instead went up Central Summit of Kangchenjunga. Used Polish route to C3, one or 2 days behind Poles, using Polish fixed ropes, but when had climbed to their highest point, found they were not on the highest point of Central summit. Leader had pneumonia. No accidents or serious frostbite. SR Sharma, Tourism - 21 May 78 Scaled 18 May 16:20 hours by 1) Narcis Serrat Comerma 2) Furi Sherpa, 20, Junbesi C4 16 May (altitude ?) returning to KTM; leave BC 22 May. Prunes & Marti - 7 March 77 Expect others by truck from Terrassa. Were in Belgrade 24 Feb and after this no news: arrive Rorland 8-10 March and go direct to Biratnagar and Dharan at Dharan 12 March earliest. 5 Sherpas above BC and sirdar Ang Tsering. Oxygen for climbing above 7500m in C4 and last day Will follow 1975 spring German route on South Face to main peak 3 weeks Dharan to BC about 3 weeks so early April. BC 5500m like Germans (with acclimatizations and with dump 4800m). C4 just under couloir at about 7800m = highest camp probably Summit about 15-20 May. 2 first camps - 10 days; 10 days about C2 -> C3; easy C3 -> C4, then wait for good weather. Letter from Joaquim Prunes On April the 20th, 7 members of our expedition slept at the Base Camp for their first time. On the 22nd the Polish that had already installed the Camp 1 an open part of the way to the C1 proposed to us the following: "Due that the two expeditions will follow the same route up to the Plateau at 7200m, it is convenient to get an unification of the efforts. To gain that, the best procedure would be to open the path two expeditions alternatively, but as they see that it is possible due to our lack of acclimatization to the height (and we agree completely with that, because as we only have two days sleeping at 5100m we cannot try in a few days to open from C2-6500m to the plateau), we are told to use their fixed ropes against bringing them. Some 800m to 1000m of our ropes to the plateau up to 7200m before the 3rd May as maximum. Also in the event of a necessity both expedition can use the resources of the other (tents, food, gas, material) is different regarding the oxygen due to the limitation of the quantity, but it reminded open to a mutual agreement. The C3 at 7150m was installed on the 3rd May. On 11 May the roped party composed by Narcis Serrat and Francesc Martinez Troya left C3 to try to go up to C4 at the foot of the Yalung Kang Couloir, following the way open by the Germans in 1975. But when they were up to 7700m they found the way fully broken by crevasses, what made them to go backwards and also to forget about such an itinerary. They also saw that the condition of the snow there was really bad and there was great danger about avalanches. We were also advised by the Polish that were opening their way to the Yalung Kang couloir, that they saw several avalanches and also stone falls down the couloir. After a careful investigation of the situation there and having in mind every consequences of changing the peak, we all decided to try central peak. Therefore, on 15th May Luis Ambros and a Sherpa installed C4 up to 7750m at the principle of the Central Peak couloir. Two days later three members with three Sherpas supplied the mentioned camp with every material to initiate an attempt. The day after, 18th May, F. M. Troya, N. Serrat and Sherpa Phuri, started their climbing to the couloir and they saw that before arriving to the top they had to follow a diagonal rock to the right where they believed would go to the highest point. At 50m the pass N. Serrat and Sherpa initiated a rock while Troya had to go backwards he saw that their companions were going up to an important peak, but that it was not the one they wanted to climb in the first instance, and this is placed much more to the right (South). The rope Serrat - Phuri followed the ascention through a "tower" of red rock, followed by rock rock ridge that went up to the snow ridge up to the top of the snow, where they considered was the Kangchenjunga Central, in spite that there were several peaks of the same characteristics to the S-direction, when going down they "climb down" following the same way as the ascent to go much more to the North and and after a rappel of 60 or 70m they reached the pass emplaced between the central and principal peaks. They followed by the couloir and reached C3 the same day. The height we thought to have climbed after a careful investigation of several informations and by the height marked by our "altimeters" was superior to 8400m but as we had no topography device we could not get a more precise reference. After this attempt we had no food enough at any of the high camps, due to the little time on which we had to furnish them. Therefore we had no possibilities for a new attempt of ascention till ten days later, but the over effort we had done during the approach march and during the ascent was the symptom of many expeditions, also the Sherpas had worked during a whole week without rest at all, carrying charges up to 25 kgs to heights over 7500m. All that added to the facts that this area is the first place of the Himalayan where the monsoon attacks and the trouble that the return march represented, following the Polish on such a season of the year on which porters are devoted to the field work, made us to decide about not intending a second attempt. The day after our ascent two Polish climbed the South Peak (which at the same style as the Central is composed by several needles of the same height). The very 19th, when at the BC, we were asked by the Polish to use our C4 for their attempt to climb the Central Peak, also they asked if we had oxygen there.
Accidents Leader had pneumonia
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2447328
Year 1978
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) s face

Members

14 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Josep Aced Masjoan M 1948 Spain Climber Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain Physician Details Other expeditions
Lluis Ambros de Gracia M 1949 Spain Climber Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain Physician Details Other expeditions
Josep Camarena Furio M 1953 Spain Climber Gandia, Valencia, Spain Biologist Details Other expeditions
Cesar Comas Gras M 1946 Spain Climber Andorra Teacher Details Other expeditions
Santiago Digon Gibert M 1952 Spain Climber Mataro, Barcelona, Spain Gem cutter (cuts precious stones) Details Other expeditions
Joan Marti del Castillo M 1946 Spain Climber Saldes, Barcelona, Spain Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Alfred Martinez Feliu M 1949 Spain Climber Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain Mechanic Details Other expeditions
Francisco Martinez Troya M 1949 Spain Climber Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain Live model Details Other expeditions
Josep Piera Queralt M 1946 Spain Leader Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain Engineer Details Other expeditions
Joaquim (Kim) Prunes Santamaria M 1953 Spain Climber Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain Student of textiles Details Other expeditions
Narcis Serrat Comerma M 1954 Spain Climber Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain Student of psychology Details Other expeditions
Bertomeu Verges Oro M 1953 Spain Climber Olot, Girona, Spain Physician Details Other expeditions
Ang Tshering Sherpa M - Nepal Sirdar - - Details Other expeditions
Roberto Casamayor Macia M 1949 Spain Exp Doctor Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain Physician Details Other expeditions

References

9 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
YALU78101 AAJ - - - 53:259 (1979) -
YALU78101 AAJ - - - 53:266 (1979) -
YALU78101 AJ Prunes, Jaoquim The Spanish Expedition Towards Central Kangchenjunga 1978 - 86:177-181 (1981) -
YALU78101 MM - - - 65:11 (Jan 1979) -
YALU78101 MM Dyhrenfurth, G. O. & Dyhrenfurth, Norman Kangchenjunga - 68:34-40 (Jul 1979) -
YALU78101 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197926601/Asia-Nepal-Disciplinary-Measures-Taken-by-the-Nepalese-Government - - -
YALU78101 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12197925901/Asia-Nepal-Kachenjunga-Attempt-on-the-Middle-Summit - - -
YALU78101 - - https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_1981_files/AJ%201981%20177-181%20Prunes%20Kangch.pdf - - -
YALU78101 MM - - - 63:11 (Jul 1978) -