Kanchenjunga

Kangchenjunga, 8,586 m high, is the third-highest mountain on Earth and, until surveyors of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India completed their calculations in 1849, was believed to be the highest of all. It stands on the border between Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim, a huge massif whose main ridges intersect to form a giant cross, with four great glaciers radiating from the summit. Its five principal summits explain the Tibetan name, usually rendered as the five treasures of the high snow, and the local Lhopo people tell of treasures of salt, gold, turquoise, scripture, armour, grain and medicine hidden in the mountain, to be revealed when the world is in peril.

The mountain is sacred in both Sikkim and Nepal, and that has shaped its climbing history. On 25 May 1955 the British climbers Joe Brown and George Band made the first ascent but stopped just short of the true top, honouring a promise to the Chogyal, the ruler of Sikkim, that the summit itself would be left untouched. The Indian side remains closed to climbers today, and the peak is among the most dangerous of the eight-thousanders: since the 1990s, more than one in five people attempting the main summit has died. Local tradition also speaks of a hidden valley of immortality, Beyul Demoshong, on its slopes; in 1962 a Tibetan lama led some 300 followers onto the snows to find it.

Most travellers know Kangchenjunga as a view, and one of the great ones. From the hill station of Darjeeling the massif fills the northern horizon above ridge after ridge of forest; the writer and explorer Francis Younghusband called the town's natural beauty unsurpassed. Before dawn, jeeps and walkers climb Tiger Hill, 11 km from Darjeeling, where the summits of Kangchenjunga catch the light before the sun reaches the lower ground and, on a clear day, Everest, Lhotse and Makalu are just visible in the distance.

To get close, trekkers walk into Khangchendzonga National Park, India's first UNESCO World Heritage Site of mixed natural and cultural value, inscribed in 2016. The classic route starts at Yuksom in western Sikkim and climbs through forest via Tshoka and Dzongri to Goecha La, a pass at 4,940 m facing the south-east face of the mountain; the round trip takes about a week and needs time to acclimatise. On the Nepali side, the peak is protected in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area. These are sensitive border areas; check current permit rules before planning a trek.

Getting there

Gangtok, capital of Sikkim, is about 62 km from the summit in a straight line, Darjeeling about 75 km and Yuksom about 38 km. On the Nepali side, Taplejung Airport (TPJ) is about 59 km away; on the Indian side the practical gateway is Bagdogra Airport (IXB) near Siliguri, about 115 km away, from where roads climb to Darjeeling, Gangtok and western Sikkim.