Why I Decided To Climb Kangchenjunga Peak 8586 Meter (28,169 ft) Solo and Without Supplementary Oxygen.

Namaste! As another expedition season approaches, I am all set to climb the third highest peak in the world, Kangchenjunga (8586m). This will be my second attempt on Kangchenjunga. Due to bad weather conditions, we had to abandon our expedition last year. But a failed attempt taught me much more than a successful climb ever could.

Kangchenjunga is the third highest mountain in the world, and lies partly in Nepal and partly in Sikkim, India. It rises with an altitude of 8,586 m (28,169 ft) in a section of the Himalayas called Kangchenjunga Himal. Until 1852, Kangchenjunga was assumed to be the highest mountain in the world, but calculations based on various readings and measurements made by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India in 1849 came to the conclusion that Mount Everest, known as Peak XV at the time, was the highest.

With only 187 successful summits so far and death rate as high as 22%, Kangchenjunga is one of the most difficult and dangerous mountain in the world. There has been no successful climb on Kangchenjunga since 2013; all the expeditions either failed or ended in disaster.

Over the past few months, many people have asked me as to why I want to climb Kangchenjunga without using supplementary oxygen and without any Sherpa support. Today I want to share a very honest answer to it.

From the very beginning of my Kangchenjunga expedition last year, I got a very different and a special vibe from the mountain. I somehow understood this mountain is special in ways I can’t explain. I used to meditate heavily throughout the expedition.

As soon as I entered the valley, I connected to the Mountain Gods and I had a feeling that I was not going to make it to the summit this year successfully with the way the whole expedition was planned and executed. I decided to go ahead with it anyway because I knew that failure would teach me something or the other so that next time I’ll know better. In one of the meditation sessions, the Mountain Gods told me that you cannot climb this mountain the way you have climbed all other mountains; you must come ‘completely naked’. That could mean a lot of things but I concluded that I will leave all of the artificial aid behind which I know I may be able to function without. For me, that meant climbing without using supplementary oxygen and without Sherpa.

This will personally be my toughest expedition so far. I don’t know if I will summit Kangchenjunga this year or I have some more lessons to be learnt from the mountains but an honest attempt on the mountain is what is demanded of me and I will give it all I’ve got!

PS- Those who have been following my Everest Diaries Series, sorry for breaking the continuity with this post. I will be continuing with it till from tomorrow and will try and conclude it before leaving for Kangchenjunga