BURSTTwo Japanese mountaineers, Hidesuke Taneishi and Tetsu Hashimoto, have been missing for several days while attempting to climb Gangapurna West, an unclimbed peak in Nepal’s Annapurna region. A helicopter search-and-rescue operation is under way, but difficult terrain and deteriorating weather conditions are hampering the search.
Four Russians, Valerii Shamalo, Natalia Janina, Maksim Trufanov and Ruslan Kirichenko, who attempted to climb Gangapurna West earlier this month reportedly found no sign of the missing climbers. The Russians had bailed at around 6,800 metres because of bad weather.
According to an earlier account, contact with the Japanese climbers was lost at an altitude of around 7,050 metres, but a pack and trekking pole believed to belong to them were found during the search. As of today, their whereabouts and condition remain unknown.
Gangapurna West was officially opened to mountaineering in 2014, and was attempted in 2016 by Choi Seok-mun, Kim Chang-ho, and Park Joung-yong; and in 2017 by Simon Messner and Phillip Pruenster. The nearby Gangapurna, which rises to 7,455 metres was first climbed on May 6, 1965, by Erich Reismueller, Ang Temba Sherpa and Phu Dorjee Sherpa via the south face and east ridge.
The nearby Gangapurna (featured photo above) was first climbed on May 6, 1965, by Erich Reismueller, Ang Temba Sherpa, and Phu Dorjee Sherpa via the south face and east ridge. A Japanese team made the second ascent in 1971, but avalanches killed eight members over two days, marking the deadliest climbing disaster in the Annapurna Himal to date. A third ascent followed in 1974 without major incident.
Then in 1981, Canadian alpinists James Blench and John Lauchlan made the first ascent of the south face, a climb still considered to be one of the hardest first ascents ever by Canadians in the Himalaya. Read the full story here.
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