Two Huge Himalayan New Routes Climbed in a Push, With No Drama
Six Italians finished a multi-day alpine new-routing push on the summit of the now-popular Tengkangpoche
A strong team of Italian alpinists have returned from an impressive two-route alpine-style push in the Himalayas. One of the mountains they summited recently had another new route added, one which caused a lot of drama in the world of elite alpinism.
West of Namche Bazaar, François Cazzanelli, Leonardo Gheza, Emrik Favre, Francesco Ratti, Jerome Perruquet, and Roger Bovard have just climbed new routes on Tengkangpoche (6,487 m) and Kongde Ri (6,187 m).
Tengkangpoche is a mighty mountain that’s long been the attention of big mountain mixed climbers. It’s elevation puts it in a sweet spot for climbers who want to move quickly.
The northeast pillar had long been tried, with Canadian Quentin Roberts making two attempts in the past three years. With gear stashed and difficult route-finding beta made public, another team took advantage of good weather and made the coveted first ascent. Tom Livingstone and Matt Glenn climbed the pillar over a number of days, but their style, lack of communication and a number of other things led to some drama last week. Read more about it here.
Quietly crushing in the background, the six Italians linked two new lines on the famous peaks. They spent four days linking the north face of Kongde Ri (opening Santarai AI5R A2 M7) with a new traverse to Tengkangpoche where they climbed the stunning east ridge.
Topo of the Italians’ Push
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