Gaurishankar (7,135m), Southwest Face, Attempt

Asia, Nepal, Rolwaling Himal
Author: Peter Jensen-Choi. Climb Year: N/A. Publication Year: 2010.

From December 23, 2008, to January 8, 2009, a six-member Korean expedition, led by Kang Sung-woo, attempted a new route on the southwest face of Gaurishankar. They planned to follow a line to the right of the 1984 American- Nepalese route (Wayne Culbreth—Ang Kami Sherpa), which itself is an upper-rightward variant to the original American-Nepalese route climbed in 1979 by John Roskelly and Dorje Sherpa. The Koreans accessed the bowl beneath the face by a gully between the Via Neithardt and the foot of the southwest ridge but gave up at 5,400m. They note that the Tseringma Glacier below the face has almost completely melted. Despite around 25 attempts, Gaurishankar has only been climbed three times, the last in January 1986—the only winter ascent—by Korean Choi Han-jo and Ang Kami Sherpa, repeating Ang Kami’s own 1984 route.