The Kajin Sara is a small group of peaks to the south of Kajin Sara Lake, forming a ridge extending east from Lamjung Himal (6,983m), southeast of Annapurna II. The lake and peaks were “discovered” in 2019 by a Japanese group, and the three-day trek to the lake from Chame on the Annapurna Circuit is now promoted by local agencies.

In 2022, after an attempt on Lamjung Himal, the French guide Paulo Grobel and his team took a look at the Kajin Sara. He returned in 2024 with the aim of exploring the peaks’ potential for technical training of Nepalese guides, and for small, discreet teams of Western mountaineers. (Most of these peaks are below 5,800m and can be visited simply by respecting trekking permit regulations.) Grobel’s party climbed several summits of the Kajin Sara, but he has not documented any routes, in order to leave this compact area with a somewhat exploratory dimension.

Kajin Sara Lake (named by the Japanese), at a little over 5,000m, is one of the highest in Nepal. The last couple of hours to the lake may be too rocky or snow-covered for mules, so in the fall of 2024, Grobel’s party established base camp at 4,700m, where there is a hut.

A high camp, which the team used throughout most of their stay, was placed in a moraine valley to the east of the lake and just below the glacier coming down from a 5,772m peak they named Kajin Sara (28°28’55.16”N, 84°15’29.74”E). Farther west, on the long ridge extending from Lamjung Himal, is the highest summit of the group, named Chame (6,003m, 28°28’50.56”N, 84°13’36.88”E). To its west lies Lamjung Spitze (5,944m); the ridge then drops to Lamjung Pass (5,378m) in front of Lamjung Himal.

In front of Kajin Sara is the smaller summit of Chautari, which can be climbed en route to Kajin Sara via the northeast or west-northwest ridge. The west ridge of Kajin Sara continues to a summit of around 5,600m that is characterized by an elegant northeast snow arête, dubbed Cyrielle Ridge. The party was unable to discover a way to access this crest.

Farther west along the main watershed ridge lies Samaya Himal (ca 5,660m), with an elegant north ridge and an impressive, rocky east-northeast arête. Between this and Chame is the rocky Chame East (5,968m) with an impressive eastern aspect.

Northeast of the lake is Myabase Dada, a rocky summit of 5,422m. On the ridge running south from this to Kajin Sara are several rocky tops, useful for acclimatization. Kumari Peak has a snow ridge ending with a short rocky passage (PD-); farther south is the rock spire of Karma Himal.

At the southeastern end of the Kajin Sara chain lies the somewhat mysterious Toni Hagen Trail, its whereabouts at this point unknown. Nearby is a beautiful little snow summit marked as Namun Bhanjyang (5,496m) on some maps. (This is inappropriate nomenclature, as bhanyang means “pass.”) There is no local name for this peak, and the team proposed naming it after Toni Hagen, the Swiss geologist who made a huge contribution to the exploration of Nepal.  

           —Lindsay Griffin, with information from Paulo Grobel, France