I was part of an American-Italian-Nepalese expedition to attempt Shershon (6,432m, 27°50’5.58”N, 87°7’36.30”E), which lies on the Tibetan frontier at the northeast head of the Shershon Glacier, east of Makalu base camp. Our plan was to approach the mountain from the Shershon Valley to the west.

On November 2, after one night at base camp, we headed east, crossing the ridge immediately east of camp to drop into the Shershon Valley, where we established our own base camp at 5,235m beside the southernmost and largest lake.

Loose moraine led to the glacier at 5,700m. On November 5, after several days of moving gear and fixing lines over short sections of ice, we moved to a high camp, which we established on a narrow ice shelf at ca 5,920m.

Next morning, we made a summit push. The first pitch revealed a hidden crevasse, which we protected with a fixed rope. We then slanted north up a ramp to reach the southwest ridge of the main summit, which descends to a col at around 5,995m before rising to Shershon Southwest (Shershon Lho, 6,112m). (Unaware of another name, we dubbed this the “Shershon Dome.”) We explored the route toward the main peak but decided against crossing a questionable narrow connection to the final summit ridge.

Instead, we reversed course and headed southwest along the main ridge to climb the considerably less steep slope to the top of Shershon Lho. We then returned to our arrival point on the ridge, cleaned the route, and arrived back in base camp later the same day. [Sherson (Peak 6,432m) has been called Peak 3 and Yaupa in the past. Officially unclimbed, the summit probably was first reached in 1989 via the steep northwest face. Sherson Lho had previously been climbed from the west and southeast. See note below for more information.]

— Joe Gallagher, USA

Historical and Naming Notes: Several name changes have made the history of activity confusing in this group of peaks southeast of Makalu. The main summit, Peak 6,432m, was once called Peak 3. At a later stage this was changed to Yaupa, its eastern summit Yaupa Shar (6,422m), and its southwestern summit Yaupa Lho (6,112m). In 1984, Jean Afanassieff, Larry Bruce, Jim Fullalove, Molly Higgins, and Doug Scott attempted Yaupa via the southeast ridge but turned back on reaching the top of Yaupa Shar due to lack of time. Yaupa Lho was first climbed via the west flank and west-southwest ridge by Dr. Michael Ball and a Sherpa climber, who both were part of Hillary’s 1954 Barun expedition. The southeast ridge was climbed in 1989 by several members of a Malaku expedition [Collister, Carmichael, Griffin, Woolridge]. The summit of Yaupa Main was probably first reached in 1989 by three members of the same expedition—Andy Fanshaw, Victor Saunders, and Stephen Sustad—who climbed the steep snow and ice of the northwest face above the upper Shershon Glacier.

To add to confusion, when Peak 6,432m was officially brought onto the permitted list in 2003, the names changed again: Yaupa Main became Shershon, Yaupa Shar became simply Yaupa, Yaupa Lho was left unnamed but is logically Shershon Lho. According to the Ministry, Shershon is unclimbed and was unsuccessfully attempted from the south in 2019 by the Norway-Nepal Friendship Unclimbed Mountain Expedition.