Kanchenjungaकञ्चनजङ्घा

Kanchenjunga (also spelled Kangchenjunga) is the third-highest mountain on Earth, with a summit elevation of 8,586 metres (28,169 feet), surpassed only by Mount Everest and K2. It rises in the eastern Himalayas on the border between eastern Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim, in Nepal's Taplejung District (Koshi Province) and India's Mangan district. The peak stands roughly 74 km (46 mi) north-north-west of Darjeeling and about 125 km (78 mi) east-south-east of Mount Everest. With a topographic prominence of about 3,922 m, it is the fourth most prominent peak in the Himalaya.

Kanchenjunga is not a single summit but a massif of several principal peaks. Three of them — the Main summit (8,586 m), the Central (8,482 m) and the South (8,494 m) — lie close to the Nepal–Sikkim border, while Yalung Kang or the West peak (8,505 m) and Kangbachen (7,903 m) stand on the Nepali side in Taplejung District. The name is usually translated from the Tibetan as 'The Five Treasures of the High Snow', referring to five treasures the mountain is believed to hold — variously listed as gold, silver, gems, grain and sacred scriptures. The mountain has been held sacred for centuries by the Lepcha people of Sikkim and by Tibetan and Sikkimese Buddhists, who regard it as a guardian deity.

The massif feeds several major glaciers that radiate from the high peaks: the Zemu Glacier to the north-east and the Talung Glacier to the south-east drain toward India's Teesta River system, while the Yalung Glacier to the south-west and the Kangchen Glacier to the north-west feed tributaries of the Tamur and the wider Koshi (Kosi) basin in Nepal. On the Nepali side the mountain lies within the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, while the Sikkim flank falls within Khangchendzonga National Park, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.

Kanchenjunga's height was established by the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India in the mid-19th century. The survey confirmed that Kanchenjunga ranked as the third-highest mountain in the world, after the peak later named Everest and K2 in the Karakoram. Before these systematic measurements, some Western observers had assumed Kanchenjunga, clearly visible from the hill station of Darjeeling, to be the highest mountain on Earth.

Because it dominates the skyline above Darjeeling and the Sikkim hills, Kanchenjunga became one of the most painted, photographed and written-about Himalayan peaks long before it was climbed, and it remains a defining feature of the eastern Himalayan landscape.

Early attempts on Kanchenjunga were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A notable and ill-fated expedition in 1905, which included the occultist and mountaineer Aleister Crowley, attempted the south-west (Yalung) face and reached a high point on the mountain before an avalanche during the descent killed climber Alexis Pache and three local porters. Subsequent German expeditions in the early 1930s probed the mountain's northern and eastern approaches without reaching the summit.

The first ascent was achieved on 25 May 1955 by a British team led by Charles Evans, who had been deputy leader on the successful 1953 British Everest expedition. Joe Brown and George Band reached the top first; the following day, 26 May, Norman Hardie and Tony Streather completed the second summit push. The expedition followed the south-west Yalung Face — broadly the line Crowley's party had attempted half a century earlier. Because the summit is sacred to the people of Sikkim, the climbers honoured a promise made to the Chogyal (ruler) of Sikkim and stopped a short distance below the actual highest point, leaving the true summit untrodden. Many later expeditions have maintained this tradition.

In recognition of the mountain's difficulty, remoteness and technical demands, the 1955 ascent was regarded by some mountaineers as a feat comparable to the first ascent of Everest two years earlier.

Climbing routes approach Kanchenjunga from several faces. On the Nepali side the south-west (Yalung) face used by the first-ascent party, together with north-west and north-east approaches, provide the principal lines. A route also lay on the Sikkim (north-east) side, but the Indian flank has effectively been closed to climbers to preserve the mountain's sanctity, and standard expeditions today are mounted from Nepal.

Kanchenjunga is considered one of the most dangerous of the world's fourteen eight-thousanders. It is extremely remote, technically sustained, exposed to severe weather and especially prone to avalanche, and its high camps are largely beyond the reach of helicopter rescue, making timely evacuation of injured or sick climbers very difficult. Its fatality rate is high relative to most other 8,000 m peaks, and the mountain has continued to claim experienced mountaineers in the modern era.

Among the landmark later ascents: the second ascent was made in 1977 by an Indian Army team led by Colonel Narendra Kumar; in 1979 Doug Scott, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker made an ascent without supplementary oxygen. The first winter ascent was achieved on 11 January 1986 by the Polish climbers Jerzy Kukuczka and Krzysztof Wielicki. Ginette Harrison became the first woman to summit Kanchenjunga in 1998.

As the world's third-highest mountain and the highest peak entirely or partly in India, Kanchenjunga occupies a special place in both mountaineering history and regional culture. For the people of Sikkim and the surrounding Himalayan communities it is a sacred guardian, and the convention of leaving the very summit untouched — begun with the 1955 first ascent — reflects that reverence.

The mountain is also a focus of transboundary conservation. The wider Kanchenjunga landscape spans protected areas across Nepal, India, Bhutan and China, linking Nepal's Kanchenjunga Conservation Area with Sikkim's Khangchendzonga National Park, the latter recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016 for both its natural values and its cultural and spiritual significance. The region harbours rich biodiversity, including snow leopard, red panda and Himalayan blue sheep, and its glaciers are an important source of water for the Koshi and Teesta river systems. Trekking routes such as the Kanchenjunga Base Camp treks have made the area an increasingly significant destination for adventure tourism in eastern Nepal.