The peaks to be visited are Kwangde Lho, 6.167 m., Graded Alpine D, TD, most possibly Tengkang Poche, 6.499 m., Graded Alpine D+ (the peaks are very close to each other, in a distance less than 2,5 kilometres, so they will try the latter one as well) and Kusum Kanguru, 6.369 m., Graded Alpine ED2, which is also the main target of the group.
Kusum Kanguru, which in Tibetan means "three snowy peaks", is an impressive peak of rock and ice, a complex of three main peaks, with at least five central cuts and five sides.
The northern part of the main peak, an ice wall 1.800 m., is the most beautiful. Prior the the first successful ascend in 1979, 4 more unsuccessful ones were attempted, among which the one of renowned climbers, such as Doug Scott, George Bettepourge or Mike Corington.
There were many attempts since 1987, some of them successful and those were the ones discussed in circles of mountaineers and climbers, since an ascend to Kusum Kanguru is a major mountaineering event.
It is certain that a success of the Greek expedition would improve the image of greek mountaineering and climbing, provide useful experience and ameliorate the conditions and prerequisites for a future successful greek expedition to a difficult peak (Ê2, Makalu, Everest).
The terms of participation were defines according to the difficulty of the expedition aim, and the selection of the team was carried out among climbers with a rich climbing portfolio, who had the technical background and the specialized experience required for climbing Kusum Kanguru.
The team consists of:
Nikos Voutyropoulos
Vag. Vroutsis
Pan. Kotronaros
Chr. Beloyiannis
Dim. Bourazanis
Pavlos Tsiantos
Nikos Hadjis
Yiannis Katrivanos, who is also the leader of the expedition.
The expedition will last approx. 45 days and all expenses are covered by the General Secretariat for Atheltics. |