Alpinist Magazine Alpinist 82 | Summer 2023 Back Issue

Issue 82 features Barry Blanchard’s mountain profile of Kusum Kanguru, a triple-summited peak rising to 6370 meters in the Khumbu region. Though the mountain was one of the eighteen so-called “trekking peaks” that the Nepal Mountaineering Association first opened for climbing in 1978, the climbing on Kusum Kanguru “can in no way, even by its most moderate route, be compared with the more straightforward climbs” on most other designated trekking peaks, as Bill O’Connor wrote in The Trekking Peaks of Nepal. “Whereas many Nepal peaks are ideal for well-led groups with limited experience, this mountain is not.” Herein, Blanchard traces the history of those climbers—from heavily laden expeditions to small, lightweight parties—who’ve sought out Kusum Kanguru’s quieter slopes. Meanwhile, Lhakpa Norbu Sherpa, Jennifer Lowe-Anker and Hiroyoshi Manome share their own stories about the mountain.