Shishapangma

Shishapangma
	Aerial view of Shishapangma (left)
height	8027 m
location	Tibet ( PR China )
Mountains	Jugal Himal ( Himalaya )
Dominance	91 km → Cho Oyu
Notch height	2897 m ↓ ( 5130 m )
Coordinates	28 ° 21 '10 " N , 85 ° 46' 45" E Coordinates: 28 ° 21 '10 " N , 85 ° 46' 45" E
First ascent	May 2nd, 1964 by a Chinese expedition
Normal way	Alpine tour (glaciated)

The Shishapangma (officially Xixabangma ; Chinese Xīxiàbāngmǎ Fēng希夏幫馬峰) is the lowest of the eight-thousanders and at the same time the fourteenth-highest mountain on earth with a height of 8027 m .

Surname

The Tibetan name shi sha sbang ma means "the area above the grassy plain" and describes exactly the view that is offered to the viewer when approaching from the north. Originally the Indian name ( Sanskrit ) Gosainthan was used for Shishapangma , which means “place of the saints”.

location

The Shishapangma is located in the Jugal Himal ( Himalaya ) 5 km east of the Chinese - Nepalese border and is therefore the only eight-thousander that is entirely on Chinese territory (in the autonomous region of Tibet). Its peak is roughly halfway (90 km as the crow flies) between Kathmandu and the Tsangpo River .

Alpinism

The Austrians Heinrich Harrer and Peter Aufschnaiter sketched the Shishapangma group from the north on their flight from India to Lhasa in 1945/46. The Swiss Toni Hagen took the first photos in 1952.

First ascent

Tibetan name
Tibetan script : ཤི་ ཤ་ སྦང་ མ
Wylie transliteration : shi sha sbang ma
Pronunciation in IPA : [ ɕiɕapaŋma ]
Official transcription of the PRCh : Xixabangma
THDL transcription : Shishabangma
Other spellings: Shisha Pangma, Shishapangma
Chinese name
Traditional : 希夏邦馬峰
Simplified : 希夏邦马峰
Pinyin : Xīxiàbāngmǎ Fēng

On May 2, 1964, the ten climbers Xǔ Jìng 许竞, Zhāng Jùnyán 张俊岩, Wáng Fùzhōu王富洲, Wū Zōngyuè 邬宗岳, Chén Sān 陈三, Soinam Dorjê (Suǒnán Duōjí) 索南多吉, Chéǎ 程天亮iānliàng Zháxī) 米马扎西, Dorjê (Duōjí) 多吉 and Yún Dēng 云登 as part of an expedition that included 195 participants from China , set foot on the last eight-thousander unclimbed until then.

The leader of the expedition Xǔ Jìng 许竞, the "master of mountaineering", had already been deputy leader for the 1960 ascent of Everest. He was represented by the one year younger Zhāng Jùnyán 岩, who was responsible for setting up the camp and transporting materials on Mount Everest in 1960.

On April 18, 1964, the team set up their base camp at an altitude of around 5000 m . The weather conditions were miserable with an air temperature of around -20 ° C. With the scope of the expedition, the group was the largest in the history of Himalayan mountaineering to date. Around 19 tons of luggage had to be enough for the large group of mountaineers, glaciologists, geologists, meteorologists, cartographers and altitude physiologists. The tent camp was a strict, rectangular building made of green 20-man tents with a large felt tent that offered space for all participants at the same time and in which film screenings and meetings took place. The kitchen, canteen, radio station, hospital and weather station were housed in smaller tents. The whole camp was also equipped with electricity.

Shishapangma was only opened to foreign climbers in 1978. It is considered relatively easy to climb among the eight-thousanders.

Routes and climbs

The normal route is the route of the first to climb from the north. It crosses below the middle summit on the west ridge to the main summit ( 8027 m ). It is also possible to climb to the middle summit ( 8008 m ⊙ ), from where the main summit can be reached via an exposed ridge. Since the middle summit is easier to climb, commercial expeditions usually choose it as their first destination, with the option of being able to reach the main summit via the ridge in good conditions. Other routes on the north side usually cross them to the east ridge and then lead over it to the main summit. 28.355532 85.777156 8008

The ascent over the south side (southwest face) is more difficult because it is steeper. The wall could be climbed for the first time in 1982 by Doug Scott , Roger Baxter-Jones and Alex McIntyre . There are now three more routes through the southwest face and one over the southeast ridge.

The middle summit has now been climbed more than 750 times, with the traverse to the main summit only being made about 50 ascents. At the main summit, however, no 300 ascents have yet been counted. The west summit ( 7966 m ⊙ ) was first climbed in 1987 by Jerzy Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer during the ascent of the entire west ridge. 28.356453 85.775626 7966

In October 1999, American climber Alex Lowe and cameraman David Bridges died in an avalanche accident while preparing the 1999 American Shishapangma Ski Expedition . They wanted to be the first Americans to ski down from a mountain over 8,000 m. Their bodies were found in a partially melted glacier in the spring of 2016. Mountaineer Conrad Anker survived the accident with broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder.

Jean-Christophe Lafaille made the first winter ascent on December 11, 2004. The first winter ascent of the calendar winter was made by mountaineers Simone Moro and Piotr Morawski on January 15, 2005.

The first south-north crossing of the main summit was carried out by Ralf Dujmovits , Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Hirotaka Takeuchi in 2005.

In April 2011, Ueli Steck managed a solo ascent of the 2000 m high southwest face in just 10 hours, but only with very dubious evidence of the ascent.

On September 24, 2014, the mountaineers Sebastian Haag and Andrea Zambaldi died in an avalanche accident.

literature

Manfred Abelein: Shisha Pangma: A German Tibet expedition conquers the last eight-thousander (Lübbe 1980), ISBN 3-7857-0259-0 .
Robert Goh Ee Kiat, Lulin Reutens: Xixabangma: An Alpine Ascent of the North Ridge (Epigram 2004), ISBN 981-05-1552-9 .
Doug Scott, Alex MacIntyre: The Shishapangma Expedition (Mountaineers 1984), ISBN 0-89886-098-9 .
Doug Scott, Alex MacIntyre: Shisha Pangma: The alpine-style first ascent of the South-West-Face (Mountaineers 2000), ISBN 0-89886-723-1 .
Chou Cheng: The Ascent of Shisha Pangma. In: Alpine Journal , Volume 69, 1964, pp. 211-216.