Home › Landforms › Mountains & Peaks
Kangchenjunga
The five treasures of the snows, third-highest mountain on Earth
Kangchenjunga spreads across the eastern Himalaya like a vast white fortress, its five distinct summits giving rise to a Tibetan name meaning the Five Treasures of the Great Snow. At 8,586 metres it is the third-highest mountain in the world and, until a Survey of India recalculation in the 1850s, was thought to be the highest of all. It rises on the border between Nepal and the Indian state of Sikkim, where it is revered as a sacred guardian and, by long tradition, climbers stop short of the true summit out of respect.
The massif is a sprawling complex of ridges and glaciers rather than a single horn, draining ice in every direction through the Zemu, Yalung, and other glaciers that feed the rivers of Sikkim and eastern Nepal. Its great relief and exposure to the monsoon make for fierce, fast-changing weather and heavy snow loading, and avalanches sweep its flanks frequently. The surrounding region harbours an extraordinary range of ecosystems, from subtropical valleys to alpine tundra, and is one of the strongholds of the snow leopard and the red panda.
Joe Brown and George Band of a British expedition reached the summit ridge on 25 May 1955 and, honouring a promise to the Maharaja of Sikkim, halted a few metres below the actual top - a courtesy most subsequent parties have kept. The mountain anchors the transboundary Kangchenjunga Landscape, a conservation effort spanning Nepal, India, and Bhutan, and India's Khangchendzonga National Park, a UNESCO mixed World Heritage Site, protects its eastern approaches and the cultural traditions woven around the peak.