KANG YATSE 1
TECHNICAL CLIMBING
ALTITUDE 6402m
DURATION 14D/13N
Kang Yatse 1 is categorized as a technical peak and the summit climb involves some good ice and snow climbing skills. The route is very steep and demands excellent physical stamina and powerful thigh muscles to walk through, especially the ultra-soft and dry snow conditions of Ladakh. The usual route we take to the summit camp of this peak is via the scree zone climbing up straight from below the mountain. There is an alternate route following the glacier, however, that's long and has a crevasse below the dome.
Located in the midst of two great mountain ranges of the world, the Himalayas and the Karakoram, the land of Ladakh is blessed with many of its own mountain ranges, like that of the Zanskar. And with all the amazing mountains, glaciers and rivers, one of them better served frozen, Ladakh is never short of surprises to leave you spellbound.
There is a very very difficult route from the summit of Kang Yatse 2 to the summit of Kang Yatse 1 via the rocky knife-edge ridge which looks very challenging. In 2018, a team from Himalayan Mountaineering Institute successfully traversed the difficult knife-edge ridge to reach the summit of KY1 from KY2.
Since this route is very technical and challenging, we do not take this route and left it for alpinism. We follow the route which climbs steeply and straight to the summit from the South-East ridge.