Climbing Kangchenjunga 1955 – Past Daily After Hours Reference Room

– BBC Home Service – Kangchenjunga 1955 – June 18, 1955 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –

Until 1852 Kangchenjunga was considered the highest Mountain in the world. At 28,169 ft it was thought to be taller than Everest, the nearest mountain and one three Himalayan mountains between Nepal and India. But in 1852 calculations revealed Everest to be the tallest and Kangchenjunga to be third.

But it wasn’t until May 25th 1955 that a team successfully climbed Kangchenjunga and came within five vertical feet of the summit. As part of the agreement with the Nepalese government, the British team agreed to come short of the summit as a sign of respect to the Maharaja of Sikkim as a proviso to get permission for the climb. It has been a tradition that no climber reach the summit, ever since then.

A few weeks later, the BBC ran this account, featuring the team of climbers as they recounted their experience as the first team to reach the top of Kangchenjunga.

Here is that account featuring the original climbers as it was first heard in June of 1955.

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