The first ascent of Labuche Kang II (7072 m) in Tibet was carried on by the Swiss Alpine Club expedition in spring 1995. All ten members of the expedition could successfully reach the summit.
The Labuche Kang area, where this expedition was held, is a still widely unexplored Tibetan region located NW of Mt. Everest, halfway between Cho Oyu (8201 m) and Shisha Pangma (8012 m). Among the main summits of the area, only the highest point, Labuche Kang I (7365 m) had been climbed previously, in 1987, by a strong Chinese-Japanese team led by Yamamori.
The newly climbed summit is the attractive and well individualized summit reaching 7072 m and located few kilometers west from the main summit. We call it Labuche Kang II. A sole previous tentative ascent by an Italian team in 1992 was unsuccessful.
The expedition reached the summit in three consecutive groups: on April 30, 1995, Christian Meillard, Thierry Bionda et André Müller reached the top; Simon Perritaz, André Geiser and Pierre Robert followed on May 2 ; finally, Dominique Gouzi, Carole Milz, Heinz Hügli and Doris Lüscher succeeded on May 5.
The route to Labuche Kang II starts from Tingri, a Tibetan village located on the transhimalayan road linking Kathmandu with Lhasa. A dirt road brings the jeeps to Langgolo, a small village located at an altitude of 4500 m, at the end of the road. From this village, a long one-day trek leads to base camp (BC), at an altitude of 5300 m.
Two high altitude camps C1 and C2 were necessary for the ascent.
From BC, the route leads South to a valley filled with lake Lama and onto the glacier which falls in it. The glacier fall forms a steep wall, about 400 m high, with impressive seracs. We install camp C1 above the fall, at an altitude of 5750 m. This first stage is about nine kilometer long. Note that in spring, the lake is still frozen and it can be crossed right in the middle along a much shorter route than the alternative route along the lake shore.
From camp C1, the itinerary climbs up the long glacier issued from the pass which separates Labuche Kang I and Labuche Kang II. The pass is selected for camp C2, erected at an altitude of 6300 m. This second stage, 7 kilometer long, is on the glacier. The ascent is made difficult by crevasses and snow: In the lower part of the glacier, the crevasses are numerous and dangerous, because hidden by only a thin snow layer; In its upper part, the track is in deep soft snow.
From camp C2, the itinerary to the summit follows the East ridge of Labuche Kang II. This steep ridge leads directly to the main summit. It is mainly ice-covered and has numerous seracs. A secure and interesting line of ascent is found on the rightmost side of the ridge. Conspicuous landmarks of the itinerary are a difficult Bergschrund, two obvious and long ice-fields, a funnel-shaped couloir, and finally snow-covered slopes leading to the top. The overall slope is about 55 degrees steep. In several days the first group opens a route and installs about 800 m of fixed ropes. Once the route equipped, the summit can be reached from camp C2 in one day. The three groups climb the route within a few days interval and can all reach the summit.
With this first ascent of Labuche Kang II, climbed successfully by all expedition members and without the help of high-altitude porters, the Swiss Alpine Club expedition realizes an original and high-standard ascent in a still widely unexplored region of Tibet. It follows thus the principle, already applied during three previous expeditions, which consists in organizing expeditions with new objectives, in unexplored regions, while privileging the team spirit.