The alpinist Oscar Cadiach liderates the expedition to Kanchenjunga in memory of Íñigo Pineda

An international expedition led by the alpinist Òscar Cadiach and sponsored by the Regional Government of Tarragona will attempt to crown the peak of the Kanchenjunga, the third highest of the planet, with 8.586 meters (28.169ft). The nine climbers want the challenge to pay homage to Íñigo de Pineda, died in this mountain in May of 2007, when the expedition in which Cadiach also took part faced the descent after a failed attempt that approached them to 200 meters from the peak. That occasion was the only attempt to reach the most eastern peak of the fourteen eight-thousands of the planet and was the only one which attempted to trace an unedited itinerary along the south-east face, the same one through which in this occasion he will try the ascent. Now, they will coincide with three expeditions more among which destacates the one that promotes Edurne Pasabán, which struggles for rising the 14 eight-thousands of the planet. The expedition will attack the peak among the 26th and the 30th of May, before the arrival of the monsoon winds, without bottled oxygen and without sherpas.

Apart of Cadiach, the expedition will count with the basques Julen Reketa, Alberto Zerain and José Ramon Lasa and the navarrese Francisco Goñi, accopained by Francisco Miguel Fernández Gomez from Alacant; Juanjo Garra, of Lleida; Kinga Baranowska, of Poland, and Oriol Ribas, of Andorra.

Josep Poblet, president of the regional government, offered the flag of the Regional Government of Tarragona to Cadiach yesterday in the conservatory. «Who dare to say that this is not a feat, must explain it to me. We will accompain him», sentenced Poblet, with his usual loquacity and feeling of admiration. The climber, touched, improvised some words: «With the desire to project our country, Catalonia, and our city, Tarragona, beyond our regions.» Later, the musician Kiev Portella interpreted on piano Chopin's Impromptu Fantasy, as a gift to the expedition. «We want this music to accompain you during your ascent and help you reaching the peak», stated Poblet.

Route Sheet

April 20th

Kàtmandu-Biratnagar Flight

From April 21th to 28th

Flight to Suketar. Acclimatization.

Tresc to Lali Kharka (2.220m), Keswa (2.100m), Mamanke (2.000m), Yamphudin (1.650m), Camp Lamite (2.920m), Torontan (3.080m), Tseram (3.750 m) i Ramche (4.360m) April 30th and 1st of May

Base Camp setup i and acclimatization

From May 2nd to 25th

High Base Camp setup

From May 26th to 30th

Peak attack

June 4th

Taplejung-Kàtmandu flight

June 5th

Kàtmandu-Londres-Barcelona flight

Five Treasures of the Great Snow

The Kanchenjunga, placed at the mountain range of Himalaya, concretely at the border between Nepal and India, is also a known place troughout the world as the Mountain of the Five Treasures (the life, the death, the salt and the incense and the friendship). It is a massif composed by several peaks forming a sawtooth. The highest are the also named Kanchenjunga II, the central one and the west peak, also known as Yalung Kan. These two last overcome the 8.400 meters.

Article published El 9 Esportiu Camp de Tarragona i Terres de l'Ebre (April 4th, 2009) page 18 and extracted from El Punt