Gyachung Kang
The highest mountain in the world below 8,000 metres
Gyachung Kang reaches 7,952m on the border between Solukhumbu and Tibet, standing between Everest and Cho Oyu, and it is the highest mountain in the world below 8,000m. Another forty eight metres would have made it one of the fourteen eight thousanders, with all the expedition traffic that brings. As it is, it is climbed perhaps once in a decade.
It was first summited in 1964 by a Japanese expedition. From the ground it is surprisingly hard to pick out, because Everest, Lhotse and Cho Oyu crowd around it, and it shows best from the Gokyo side, where it stands at the head of the Ngozumpa glacier. Very few of the trekkers who photograph it could name it, which is unusual for a mountain of its size.
Highlights
7,952m, forty eight metres short of the eight thousanders
On the Nepal and Tibet border between Everest and Cho Oyu
Best seen from the Gokyo valley
Practical Info
In This Destination
Solukhumbu
In the shadow of Everest, where dreams touch the sky