Green Garden Today, Ganchenpo North Face » Explorersweb – GWC Mag gwcmagNovember 4, 2023046 views IFMGA mountain guides Joshua Jarrin of the U.S. and Oswaldo Freire of Ecuador have climbed a direct route on the north face of 6,387m Ganchenpo in the Jugal Himal. They did this in light alpine style just a few days after their first ascent of 6,567m Yansa Tsenji in neighboring Langtang Himal. The two peaks lie fairly closely together. The north face of Ganchenpo, red dot in the background, as seen from Yansa Tsenji. Photo: Oswaldo Freire After descending from Yansa Tsenji, Freire said that they needed to wait for a weather window in order to attempt the north wall of Ganchenpo, also known as Ganchempo or Fluted Peak. Yesterday, on Nov. 3, Freire contacted ExplorersWeb from the summit of Ganchenpo to say that they had succeeded. Today, they descended from the mountain. From base camp, Freire gave us some details about the climb. One of the climbers ascends the ‘Cold Therapy’ route on Ganchenpo’s north face. Photo: Oswaldo Freire Details of the climb The pair called their route Cold Therapy and graded it 1,000m AI 4+ 90 degrees TD/TD+. The ascent took just over 13 hours, and the round trip required a total of 18 hours and 20 minutes. According to Freire, the ice on the face was in good condition, which helped them progress effectively. The intense cold didn’t let them rest during the ascent. Joshua Jarrin and Oswaldo Freire on the summit of Ganchenpo. Photo: Oswaldo Freire A confusing past attempt The north face of Ganchenpo has had at least three previous ascents via different lines from unauthorized parties, according to the editor of the American Alpine Journal. The Himalayan Database (HDB) didn’t officially register any successful ascent of the north face. In particular, the details about an Italian party’s expedition on Ganchenpo, led by Angelo Giovanetti in the spring of 2010, are confusing in the HDB. It registers their climb as an attempt and states that Giovanetti, Oscar Piazza, and Massimiliano Zortea reached a high point of 6,000m, nearly 400m shy of the summit. At the same time, the Find Expeditions sheet of the HDB in the Route Details area includes a text from an Italian website called Dolomite. This states: “On May 11, 2010, Piazza, Zortea, and Giovanetti reached Advanced Camp (5,500m). After a night up high, they climbed and went back down the Ganchempo North Wall in 15 hours of nonstop climbing.” The Italian website leaves whether they summited unclear. Giovanetti recently commented below a Facebook post from Alessandro Filippini, saying that the Italians did the same direct line on Ganchenpo’s north face in 2010 as Jarrin and Freire did on Nov. 3. Jarrin and Freire work their way up the north face of Ganchenpo. Photo: Oswaldo Freire Nevertheless, Jarrin and Freire seem to have made the first official ascent of the north face of Ganchempo. It’s been an excellent week for the two good friends. Another view of their ‘Cold Therapy’ route on the north face of Ganchenpo. Photo: Oswaldo Freire