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Kang Yatse Summit
The peak of Kang Yatse is one of the best looking mountains I have ever seen. It dominates the Markha Valley and is a big mountain massif of 4 peaks. While the First peak of Kang Yatse - Kang Yatse (KY1) 6400 Meters is a technical peak, its second peak, i.e. Kang Yatse 2 (KY2) 6200 Meters is a trekking peak, although not easy as many commercial operators would describe in order to get more clients.
The peak of Kang Yatse 2 has straightforward access to its summit and requires negotiating loose moraines and rocky zones (scree). Its a very steep climb to its summit and snow on top of the loose rocks and pebbles make it very risky and difficult which only experience and very fit climbers can negotiate easily. It requires good management of calm and composure to successfully climb its summit. Though technical climbing skills are not required to climb Kang Yatse 2, having it definitely helps boost your confidence. Out Leaders provide technical orientation classes in the base camps which include self-arrest, group arrest, climbing on rope, using ice axe, 3 point climbing, etc. It helps a non-technical climber gain knowledge and use the techniques when required.
On the other hand, Kang Yatse 1 is a technical peak with a corniced summit dome. It requires knowledge of using technical mountaineering equipment and experience of trekking in high altitude zones and rough terrains. The effort required to reach the summit of Kang Yatse 1 requires us to negotiate a high risk, steep scree zone and then negotiating crevasse and a broken ridge over soft snowy terrain. It definitely tests your nerve if you aren't experienced and are seeing these landscapes and elements of the Himalayas for the first time.
Approach Route Of Kang Yatse 1
There are 3 different approaches to the summit of Kang Yatse 1. While the most climbed is via the South-East ridge, the other 2 are difficult routes.
1. From Kang Yatse 2 Summit to Kang Yatse 1 Summit, via the Knife Edge Ridge: It's one of the most difficult routes to reach the summit of KY1 and requires immense technical climbing skills. Recently, a team from the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute successfully traversed from KY2 to KY1 and made history.
2. From Kang Yatse Glacier: This was the old climbing route and is seldom used these days as it requires long rope and the uncertainty of the glacier makes planning difficult.
3: From South-East Ridge: This route is very steep and requires negotiating a steep section of the scree zone and a small section of broken ridge. This allows to camp overnight on a small ledge on the summit ridge and makes it a little easier. We use this route to climb on our planned expedition to KY1
Key To Success On Kang Yaste 1: Acclimatization, Fitness Training and A Calm Mind
In such a high altitude climbing peak, there is no alternative to acclimatization, and when we talk of acclimatization, we mean natural acclimatization and not medicated acclimatization which many commercial trek organisers preach.
- A slow-paced itinerary balancing daily walks and rest days is a very essential factor.
- Good meals focussed on complete nutrition, hydration, better blood circulation and warmth helps keep you strong and fit.
- Comfortable cosy sleep is necessary as that's when our body recovers.
- High-Quality Equipment and gear to protect from extreme weather of Ladakh is equally important
- Knowledgable and Experienced Trek Leaders who can guide you to success has its own importance
- Prevention is better than cure as we know. We need to imply all prevention SOW into work to help keep us fit throughout the trek.
- Local knowledge and emergency handling capabilities, medical safety kits, oxygen cylinders, etc have no alternative.
- Acclimatization walks on each days, Keeping hydrated throughout the trek and most importantly staying joyful and relaxed works extremely well to acclimatize better.
Your capability to acclimatize well directly affects your climbing success on the summit of Kang Yatse Peaks. Acclimatization being the most important of them, you can't ignore a fit strong body and high mental endurance which help you stay calm and see bad things off with immense patience and perseverance. Possessing good listening capability and following all the instructions of your expedition leader is very important. All this factor help you climb successfully.
WHY SHOULD YOU CLIMB WITH US ?
Unlike the mass-trekking and hand-held trekking groups in our country, we, on all of our treks, inspire and motivate to boost more of the Intrinsic and Inheritent Adventure Sense of a human being when it comes to our work ethics. We human beings are born to Survive. It's just about letting yourself free to get back your intrinsic senses to adapt, survive and then excel.
Having said that, we take safety as the first matter of concern on any of our treks, and hence provide the Guides and Leaders who are tremendously experienced, knowledgeable, responsible and capable of handling such treks. We keep our group size limited to 12 people on a challenging trek like this as smaller groups have more summit success rate since the team is more focused on their objectives, share common physical abilities, are safer and friendlier. Most importantly, our filtration and selective process ensure that the team, unlike that of the mass-trekking groups, is not limited by the weaknesses of the unfiltered, incompetent and unmanageable flock joining the team. A smaller group also helps to create an ambient Himalayan experience of Solitude, giving priority to Safety, Easy Management, Maximum Attention, Utmost care, Friendly attitude, and a Learning experience to make you a better and a humble trekker.
Our forced efforts to keep the group size small has given us a very nice success rate on the summits of these trekking peaks in the Himalayas. Our itinerary and meal plan are very well planned and with further orientation and planning, we move closer to the summit with each of these carefully decided actions.
The equipment that we provide on the treks are some of the best in the industry. Few of those are designed and custom-made just to suit our purpose of a safe and comfortable trek experience. We provide you with all the gears required to be better equipped for the trek. The quality of local resources, cooks and porters are not neglected and we make sure that we hire responsible local resources for your group accompanied by one of our leaders who further ensures that the quality of services are delivered as promised and forms a liaison between the group and the local hires. Right from the food that we serve on the trek to the toilet tents and camping toilet seat that we provide, dining tents to separate camping stools, pre-trek orientation to proper coordination, SOS arrangements, etc - Everything is taken care of with utmost professionalism and expertise of the field.
We have until now worked across the Himalayas of India, Nepal and Bhutan with tremendous client satisfaction and reviews. From beginner’s trek to that of highly challenging treks and expeditions, we have handled it all very efficiently with an excellent success rate. We have always kept and delivered our promise of keeping the team small, like-minded, tidy by proper selection and filtration through discussion and with utmost safety and no incidences of mishaps so far due to our proper planning by experts of the field. We are a transparent and flexible organization and have kept our reviews online. You may read our reviews on our Google Business Page: https://goo.gl/ezyw13
