British Kangchung Expedition

The team had two objectives on the north faces of Kangchung Shar and Kangchung Nup, both of which have seen previous ascents via their south faces. Flying first from Kathmandu to Lukla, they then hiked up to Namche Bazaar and on to Gokyo, setting basecamp at Gyubanare. After Jim began experiencing chest pains with a suspected pulmonary edema, they descended back to Gokyo and were recommended to drop back lower to Machermo for Jim to recover from what was diagnosed as a chest infection. They then returned to basecamp where they first attempted a direct line of ice on Kangchung Nup, but were only able to make 300m of height, after which the ice turned very thin. They changed instead to Kangchung Shar deciding to try the line first attempted by Simon Yates in 2016. After making a smooth ascent of the north face to Kangchung La they proceeded along the north west ridge on soft snow to the upper rocky section below the summit. Here they found an impassable section of blank granite slab covered in powder snow, and with no way to bypass this they were forced to retreat.