Saser Kangri II East
Saser Kangri II East is the highest summit of Saser Kangri II, rising to approximately 7,518 meters (24,665 feet) in the Saser Muztagh of the eastern Karakoram in Ladakh, India. Modern topographic databases give a slightly lower figure of about 7,513 meters, but 7,518 meters remains the elevation widely used in expedition literature and historical Survey of India mapping.
For decades, Saser Kangri II presented an unusual mountaineering puzzle. An Indo-Japanese expedition climbed the western end of its long summit ridge in 1985, but the eastern summit remained untouched. Later analysis showed that the East summit was clearly higher, meaning the true top of one of the world’s highest mountains was still unclimbed.
That changed on August 24, 2011, when American climbers Mark Richey, Steve Swenson, and Freddie Wilkinson reached Saser Kangri II East after climbing the enormous southwest face in alpine style. Their route, The Old Breed, climbed approximately 1,700 vertical meters of ice, mixed terrain, and high-altitude snow and was graded WI4 M3.
The ascent became one of the most celebrated Karakoram climbs of its era and received a Piolet d’Or in 2012.
⚡ Fast Facts
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Continent | Asia |
| Country | India |
| Region | Ladakh |
| Mountain Range | Karakoram |
| Subrange | Saser Muztagh |
| Mountain Group | Saser Kangri Group |
| Elevation | Traditionally 7,518 m / 24,665 ft; modern Peakbagger figure approximately 7,513 m / 24,648 ft |
| Prominence | Approximately 1,450 m / 4,757 ft |
| Isolation | Approximately 8.21 km / 5.10 mi |
| Nearest Higher Neighbor (NHN) | Saser Kangri I |
| Parent Peak | Saser Kangri I |
| Coordinates | Approximately 34.8044° N, 77.8058° E |
| Principal Summit | Yes — East is the highest point of Saser Kangri II |
| First Ascent | August 24, 2011 |
| First Ascenders | Mark Richey, Steve Swenson, Freddie Wilkinson |
| First-Ascent Route | Southwest Face |
| Route Name | The Old Breed |
| Route Length | Approximately 1,700 m |
| Technical Grade | WI4 M3 |
| Style | Alpine style |
| Major Award | 2012 Piolet d’Or |
| Expedition Area | Eastern Karakoram Area A |
🏔️ Where Is Saser Kangri II East?
Saser Kangri II East lies in the Saser Muztagh, an eastern subdivision of the Karakoram in Ladakh, India.
The Saser group rises between the Nubra and Shyok river systems, north of the better-known Ladakh ranges surrounding Leh. Although geographically close to historic trade routes through the Karakoram, the high mountains themselves are extremely remote.
Saser Kangri II occupies a major ridge southeast of Saser Kangri I. Its East and West summits are separated by a long, complicated crest nearly a kilometer in length.
The eastern end of this ridge forms the true high point of Saser Kangri II.
The mountain is surrounded by several major glacier systems, including the Sakang Lungpa Glacier on the western side and the South Shukpa Kunchang Glacier beneath the great southwest face.
📏 How High Is Saser Kangri II East?
Saser Kangri II East has traditionally been assigned an elevation of 7,518 meters (24,665 feet).
The Survey of India placed the 7,518-meter point at the eastern end of the summit ridge, and this figure became standard in mountaineering literature.
Modern Peakbagger data place the summit slightly lower, at approximately 7,513 meters (24,648 feet).
A difference of five meters has little practical effect on the mountain’s stature. Under either measurement, Saser Kangri II is among roughly the 50 highest major mountains on Earth.
It is slightly lower than Saser Kangri I, which reaches approximately 7,672 meters, but higher than Saser Kangri III at approximately 7,495 meters.
📐 Prominence and Isolation
Saser Kangri II has approximately 1,450 meters (4,757 feet) of topographic prominence.
Its key col lies at roughly 6,063 meters.
This makes Saser Kangri II one of the most topographically significant high mountains of the Saser Muztagh. It falls only about 50 meters short of the 1,500-meter prominence threshold normally required for classification as an ultra-prominent mountain.
Its topographic isolation is approximately 8.21 kilometers (5.10 miles).
The nearest higher terrain lies on Saser Kangri I, the dominant summit of the massif.
These figures apply to the main East summit. Saser Kangri II West has only about 151 meters of prominence and is much more clearly a subsidiary top.
🗻 East Summit vs. West Summit
Understanding the distinction between the two summits is essential to understanding Saser Kangri II.
The summit ridge extends for almost a kilometer and contains two high points:
Saser Kangri II East is the principal summit, traditionally measured at approximately 7,518 meters.
Saser Kangri II West lies approximately half a kilometer to the west and is now measured at about 7,511 meters by Peakbagger.
Early mountaineers believed the two ends of the ridge might be approximately equal in height. This uncertainty had major consequences for the mountain’s climbing history.
When the West summit was climbed in 1985, the expedition understandably described the achievement as the first ascent of Saser Kangri II.
Later observations suggested something different.
The eastern summit was higher.
📜 The 1985 West Summit Ascent
An Indo-Japanese expedition approached Saser Kangri II from the Nubra Valley in 1985.
The team traveled through the Sakang Lungpa drainage and established a series of camps beneath the mountain’s northwest side. Climbers eventually gained the high ridge after negotiating difficult rock, ice, and mixed terrain.
The expedition suffered a tragedy when climber Tsering Angchuk fell approximately 100 meters and was killed.
Despite the loss and a prolonged period of bad weather, the expedition continued.
On September 7, Phu Dorji, Tsewang Smanla, Sonam Wangdus, and Sherup Chholdan reached the western summit.
At the time, both ends of the ridge were believed to be of roughly similar elevation, and the team regarded the climb as the first ascent of Saser Kangri II.
The Himalayan Journal nevertheless noted that the Survey of India height point of 7,518 meters was located on the eastern end of the ridge.
That detail would become increasingly important.
🧭 Recognition of the Higher East Summit
Over the following decades, climbers and mountain researchers gradually came to regard the eastern summit as the true high point.
American climber Mark Richey became especially interested in the mountain after seeing the Saser group during a 2001 expedition elsewhere in the eastern Karakoram.
Photographs taken from the south suggested that Saser Kangri II East stood noticeably higher than the western summit.
By the mid-2000s, Richey and other climbers were investigating the possibility of attempting the still-unclimbed East summit.
Its significance was considerable.
At around 7,518 meters, Saser Kangri II East was frequently described as one of the highest unclimbed mountains in the world.
Gangkhar Puensum in Bhutan was higher, but climbing there was prohibited. Depending on the criteria used, Saser Kangri II East was therefore often described as the world’s second-highest unclimbed mountain or one of the highest unclimbed independent peaks still legally accessible.
🧗 The 2009 Attempt
A major attempt took place in 2009.
The joint Indo-American-British expedition included Mark Richey, Steve Swenson, Mark Wilford, Jim Lowther, Chewang Motup, and several Indian climbers and support members.
The team approached through the Nubra Valley near Tigur and entered the Sakang Lungpa Glacier.
Reaching the southwest face itself required crossing a high pass of approximately 6,000 meters into the South Shukpa Kunchang Glacier.
The climbers made repeated reconnaissance trips across this pass before committing to the face.
Richey, Swenson, Wilford, and Lowther eventually spent four days on the approximately 1,700-meter wall.
They reached roughly halfway up the mountain before deteriorating weather forced them to retreat.
The attempt failed, but it provided valuable information.
The southwest face appeared technically demanding but relatively direct and less threatened by objective hazards than several alternative lines.
The biggest problem was unexpectedly simple: there were almost no natural bivouac ledges.
Finding somewhere to sleep on the steep wall became one of the major challenges of the climb.
🧗 Return to Saser Kangri II in 2011
Richey and Swenson returned in 2011, this time joined by Freddie Wilkinson.
The expedition was again organized as a joint Indian-American venture, with Chewang Motup serving as Indian co-leader.
Other expedition members included Janet Bergman, Emilie Drinkwater, Kirsten Kremer, Konchok Thinlese, Pemba Sherpa, Dhan Singh Harkotia, Jangla Tashi Phunchok, and Tshering Sherpa.
Base Camp was established in July at approximately 5,000 meters near the snout of the Sakang Lungpa Glacier.
Before attempting Saser Kangri II, expedition members made several first ascents of lower peaks in the surrounding area.
These climbs helped the team acclimatize while waiting for temperatures and snow conditions on Saser Kangri II to improve.
Richey, Swenson, and Wilkinson then prepared for their second assault on the enormous southwest face.
🧗 The Southwest Face
The successful route climbed approximately 1,700 vertical meters up Saser Kangri II East’s southwest face.
The team named the line The Old Breed.
Unlike a traditional siege expedition using multiple fixed camps and extensive fixed ropes, the three climbers attempted the mountain in alpine style. They carried their equipment with them, established temporary bivouacs as they climbed, and did not rely on a chain of permanently stocked high camps.
Conditions were unusually favorable.
Clear weather persisted for several days, allowing the team to move rapidly through terrain that had stopped their 2009 attempt.
The lower route climbed ice and mixed terrain through the great face.
Higher up, the climbers encountered increasingly difficult route-finding among rock bands, gullies, and steep ice.
🧊 The Ice Hammocks
One of the most unusual features of the ascent was the use of specially designed ice hammocks.
The climbers already knew from 2009 that the face offered virtually nowhere flat enough to pitch a tent.
The hammocks could be suspended against the mountain and filled with chopped snow and ice, creating makeshift platforms large enough to support a small shelter.
Even with this equipment, the bivouacs were precarious.
At one camp, the team spent roughly two hours hacking ice and carrying snow to build a narrow platform on a sloping rock buttress.
At another high bivouac, the corners of the tent extended over empty space.
The lack of natural ledges transformed what might otherwise have been straightforward resting periods into an important technical and logistical part of the climb.
🧗 The Escape Hatch
The technical crux of the first-ascent route came high on the southwest face.
After following a broad ice feature known as The Ramp, the climbers encountered an overhanging dead end.
Freddie Wilkinson found a weakness to the left.
He traversed into a crack system and used dry-tooling and mixed-climbing techniques to negotiate a difficult blind corner.
The team called the pitch the Escape Hatch.
Rated around M3, it provided the key passage through the upper rock barrier and opened access to easier snow and ice slopes above.
The complete route was eventually graded approximately WI4 M3.
Although those numbers do not represent the most technically difficult climbing found in the Karakoram, performing such climbing with full packs near 7,000 meters dramatically increases the seriousness of the route.
🏆 First Ascent — August 24, 2011
On the final summit day, the climbers moved above their highest bivouac toward the summit ridge.
They climbed several pitches of moderate ice before reaching a broad shoulder.
From there, Wilkinson led the team up steep snow and along an exposed crest toward the highest point.
On August 24, 2011, Mark Richey, Steve Swenson, and Freddie Wilkinson reached the summit of Saser Kangri II East.
It was the first known ascent of the mountain’s true high point.
From the summit, the climbers could see the West summit below and to the west. They estimated it to be approximately 100 to 150 meters lower, reinforcing their belief that the East summit was clearly the principal top.
The discrepancy is somewhat larger than modern topographic measurements indicate, but the observation decisively demonstrated that the eastern summit was higher.
⚠️ A Difficult Descent
Reaching the summit did not end the danger.
Swenson had been suffering from a serious respiratory illness during the ascent, and his condition worsened dramatically after the summit.
That night he had difficulty breathing and could not comfortably lie down.
The following morning brought snowfall, forcing the team to descend the technical face in deteriorating conditions.
Exhaustion and illness complicated the rappels. One rope had also been damaged by falling rock, creating additional problems during the descent.
The three climbers nevertheless made it safely down the mountain.
The seriousness of the descent reinforced a fundamental lesson of high-altitude mountaineering: the summit is only halfway through the climb.
🏅 The Piolet d’Or
The ascent of Saser Kangri II East received international recognition.
In 2012, Mark Richey, Steve Swenson, and Freddie Wilkinson were awarded a Piolet d’Or, one of the most prestigious honors in international mountaineering.
The award recognized several qualities that distinguished the climb.
The team had completed the first ascent of a major 7,500-meter mountain by a new technical route, climbed in lightweight alpine style, without a siege-style system of fixed camps and ropes.
The route also involved considerable exploration and commitment in one of the more remote parts of the eastern Karakoram.
The ascent remains an important example of modern alpine-style climbing at extreme altitude.
🏔️ The Saser Kangri Group
Saser Kangri II East belongs to one of the greatest concentrations of high peaks in Ladakh.
Saser Kangri I is the highest summit of the group at approximately 7,672 meters (25,171 feet).
Saser Kangri II East follows at roughly 7,513–7,518 meters.
Saser Kangri III reaches approximately 7,495 meters (24,590 feet) and has about 850 meters of prominence.
Saser Kangri IV, historically known as Cloud Peak, rises above 7,400 meters.
Plateau Peak is another major summit in the massif, exceeding 7,200 meters.
Together, these mountains form a compact landscape of high ridges, enormous glaciers, and steep rock-and-ice faces.
🧊 Glaciers and Terrain
Saser Kangri II rises among several large glacier systems.
The Sakang Lungpa Glacier provides access from the Nubra Valley side, while the South Shukpa Kunchang Glacier lies beneath the mountain’s southwest face.
The 2011 climbers had to cross a roughly 6,000-meter pass between these glacier systems simply to reach the base of their chosen climbing route.
Glacier travel introduces hazards long before climbers begin the technical ascent.
Crevasses, snow bridges, avalanches, rockfall, seracs, and rapidly changing snow conditions are all possible.
Above the glaciers, Saser Kangri II becomes increasingly steep, with a combination of water ice, mixed rock and ice, snowfields, and exposed ridges.
Its southwest wall provides approximately 1.7 kilometers of vertical climbing from glacier to summit.
🌦️ Climate and Weather
Saser Kangri II East experiences an extreme high-altitude Karakoram climate.
Temperatures on the upper mountain remain far below freezing, and strong winds can produce dangerous wind chill even during otherwise stable weather.
Solar radiation can also create serious problems.
During the 2011 expedition, unusually warm conditions triggered snow sloughs and rockfall on the southwest face, forcing the climbers to delay their main attempt.
At nearly 7,500 meters, atmospheric oxygen is severely reduced. Physical performance deteriorates dramatically, recovery slows, and climbers face increasing risks of high-altitude cerebral edema and pulmonary edema.
Weather windows therefore need to provide more than simply clear skies. Climbers must balance temperature, snow stability, wind, acclimatization, and their own physical condition.
🌿 Flora and Fauna
The summit environment of Saser Kangri II East contains essentially no vegetation.
At more than 7,500 meters, the mountain consists almost entirely of rock, permanent snow, and glacier ice. Temperatures, exposure, and the lack of developed soil prevent ordinary vascular plants from becoming established.
The lower valleys of Ladakh support a much more diverse cold-desert ecosystem.
Hardy grasses, sedges, shrubs, alpine flowers, and cushion plants grow where soil and seasonal moisture are available.
Animals of the broader Ladakh region include Himalayan ibex, blue sheep, marmots, pikas, high-altitude birds, and snow leopards.
Wildlife becomes increasingly scarce as elevation rises. The upper glaciers and summit ridges of Saser Kangri II form an environment where biological activity is extremely limited.
🧭 Can Saser Kangri II East Be Climbed Today?
Saser Kangri II is not a conventional commercial mountaineering destination.
The Indian Mountaineering Foundation currently includes Saser Kangri I, II, and III in Area A of the Eastern Karakoram expedition system.
Government clearance is required.
The current regulations allow only a limited number of expeditions into the Eastern Karakoram each year, and joint expeditions involving foreign climbers must follow special rules concerning team composition and liaison officers.
Even with permission, an attempt on Saser Kangri II East would be an extremely serious undertaking.
The combination of remote approaches, glacier travel, technical climbing, limited rescue options, extreme altitude, and unpredictable Karakoram weather makes the mountain appropriate only for highly experienced expedition climbers.
⭐ Why Saser Kangri II East Is Remarkable
Saser Kangri II East occupies an unusual place in mountaineering history.
For more than two decades, Saser Kangri II was often considered climbed because an expedition had reached its western summit. Yet the true eastern high point remained untouched.
Once the height difference was recognized, climbers discovered that one of the highest unclimbed summits on Earth had effectively been hiding in plain sight.
Its eventual first ascent was equally exceptional.
Richey, Swenson, and Wilkinson did not reach the summit through a conventional expedition route. They climbed a 1,700-meter technical face in alpine style, improvised bivouac platforms on terrain that offered almost nowhere to sleep, negotiated mixed climbing near 7,000 meters, and then descended while one member was seriously ill.
Saser Kangri II East therefore represents more than another 7,000-meter summit.
It is a mountain whose true identity took decades to resolve — and whose first ascent became one of the defining high-altitude alpine climbs of the early 21st century.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How high is Saser Kangri II East?
Traditional expedition literature gives an elevation of 7,518 meters (24,665 feet). Modern Peakbagger data list approximately 7,513 meters (24,648 feet).
Is Saser Kangri II East the main summit?
Yes. The East summit is the highest point of Saser Kangri II and is therefore the principal summit.
How high is Saser Kangri II West?
Modern topographic data place the West summit at approximately 7,511 meters (24,642 feet).
When was Saser Kangri II East first climbed?
The first ascent was completed on August 24, 2011.
Who first climbed Saser Kangri II East?
Mark Richey, Steve Swenson, and Freddie Wilkinson made the first ascent.
What route did they climb?
They climbed the approximately 1,700-meter southwest face by a route called The Old Breed, graded WI4 M3.
Was Saser Kangri II climbed before 2011?
The western summit was climbed by an Indo-Japanese expedition in 1985. However, the higher East summit remained unclimbed until 2011.
Was Saser Kangri II East one of the world’s highest unclimbed mountains?
Yes. Before its 2011 ascent, it was widely described as one of the highest unclimbed mountains in the world and, under some criteria, the second highest after Bhutan’s Gangkhar Puensum.
Did the first ascent win an award?
Yes. Richey, Swenson, and Wilkinson received a 2012 Piolet d’Or for the ascent.
What is the nearest higher mountain?
The nearest higher mountain is Saser Kangri I.
🔗 Related Articles
- Saser Kangri
- Saser Kangri II West
- Saser Kangri III
- Saser Kangri IV
- Plateau Peak
- Mamostong Kangri
- Karakoram
📚 Sources
- Peakbagger — Saser Kangri II
- American Alpine Club — The Old Breed: First Ascent of Saser Kangri II
- American Alpine Club — Saser Kangri II Southwest Face
- Himalayan Club — The First Ascent of Saser Kangri II
- Himalayan Club — Indo-Japanese Expedition to Saser Kangri II
- Himalayan Club — 2009 Saser Kangri II Expedition
- American Alpine Club — 2009 Saser Kangri II Attempt
- Indian Mountaineering Foundation — Expedition Application Process
