Langtang Lirung
Langtang Lirung is the highest mountain of Nepal’s Langtang Himal, rising dramatically above the Langtang Valley north of Kathmandu. Modern topographic data place its summit at approximately 7,227 meters (23,711 feet), although elevations of 7,234 and 7,245 meters remain common in mountaineering and Nepalese government sources.
What Langtang Lirung lacks in comparison with the nearby 8,000-meter giants, it more than makes up for in relief. The mountain rises extraordinarily steeply above the valleys to its south and west, producing enormous walls of rock, snow, and ice. Its prominence exceeds 1,500 meters, making it an ultra-prominent mountain, while its south and east faces rank among the most formidable walls in the central Himalayas.
The summit was first reached on October 24, 1978, when Japanese climber Seishi Wada and Nepalese climber Pemba Tsering Sherpa completed the east ridge after decades of unsuccessful attempts.
Langtang Lirung’s story also includes tragedy. Avalanches have repeatedly killed climbers on its slopes, and in 2015 the devastating Gorkha earthquake triggered a huge ice-and-rock avalanche from the Langtang Lirung area that destroyed Langtang village and killed more than 200 people.
In October 2024, the mountain returned to the forefront of Himalayan climbing when Marek Holeček and Ondrej Húserka completed the first ascent of its enormous east face. Húserka died in a crevasse accident during the descent, turning an extraordinary climbing achievement into another tragic chapter in the mountain’s history.
⚡ Fast Facts
| Fact | Details |
|---|---|
| Continent | Asia |
| Country | Nepal |
| Province | Bagmati Province |
| District | Rasuwa |
| Mountain Range | The Himalayas |
| Subrange | Langtang Himal |
| Elevation | Approximately 7,227 m / 23,711 ft |
| Other Published Elevations | 7,234–7,245 m |
| Prominence | Approximately 1,525 m / 5,003 ft |
| Isolation | Approximately 24.45 km / 15.19 mi |
| Nearest Higher Neighbor (NHN) | Porong Ri |
| Coordinates | Approximately 28.2563° N, 85.5171° E |
| Peak Classification | Ultra-prominent mountain |
| Protected Area | Langtang National Park |
| First Ascent | October 24, 1978 |
| First Ascenders | Seishi Wada and Pemba Tsering Sherpa |
| First-Ascent Route | East / northeast ridge from the Lirung Glacier |
| First Winter Ascent | January 3, 1988 |
| First Winter Ascenders | Mikołaj Czyżewski, Kazimierz Kiszka, and Adam Potoczek |
| First East-Face Ascent | October 30, 2024 |
| 2024 Climbers | Marek Holeček and Ondrej Húserka |
| 2024 Route | Ondra’s Star |
| Terrain | Glacier, rock, ice, mixed climbing, steep snow ridges, seracs, and avalanche terrain |
🏔️ Where Is Langtang Lirung?
Langtang Lirung rises in north-central Nepal, approximately 60 kilometers north of Kathmandu and close to the Nepal–Tibet frontier.
The mountain dominates the western portion of the Langtang Himal, a Himalayan subrange lying south of Shishapangma, the 8,027-meter mountain situated entirely within Tibet.
Langtang Lirung stands immediately north of the Langtang Khola, the river that flows through the famous Langtang Valley. Its southern slopes rise above Langtang village and Kyanjin Gompa, while the Lirung Glacier descends from the massif toward the valley.
The mountain belongs to Langtang National Park, Nepal’s first Himalayan national park.
The park extends across approximately 1,710 square kilometers of Rasuwa, Nuwakot, and Sindhupalchok districts and reaches from subtropical forests at about 1,000 meters to the permanent snow and ice of Langtang Lirung.
📏 How High Is Langtang Lirung?
The exact elevation depends on the mapping source used.
Peakbagger and the Himalayan Database currently use approximately 7,227 meters (23,711 feet).
Much of the historical mountaineering literature gives figures around 7,234–7,246 meters, while Nepalese tourism and national-park information has commonly listed the peak at approximately 7,245 meters.
These discrepancies are not unusual among Himalayan peaks that were surveyed repeatedly using different techniques and map datums.
For modern topographic purposes, 7,227 meters is a useful working figure, while 7,234 meters remains deeply established in climbing literature.
Regardless of the measurement chosen, Langtang Lirung stands among roughly the world’s 100 highest major mountain summits.
📐 Prominence and Isolation
Langtang Lirung has approximately 1,525 meters (5,003 feet) of topographic prominence.
Its key col lies at approximately 5,702 meters.
Because its prominence exceeds the 1,500-meter threshold, Langtang Lirung qualifies as an ultra-prominent mountain, or Ultra.
This distinguishes it from many 7,000-meter Himalayan summits that are technically higher but form subsidiary points on larger massifs.
Its topographic isolation is approximately 24.45 kilometers (15.19 miles).
The nearest higher terrain lies toward Porong Ri, in the high mountain complex north and northeast of Langtang.
Langtang Lirung therefore combines exceptional elevation with substantial independence from surrounding mountains.
⛰️ Extraordinary Vertical Relief
One of Langtang Lirung’s most remarkable characteristics is its enormous vertical relief.
The mountain rises approximately 5,500 meters above the Trisuli Gandaki valley within only about 16 kilometers horizontally.
That is an extraordinary change in elevation over a very short distance.
Its southern face is similarly dramatic. From the Langtang Valley, the mountain rises thousands of meters in a huge wall of rock, hanging glaciers, snow slopes, and ice cliffs.
This steep relief is one reason Langtang Lirung appears so imposing despite standing lower than Everest, Kangchenjunga, Annapurna I, or many other famous Himalayan mountains.
From settlements and trekking trails below, the summit seems almost directly overhead.
🏔️ The Langtang Himal
Langtang Lirung is the highest summit of the Langtang Himal.
The range lies west of the Jugal Himal and south of Tibet’s Shishapangma massif. Together these mountain groups form an exceptionally rugged portion of the central Himalayas.
Other notable mountains of the broader Langtang region include Dorje Lakpa, Loenpo Gang, Langshisa Ri, Gangchenpo, Yansa Tsenji, and several unnamed or locally named high summits.
To the north, the terrain rises toward Shishapangma, the world’s 14th-highest mountain.
Langtang Lirung occupies the western end of this concentration of peaks and dominates the landscape around the upper Langtang Valley.
📝 What Does Langtang Lirung Mean?
The origin of the complete name is not entirely certain.
Langtang refers to the valley and wider region below the mountain. Several traditional explanations of the valley’s name have been repeated in trekking literature, though their historical reliability varies.
Lirung, sometimes historically written Lining or Lirun, is the name attached specifically to the high summit.
Older Western mountaineering literature occasionally used names such as Gangchhen Ledrub, reflecting the difficulties early explorers faced when transliterating Tibetan and local Himalayan names into Latin script.
Modern maps overwhelmingly use Langtang Lirung.
📜 Early Exploration
The modern climbing history of Langtang Lirung began in 1949.
British explorer and mountaineer H. W. Tilman, accompanied by P. Lloyd, reconnoitered the southern side of the mountain.
Tilman was one of the most important Himalayan explorers of the mid-20th century and traveled widely through regions that were still largely absent from detailed Western maps.
Langtang Lirung immediately presented an intimidating challenge.
Its south face was extraordinarily steep, while the glaciers and ridges providing access to the summit were heavily threatened by avalanches and serac collapse.
Over the following three decades, expedition after expedition tried to solve the mountain.
🧗 The Early Japanese Attempts
Japanese mountaineers became particularly interested in Langtang Lirung.
An expedition attempted the mountain through the Lirung Glacier and east ridge in 1959 but did not reach the summit.
Another Japanese expedition returned in 1961.
The attempt ended tragically when an avalanche killed three climbers.
An Italian expedition tried the same general side of the mountain in 1963, suffering two fatalities.
Japanese climbers returned in spring 1964 but reached only about 5,770 meters on the east ridge.
These repeated failures established Langtang Lirung’s reputation as a dangerous and difficult mountain rather than simply an overlooked 7,000-meter peak.
🧗 The 1964 Australian Attempt
An Australian expedition attempted a very different route in autumn 1964.
The team climbed the south ridge and established a high camp at approximately 6,500 meters.
Members continued toward roughly 6,700 meters, negotiating difficult rock high on the ridge.
Bad weather eventually ended the attempt.
The Australians had nevertheless demonstrated that the southern ridge system could provide another possible line toward the summit.
Further Japanese attempts followed in 1971 and during reconnaissance in 1973.
By the late 1970s, Langtang Lirung had resisted numerous expeditions and had accumulated a sobering history of avalanche deaths.
🏆 First Ascent — October 24, 1978
The breakthrough finally came in 1978.
A joint Nepalese-Japanese expedition led by Akira Ban included climbers from Osaka City University and Tribhuvan University in Nepal.
The team returned to the Lirung Glacier and east ridge, a line that previous Japanese expeditions had attempted without success.
Four high camps were established.
The highest stood at approximately 6,650 meters (21,825 feet).
From there, Seishi Wada and Pemba Tsering Sherpa launched the final summit attempt.
On October 24, 1978, the pair reached the summit of Langtang Lirung.
Nearly 30 years had passed since Tilman’s initial reconnaissance.
The mountain had finally been climbed.
🧗 The Original Route
The first ascent approached through the Lirung Glacier and gained what is often described as the east or northeast ridge.
The glacier itself represented one of the greatest dangers.
Later climbers characterized the approach as exceptionally hazardous because of unstable ice and avalanche exposure.
For that reason, the original first-ascent route never became the overwhelmingly preferred line for subsequent expeditions.
Another ridge would eventually become more popular.
🧗 The Southeast Ridge
A Japanese expedition established an important route on the southeast ridge in the early 1980s.
The climbers established four high camps above a base near the Lirung Glacier.
The technically difficult section included mixed rock-and-snow terrain between the middle camps, followed by increasingly narrow high-altitude ridges.
Hajime Abe and Ang Phuri Lama reached the summit first, followed two days later by Yasutoshi Kimura, Haroda Tomoaki, and Mikio Arai.
The southeast ridge subsequently became the mountain’s principal established climbing line.
Even this route, however, is far from safe.
Avalanches, rock climbing, ice, exposed ridges, and unstable seracs have continued to make Langtang Lirung a serious expedition peak.
🧗 The Southwest Ridge
Another major development occurred during the 1980s when Korean climbers established a route via the southwest ridge.
This provided another alternative to the dangerous original approach.
By the end of the decade, most successful expeditions were using either the southeast or southwest ridge systems.
Langtang Lirung nevertheless remained rarely climbed compared with many Himalayan peaks of similar elevation.
The mountain’s combination of difficult access, avalanche danger, technical climbing, and unstable glaciers prevented it from developing into a conventional commercial expedition objective.
❄️ First Winter Ascent
A Polish expedition organized by the Cracow Students’ Alpine Club arrived in December 1987.
Its original objective was an unclimbed line on the southeast face.
Conditions were unfavorable, with rockfall and serac danger making that proposed route too hazardous.
The team instead switched to the established southeast ridge and began preparing for the first winter ascent of Langtang Lirung.
Camps were established progressively higher throughout December.
On January 3, 1988, Mikołaj Czyżewski, Kazimierz Kiszka, and Adam Potoczek reached the summit.
Their climb became the first successful winter ascent of the mountain.
⚠️ Avalanche Dangers
Avalanches have shaped almost every period of Langtang Lirung’s climbing history.
Three climbers died during the 1961 Japanese attempt, while two members of an Italian expedition died in 1963.
Avalanche danger continued long after the first ascent.
On March 29, 1990, an avalanche struck a Japanese expedition on the southeast ridge. Several climbers were swept hundreds of meters down the mountain, and three members of the expedition died.
The terrain is dangerous because enormous hanging glaciers and snowfields occupy slopes above many potential climbing routes.
Periods of heavy snowfall can rapidly transform already difficult terrain into extremely unstable avalanche conditions.
🧗 The South Face
The enormous south face of Langtang Lirung became one of the great technical challenges of the mountain.
British climbers examined the face in 1980, hoping to climb it in lightweight alpine style.
The scale of the wall forced them to reconsider.
From Langtang village, the face rises for roughly 3,300–3,600 vertical meters, depending on where its base is defined.
Climbers encountered steep rock walls, gullies, ice ridges, seracs, and immense avalanche paths.
The British team established camps on the face but eventually retreated because of bad weather and avalanche danger.
Later teams made further attempts, but the wall continued to resist a complete ascent.
🧗 Tomaž Humar’s 2009 Attempt
In autumn 2009, renowned Slovenian alpinist Tomaž Humar attempted Langtang Lirung alone.
Humar was famous for difficult solo climbs on enormous Himalayan faces.
His exact route on Langtang Lirung became difficult to reconstruct, but evidence suggested that he climbed high on the south or southwest side.
On November 9, Humar contacted Base Camp by satellite phone and reported that he was injured.
Communication then stopped.
An international rescue effort brought Swiss mountain-rescue specialists to Nepal.
Humar’s body was located several days later at approximately 5,600 meters on steep terrain.
The accident added another famous name to the mountain’s long history of climbing fatalities.
🌍 The 2015 Nepal Earthquake
Langtang Lirung became associated with a disaster far greater than any mountaineering accident on April 25, 2015.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal.
The shaking destabilized enormous masses of snow, glacier ice, rock, and soil high above the Langtang Valley.
Multiple avalanche sources broke loose from the slopes and ridges around Langtang Lirung and neighboring mountains.
The debris accelerated down extremely steep terrain toward the valley floor.
Langtang village lay directly in its path.
⚠️ Destruction of Langtang Village
The resulting avalanche and debris flow destroyed Langtang village.
More than 200 people are estimated to have died in the Langtang Valley disaster, including local residents, guides, workers, and foreign trekkers.
Scientific investigations later showed that the event involved enormous quantities of glacier ice, snow, rock, and soil descending from elevations above 5,000 meters.
Parts of the avalanche became airborne after plunging over steep terrain.
An accompanying pressure wave caused additional destruction across the valley.
The disaster was one of the deadliest landslide events triggered by the 2015 Gorkha earthquake.
🏘️ Langtang Rebuilds
The destruction of Langtang village devastated one of Nepal’s best-known mountain communities.
Survivors and relatives eventually returned and began rebuilding.
Lodges, homes, trails, and community infrastructure were reconstructed, allowing trekking tourism to resume.
Today, the Langtang Valley once again supports an established trekking route, but memorials and the altered landscape provide powerful reminders of the 2015 disaster.
The rebuilt community lies within sight of the enormous mountain slopes from which the avalanche descended.
🧗 The Unclimbed East Face
For decades, Langtang Lirung’s east face remained one of the mountain’s greatest unsolved climbing problems.
The wall rises approximately 2,500 meters from its base and is threatened by constant rockfall, icefall, and avalanches.
Climbers studied the face repeatedly.
In the 2010s, Julien Dusserre and Antoine Girard even explored the unusual idea of using paragliders to fly over the most dangerous lower terrain and land high on the face before beginning their climb.
The plan demonstrated just how dangerous the conventional approach appeared.
The east face remained unclimbed.
Then, in autumn 2024, two of Europe’s strongest alpinists arrived beneath it.
🧗 Holeček and Húserka — 2024
Czech climber Marek Holeček and Slovak climber Ondrej Húserka established Base Camp below Langtang Lirung in October 2024.
They were joined initially by Czech climber Ondřej Mrklovský.
The trio began an attempt on October 20 but immediately encountered severe rockfall and avalanches as temperatures rose.
For roughly 24 hours they sheltered beneath a small rock overhang while debris swept the face around them.
After retreating, Mrklovský decided not to make another attempt.
Holeček and Húserka returned to the wall on October 25.
⭐ Ondra’s Star
The pair climbed the east face in lightweight alpine style, carrying their equipment rather than relying on fixed camps and large quantities of fixed rope.
The climbing involved steep ice, poor rock, mixed terrain, exposed couloirs, and repeated avalanche danger.
Over several days they established precarious bivouacs while steadily gaining elevation.
On October 30, 2024, after five difficult nights on the face, Holeček and Húserka reached the summit at approximately 11 a.m.
They had completed the first ascent of the east face of Langtang Lirung.
The route gained approximately 2,500 vertical meters from their advanced base.
Holeček later named it Ondra’s Star in memory of his climbing partner.
⚠️ The Death of Ondrej Húserka
The summit was only the beginning of a dangerous descent.
Holeček and Húserka descended the northeast ridge before moving onto the mountain’s eastern flank through complex glacier terrain.
During the descent, Húserka fell into a deep crevasse.
Holeček was able to rappel into the crevasse and reach him, but Húserka had suffered severe injuries.
He died before a rescue could be completed.
Holeček eventually climbed back out of the crevasse and continued alone through a maze of ice towers and crevasses before reaching the valley.
A Nepalese rescue team recovered Húserka’s body on November 7.
The climb was celebrated as a major Himalayan achievement while simultaneously becoming a profound mountaineering tragedy.
🧊 Glaciers and Terrain
Langtang Lirung is surrounded by steep and highly active glacier systems.
The Lirung Glacier descends from the eastern and southeastern portions of the mountain toward the Langtang Valley.
Much of the glacier is heavily crevassed and threatened by avalanches and collapsing seracs.
The mountain itself contains almost every form of serious Himalayan terrain: granite rock walls, mixed climbing, steep ice, corniced ridges, hanging glaciers, avalanche gullies, and deep snowfields.
The enormous vertical relief also means that climbers can experience dramatic temperature changes between the valley floor and upper mountain.
Warm daytime temperatures at lower elevations can trigger rockfall and icefall while the high ridges remain bitterly cold.
🌦️ Climate and Weather
Langtang Lirung lies on the southern side of the central Himalayan crest and receives significant moisture from the South Asian monsoon.
Summer brings heavy rainfall to the lower valleys and substantial snowfall at high elevation.
Spring and autumn generally provide the most favorable trekking and mountaineering conditions.
Even during these periods, however, Himalayan storms can rapidly produce deep snow and dangerous avalanche conditions.
Winter brings much colder temperatures and powerful winds.
The successful Polish winter expedition of 1987–1988 encountered severe cold and difficult conditions even while following an established route.
Above 7,000 meters, reduced atmospheric oxygen adds another major challenge regardless of season.
🌿 Flora and Fauna
Langtang Lirung lies within Langtang National Park, an area remarkable for the enormous range of ecosystems compressed between its deep valleys and high Himalayan summits.
Below approximately 1,000 meters, subtropical vegetation occurs in the lower parts of the park.
Higher elevations support forests containing oak, maple, pine, fir, hemlock, rhododendron, and Nepalese larch.
Trees gradually give way to alpine shrubs, grasslands, and rocky high-mountain vegetation.
Above the alpine zone, permanent snow and glacier ice dominate Langtang Lirung itself.
🐾 Wildlife of Langtang
Langtang National Park protects an unusually diverse collection of Himalayan wildlife.
One of its most celebrated inhabitants is the red panda, which survives in suitable forest habitat.
Other mammals include Himalayan black bears, Himalayan tahr, ghoral, serow, musk deer, pikas, wild dogs, rhesus macaques, langur monkeys, and snow leopards.
More than 370 species of birds have been recorded in the park.
Notable birds include Himalayan pheasants such as the impeyan pheasant, Nepal’s national bird.
The mountain itself is largely sterile above the snowline, but its slopes form the upper boundary of one of Nepal’s richest protected mountain landscapes.
🥾 Trekking Below Langtang Lirung
Unlike the summit, the Langtang Valley is accessible to ordinary trekkers.
The Langtang Valley Trek is one of Nepal’s classic Himalayan journeys and has the advantage of lying relatively close to Kathmandu.
Most itineraries begin near Syabrubesi and climb gradually through forest and river valleys toward Langtang village and Kyanjin Gompa.
Kyanjin Gompa lies beneath the high peaks at the head of the valley and provides some of the finest views of Langtang Lirung.
Trekkers can also climb nearby nontechnical or trekking viewpoints such as Kyanjin Ri and Tsergo Ri for broader panoramas of the range.
These viewpoints provide a dramatic sense of the scale of Langtang Lirung without exposing visitors to the technical hazards of the summit itself.
🏞️ Langtang National Park
Langtang National Park was established in 1976, making it Nepal’s first Himalayan national park.
It covers approximately 1,710 square kilometers.
The protected area includes the Langtang Valley, alpine lakes, forests, high pastures, glaciers, and rugged Himalayan summits.
The park is also culturally important.
Communities in the region have strong historical and linguistic connections with Tibet, and Tamang culture forms an important part of the trekking experience.
Traditional settlements, Buddhist monasteries, mani walls, prayer flags, yak herding, and seasonal pasture use remain characteristic elements of the landscape.
🪨 Geology
Langtang Lirung forms part of the immense Himalayan mountain system created by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates.
India continues to push northward, compressing and uplifting crust along the Himalayan arc.
The Langtang region exposes crystalline rocks affected by enormous pressures and temperatures deep within the crust before being uplifted toward the surface.
Glaciers subsequently carved the steep valleys, cirques, ridges, and hanging basins surrounding the mountain.
The same geological forces that created Langtang Lirung also contribute to the region’s continuing earthquake hazard.
The catastrophic events of 2015 demonstrated the relationship between active tectonics and the unstable high-relief landscapes created by Himalayan uplift.
🏔️ Nearby Mountains
Shishapangma rises to the north in Tibet and reaches 8,027 meters.
Porong Ri, Langtang Lirung’s nearest higher neighbor, lies within the greater Shishapangma-area mountain system.
Dorje Lakpa rises east of the Langtang region and is one of the best-known summits of the Jugal Himal.
Gangchenpo and Langshisa Ri dominate the upper Langtang Valley farther east.
Several accessible trekking summits and viewpoints, including Yala Peak, Kyanjin Ri, and Tsergo Ri, provide excellent views of Langtang Lirung.
Together these peaks form one of the most dramatic mountain landscapes close to Kathmandu.
🧭 Can Langtang Lirung Be Climbed Today?
Langtang Lirung remains a recognized mountaineering objective in Nepal and has received government-authorized expeditions in recent years.
Nepal’s official mountaineering records list the successful 2024 expedition by Marek Holeček and Ondrej Húserka.
However, Langtang Lirung is not comparable with heavily commercialized Himalayan peaks.
There is no simple trekking-style summit route.
Its established ridges involve technical rock, snow, and ice climbing, while the glaciers and faces are threatened by avalanches and serac collapse.
Any summit attempt requires expedition permits, extensive high-altitude mountaineering experience, technical climbing skills, strong avalanche awareness, and the ability to operate in extremely serious terrain.
⭐ Why Langtang Lirung Is Remarkable
Langtang Lirung is a mountain whose significance cannot be measured by elevation alone.
At roughly 7,227 meters, it is lower than dozens of Himalayan summits. Yet its 1,525 meters of prominence make it an Ultra, and its enormous relief above the Langtang and Trisuli valleys gives it a physical presence comparable with much higher mountains.
Its climbing history is equally extraordinary.
It resisted expedition after expedition before Seishi Wada and Pemba Tsering reached the summit in 1978. The mountain subsequently saw difficult new routes, a Polish winter ascent, repeated avalanche tragedies, and ambitious attempts on its huge southern walls.
Then came two events that transformed the way the mountain is remembered.
In 2015, ice, snow, and rock released from the Langtang Lirung area during Nepal’s devastating earthquake destroyed the village below.
In 2024, Marek Holeček and Ondrej Húserka finally climbed the long-unconquered east face, only for Húserka to die during the descent.
Few mountains illustrate the beauty, instability, human resilience, and enormous scale of the Himalayas as powerfully as Langtang Lirung.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How high is Langtang Lirung?
Modern Peakbagger and Himalayan Database figures place the summit at approximately 7,227 meters (23,711 feet). Other sources use elevations from 7,234 to 7,245 meters.
Where is Langtang Lirung?
It is located in Rasuwa District, Bagmati Province, Nepal, within Langtang National Park.
Is Langtang Lirung the highest mountain in the Langtang Himal?
Yes. It is the highest summit of the Langtang Himal.
Who first climbed Langtang Lirung?
Seishi Wada of Japan and Pemba Tsering Sherpa of Nepal completed the first ascent.
When was Langtang Lirung first climbed?
The first ascent was made on October 24, 1978.
What route did the first ascenders use?
They approached through the Lirung Glacier and climbed the east or northeast ridge.
When was Langtang Lirung first climbed in winter?
Mikołaj Czyżewski, Kazimierz Kiszka, and Adam Potoczek completed the first winter ascent on January 3, 1988.
Is Langtang Lirung an ultra-prominent mountain?
Yes. Its approximately 1,525 meters of prominence exceed the 1,500-meter threshold required for classification as an Ultra.
What happened at Langtang Lirung in 2015?
The April 25, 2015 Nepal earthquake triggered enormous avalanches and landslides from high slopes around Langtang Lirung. The debris destroyed Langtang village and killed more than 200 people in the valley.
Has the east face of Langtang Lirung been climbed?
Yes. Marek Holeček and Ondrej Húserka completed the first ascent of the east face on October 30, 2024.
What is the 2024 east-face route called?
Marek Holeček named the route Ondra’s Star in memory of Ondrej Húserka.
What happened to Ondrej Húserka?
He died after falling into a crevasse during the descent from the 2024 first ascent of the east face.
Can trekkers see Langtang Lirung?
Yes. The mountain dominates the Langtang Valley and is especially impressive from Langtang village, Kyanjin Gompa, Kyanjin Ri, and surrounding trekking routes.
Can Langtang Lirung still be climbed?
Yes, with appropriate Nepalese expedition authorization, but it is a highly technical and dangerous 7,000-meter mountain rather than a conventional commercial climbing peak.
🔗 Related Articles
- Shishapangma
- The Himalayas
- Highest Peaks of the Himalayas
- Mountains in Nepal: Highest Peaks, Himalayan Ranges, and Trekking Guide
📚 Sources
- Peakbagger — Langtang Lirung
- Himalayan Database — First Ascent Timeline
- American Alpine Club — Langtang Lirung East Ridge, 1978
- Himalayan Club — British Langtang Expedition and Climbing History
- American Alpine Club — Langtang Lirung Southeast Ridge
- Himalayan Club — Langtang Lirung Polish Winter Expedition
- American Alpine Club — Langtang Lirung South-Face Attempt
- American Alpine Club — Tomaž Humar Solo Attempt and Tragedy
- USGS — 2015 Nepal Earthquake-Induced Landslides and Langtang Debris Avalanche
- ICIMOD — Hazards of the Upper Langtang Valley
- Earth, Planets and Space — Landslides Triggered by the Gorkha Earthquake in Langtang Valley
- American Alpine Club — Langtang Lirung East Face, 2024
- Nepal Department of Tourism — Mountaineering in Nepal: Facts & Figures
- Nepal Tourism Board — Langtang National Park
- Langtang National Park — Official Website
