Group photo of Russo, Marvell and Cornell at Mount Dickey. Photo courtesy of Alan Russo.
Jannu, or Kumbaharna (7,711m), returns to the spotlight: the Himalayan peak west of Kanchenjunga is actually the target of an American team of five climbers. A motivated and quality team that intends to climb in alpine style. These are the participants: Jackson Marvell, Alan Russo, Matt Cornell, Sam Hennessy and Mike Gardner.
The exact goals of the consortium are still unknown, as well as whether the five will split into two groups. It is possible that three of them will head to the North Face, while the other two will target Yannu East (7460m), which Sam Hennessy and Mike Gardner, along with Rob Smith, already attempted in 2019. Marvell and Russo have already made two attempts at Yannu’s North Face in 2021 and 2022, most recently with Matt Cornell.
The fivesome recently competed in Alaska, with a friendly competition for the 2022 Slovak Direct route record on Denali going viral. Marvell, Russo and Cornell completed it in 21 hours 35 minutes, and a couple of weeks later they were surpassed by Gardner, Hennessey and Rob Smith (17 hours 10 minutes).
North Wall of Jannu
Yannou’s north face, vertical and almost always in the shade, is a source of great attraction for many climbers. The route chosen by the Americans is the one discovered in 2004 by the Russian expedition “Golden Piolet” led by Alexander Odintsov. The summit was reached on May 26, 2004 by Alexander Ruchkin and Dmitry Pavlenko after a great team effort.
There are two other routes in the north of Yannu: a Japanese route from 1976 (which connects to the northeastern outskirts) and a controversial route that Tomo Chesen opened alpine style and alone in 1989.