Kangchenjunga Climbers Stop Below Summit

Kangchenjunga was considered the world's tallest mountain until calculations based on an 1849 survey revealed that Everest stood higher. On May 25, 1955, British mountaineers Joe Brown and George Band made the first ascent of the sacred peak in the Himalayas but stopped just below its true summit. They honored a promise to Tashi Namgyal, the Chogyal of Sikkim, that the mountaintop would remain untouched, establishing a tradition that later climbers have generally continued.

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