First ascent of Kimshung in Nepal by François Cazzanelli, Beppe Vidoni, Lukas Waldner, Benjamin Zörer

On the 20th of October 2025, the Italian alpinists François Cazzanelli and Giuseppe Vidoni, together with the Austrians Lukas Waldner and Benjamin Zörer, completed the first ascent of Kimshung (6,781 m) in Nepal. Also known as Tsangbu Ri, this magnificent peak is located in the Langtang Valley and had been attempted several times in the past, including by Cazzanelli and Vidoni themselves, who last year reached 6,500 m on the northeast face together with teammates Francesco Ratti and Stefano Stradelli.

Throughout 2025, Cazzanelli and Vidoni trained intensively for this virgin summit, and shortly before departure they learned that Waldner and Zörer were also eyeing the same objective. Upon arriving in Nepal and after an initial acclimatisation phase, the four decided to join forces. On the 19th of October they set out from base camp, bivouacked at the foot of the Kimshung Glacier at 5,450 meters, and the next morning started their up the 1,300-meter route. They climbed past the previous highpoint and, thanks to excellent conditions, reached the summit at 12:30 p.m., before carefully descending and returning to basecamp at 7:00 p.m.

The new route, named Destiny (60°, AI4, M5), was achieved after nearly ten years of courtship and represents, for Cazzanelli at least, the completion of an intense project.

First of all, congratulations François. How do you feel after reaching this goal?
Reaching the summit of Kimshung is a dream I’ve been nurturing for ten years now. I’ve experienced many adventures on this mountain — some beautiful, some difficult — and I can finally say that I feel the loop has been closed.

This success came on your fourth attempt…
The fourth attempt, or rather the third one in which I actually climbed. We travelled to Nepal in 2015 to make our first attempt, but we never even started climbing because we stopped to assist after the terrible earthquake.

And what about the second attempt?
The second attempt was in 2016, together with Giampaolo Corona and Emrik Favre. We tried to climb the west face — it was a beautiful attempt, but we bailed at around 6,400 meters because of strong winds. It sounds like we got fairly high, but now that I know the mountain better, I realise that all the hardest part was still above us. In any case, while waiting for another weather window, Emrik had to leave us for work reasons. Giampaolo and I stayed on for another ten days and tried again. During that attempt, however, I had an accident — I was hit by falling rocks while we were climbing unroped. Fortunately, I managed to hang on to my ice tools, but I seriously injured my arm. Giampaolo helped me descend all the way to base camp, 18 rappels in total. I owe him my life. Once we got down, a helicopter flew me to a hospital in Kathmandu, where I underwent emergency surgery.

After that accident, it took you a while to return to Kimshung…
At first, I wanted nothing to do with this mountain and took a long break. In 2022, after I’d climbed K2 and Giampaolo had climbed Annapurna, we'd wanted to try the mountain again, but fate decided otherwise. In 2024, we organised another expedition with trusted friends, and even though we had moved to the northeast face, our first attempt once again ground to a halt due to high winds at around 6,500 m. The northeast face had already been attempted by other expeditions, and we opted for this side of the mountain because the west face seemed too dangerous. We were about to make a second attempt, but just when we were ready, we received a rescue call for Ondrej Húserka on Langtang Lirung, and it felt natural to try to help them.

And then came this year’s attempt, with Beppe Vidoni, one of the strongest Italian alpinists, in my opinion. We prepared for a year and decided to try the northeast face once again.

But you ended up as a team of four.
Yes, we were surprised to find out that two Austrian climbers, Benjamin Zörer and Lukas Waldner, also wanted to attempt the mountain. I'd actually already found this out at home through the Himalayan Database, and when we met there, we saw that they were young and well-prepared. After acclimatising separately, we decided to join forces. We thought we could learn something from their enthusiasm, or maybe pass on some of our experience to them. On the mountain, we helped each other, and apart from the summit, we've all returned home with a beautiful new friendship.

Tell us a bit more about the route.
What I can say is that over the years I’ve learned that Kimshung is a very complex and unique mountain. It’s extremely vertical, with no easy face. Its position on the border with the Tibetan Plateau makes it very exposed to the winds, which can last for several days and drastically change snow and ice conditions.

I’d say we got lucky this time round. For the first time ever, we encountered a long spell of good, stable weather with exceptional conditions. Between the 19th and 20th of October there was no wind; the nights were cold, but during the day it was warm. We said to ourselves, "Now or never," and I must say, we played our cards well.

Was there anything about the route that struck you in particular?
Definitely the part closest to the summit. It was packed with snow, and it was impossible to place protection. That section was really demanding and dangerous. We simul-climbed, using snow pickets for protection, but we never once thought about testing how solid they were. It was one of those rare times when, to reach the top, I really had to think carefully about where to place my feet. The descent was also tricky. After downclimbing that crux section, we made twelve abseils, all of which we had to equip ourselves.

You were back at base camp by 7 p.m.?
Yes. We left base camp on the 19th of October and bivied at about 5,450m. The next day we woke up at 1:30 a.m. and started at 3:00 a.m. We reached the summit on the 20th of October at 12:30 p.m. and were back at base camp at 7:00 p.m.

Where your other expedition members were waiting for you
Yes, and on that note, I’d like to give a special mention to the rest of the team - Roger Bovard, Marco Camandona, Etienne Janin, and Stefano Stradelli. They dared to dream of the unclimbed northeast ridge of Yansa Tsenji (6,567 m). They didn’t make it, but they all gave it their best. Nice work boys!

Last question, François: how would you rate this route in terms of difficulty, beauty and overal satisfaction?
A route like this is hard to rate. The individual pitches are never extreme, the challenge lies in the overall level of commitment. It’s undoubtedly a demanding climb. As for satisfaction, I’d say this time it’s completely different from all my previous climbs. I’ve never had to "court" something for so long — not even my partner! I confess it's taken me a while to process the ascent, also because it truly marks the closing of a circle and the end of a ten-year journey.