On this day, 25.05.1955; British climbers Joe Brown and George Band made the first ascent of Kangchenjunga (8,586 m), the world’s third-highest mountain, during the 1955 British Kangchenjunga Expedition led by Charles Evans. In respect of local spiritual beliefs in Sikkim, the pair famously stopped just a few feet below the true summit rather than standing on the highest point, a tradition many climbers still honor today. Interestingly, Kangchenjunga was considered by many mountaineers of the era to be an even greater challenge than Everest itself. The expedition established six camps above Base Camp on the remote Yalung Face, relying on supplementary oxygen and crucial Sherpa support to overcome one of the Himalaya’s most feared peaks. The mountain remained unclimbed again for more than two decades, until the second ascent in 1977. The first ascent without supplementary oxygen did not come until 1979, achieved by Doug Scott, Peter Boardman, and Joe Tasker via a new route. Photo showing George Band on the summit of Kangchenjunga, 25.05.1955. ©: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).