All photos: John Gupta & Mountain Expeditions

It’s 70 years since Joe Brown became, along with George Band, the first Britons to climb above 8000m.

We’re following the expedition in real time over on our socials up until summit day on 25th May 1955 but to really understand how important the expedition was, we caught up with climber, mountaineer and Rab sponsored athlete Jon Gupta who ascended Kangchenjunga in 2022.

Jon took time out while acclimatising at Everest Basecamp during his current expedition to Lhotse to answer our questions…..

Q: Do you read up on previous expeditions to prepare for a trip?

Yes, I did as much research as I could. I watched any online/YouTube videos I could find (not many), and read any articles about the ascent (again not many good ones). I didn't know anyone who had previously been to Kanchenjunga so I couldn’t call anyone to chat about it. Overall I felt reasonability prepared but with still many unknowns.

Q: Did you take the same route as the 1955 expedition to the summit on your climb in 2022 and if so were there any visible signs of historic ascents?

I believe we went the same way, although I expect there are subtle difference from the exact first ascent - particularly around the rocky sections just below the summit. I didn’t come across any old socks or boots, but you do occasionally find an old tin can. It’s hard to date these but they look pretty old. There are often signs of previous expeditions with some old fixed rope, pitons and bits of tent, but again it’s very hard to say how old these bits would be too.

Q: You're a Rab sponsored athlete and have access to some of the best technical mountaineering clothing and equipment available, can you imagine doing the same ascent in the woollen, cotton and leather garments of the day?

Haha - this is a good question! I firmly believe that back in the 50’s they were much more hardcore than we are now, and could really suffer! I think climbing in the clothing and equipment they had would feel very, very different to the modern day equipment we use today. I can imagine doing it, and I would like to think I would still stand a good chance of summiting, but it certainly would have its challenges!

Q: Joe became the first person to lead a technically hard rock pitch above 8,000m and you will be perhaps climbing harder and for longer on your current Lhotse expedition. What is required to lead technical climbing moves at that altitude?

The expedition is called Exit Point at the moment but subject to change. Our hope is to climb a new route on Lhotse from 7500-8300m and find a suitable exit at ~8300m for Tim Howell to make the worlds first Wingsuit flight from above 8000m. The section between 8000-8300 looks very technical and is expected to be quite hard. We are taking as many super HD images as we can to get the best idea of what to expect and what sort of gear/rack we will need. In order to lead hard pitches at this altitude we need to be incredibly well acclimatised, and have excellent weather. We will be using oxygen for our this as we need Tim to be in the shape possible.

Q: In your film of ascending Kangchenjunga the weather conditions look near perfect, with modern weather forecasts so accurate today, could you imagine the climb without them?

Without excellent forecasting it is difficult to carefully plan your movements in the mountain - especially the summit attempts. I would expect that there would many more cases of frostbite and epics related to the weather! If you spend a lot of time in a place to do get to learn the rhythm of the mountain and weather it creates, but big weather systems would be scary if you didn't know they could be coming!

Q: In 1955 Charles Evans agreed with the Sikkimese leaders to leave the summit untouched in line with local beliefs of the time. Is the summit still untrodden?

This is still widely known today and we discussed this on our expedition. None of us stood on the true summit, and instead stopped about 2m before. I don’t know if everyone has always done this, it’s hard to say. It would be imaginable with the change of times that older beliefs may no longer be respected to the same level.

We’re wishing all of the Exit Point climbing, flying, filming and expedition team safe adventures on their world record attempt!

Get involved in our Kangchenjunga 8586 competition

Watch Jon's filmed ascent of Kangchenjunga

Jon Gupta owns and run’s Mountain Expeditions and is a Rab sponsored athlete. His wealth of mountain experience includes: organising and guiding the current record breaking 7 Summits Guinness World Record, Guiding 8000m peaks twelve times: Everest (South 2013, 2018, 2021, North 2017), Lhotse (2018, 2021), Makalu (2021, 2022), Kanchenjunga (2022), Dhaulagiri (2021), Manaslu (2021) and K2 (2021), 25+ Himalayan expeditions including 13 x summits of Ama Dablam, 7 x Island Peak, 2 x Lobuche, 2 x Mera Peak, Climbing 3 x 7000m peaks in 28 days in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, including the first British ski descent of Peak Lenin, successfully organising and guiding a rare winter ascent of Denali in Alaska, 35+ ascents of Kilimanjaro & 3 x Aconcagua, 14 x ascents of Elbrus, including 6 ski descents plus many other enjoyable expeditions to South America, Africa, Greenland and Central Asia.