The first ascent of Kanchenjunga was made in 1955.
Joe Brown and George Band reached the summit ridge on 25 May 1955 as members of the British Kangchenjunga expedition, led by Charles Evans. Norman Hardie and Tony Streather completed the second ascent the following day.
The climbers deliberately stopped about five feet below the true summit. Kangchenjunga is sacred to communities in Nepal and Sikkim, and the expedition had promised Sikkim's Chogyal, Tashi Namgyal, that the summit itself would remain inviolate. This is why some accounts describe the climb as a first ascent even though nobody physically stood on the highest point.
The mountain rises to 8,586 metres on the Nepal–India border and is the world's third-highest peak, behind Everest and K2. Earlier expeditions had attempted the mountain, including Aleister Crowley's 1905 expedition, but severe avalanche danger and difficult icefalls defeated them. A common mix-up is confusing the 1955 first ascent with the 1954 reconnaissance expedition, which helped identify possible routes but did not reach the summit.