Veikka Gustafsson in the Himalayan

Although the weather conditions were difficult as there were snow showers nearly every day during the climb Veikka could rely on his Suunto Vector to tell him the accurate barometric pressure.

On an expedition lasting almost two months Veikka together with his three climbing partners, Japanese Hirotaka Takeuchi, German Ralf Dujmovits and Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner (who is the number 1 female climber in the world!), reached the peak of the Kanchenjunga Mountain in extreme conditions.
It was the 11th time Veikka reached the top of a mountain higher than 8000 meters (26250 feet). "Surprisingly, everything went according to plan, which itself was unrealistically optimistic" says Veikka.

Kanchenjunga is one of the world's most spectacular and massive mountains. It has the world's third highest peak at 8586 meters (28169 feet), surrounded by three territories: Sikkim in the South and East, Nepal in the West, and Tibet in the North.
The expedition was started in Katmandu in Nepal, ascending the South Face of the Mountain. In the beginning the climbers had as much as 70 carriers with them, but as soon as snow came along most of them seemed to disappear. With the help of only 14 carriers they pitched their base camp at 5250 meters (17224 feet) from which point on they were on their own. On the way the climbers were robbed by locals. Luckily Veikka got a receipt, which prevented further robberies to happen!

From the base camp they were able to prepare the route little by little by pitching altogether three camps for the final climb to the summit. After the few weeks' preparation when Veikka and his climbing partners were acclimatized and the weather was favorable it was time to head for the peak.
Waking up in the small hours to the alarm of his Suunto Vector, Veikka was ready for the final climb.
After four days of climbing, Veikka and the other climbers finally reached the summit on Mothers day, May the 14th. "We honored the old belief that the peak of the mountain is sacred and left a two meters distance to the actual summit."Up on the summit things started to get critical as the climbers were running out of time as it was getting dark. Also the barometric pressure was dropping and Veikka knew the weather was about to get worse. Luckily after a day they found their way back to the base camp feeling exhausted, but lucky.

What made this journey very special for Veikka was that the South Face of the mountain was previously unknown for him.
In fact Kanchenjunga is one of the most rarely climbed mountains in the world. "It is nothing like the Mt. Everest for example, where you can even see people reach the summit and get naked" according to Veikka. At the top of Kanchenjunga Mountain you are literally alone.