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The mountain known as Varaha Shikhar in Nepal and Annapurna Fang or simply Fang internationally is a seldom-climbed peak in the Annapurna mountain range. It sits just southwest of Annapurna I Main, and forms the western anchor of the range.

Features
Along with Annapurna South, which it connects to via its pinnacled Southeast Ridge, the Fang comprises the Western wall of the Annapurna Sanctuary. Despite its modest prominence, its three faces-- Northwest, East and Southwest-- possess tremendous vertical relief over surrounding terrain.

The Southwest Face of the Fang, still unclimbed to the top, is believed to be one of the tallest mountain walls on Earth. Sepp Mayerl, whose team climbed part of the face to the West Ridge during the first ascent, estimated the height of the wall at some 4877 m.

Hazards
The peak is an extreme climb even by the standards of the range, with numerous dangers such as steep walls, rockfall and avalanche danger, frigid temperatures, frequent storms and risk of lightning strikes. It has seen just six ascents and three deaths in the attempt, with a resulting fatality-to-summit rate of 50%, the worst of all Annapurna peaks.

Climbing history
In 1979, the first attempt by an Austrian team to climb the West Ridge ended when Herbert Obernosterer fell 2,000 meters to his death. A porter on an Italian expedition of the peak died later that same year. The surviving members of the Austrian expedition returned the next year and successfully summited via the same ridge.

In 1984, Wesley Krause and Scott Fischer reached 7315 meters before being forced to descend.

In the winter of 1997, Kazakh Russian mountaineers Anatoli Boukreev and Dmitri Sobelev died in an avalanche on the East Face of the Fang. They were not attempting to summit the peak, but use its connecting ridge to traverse to Annapurna after snow conditions on the larger peak became impassable. Third member Simone Moro fell 800 meters but managed to survive.

The Fang was not successfully summited again until 2007, by a Korean team.