Aconcagua, South Face. The Tokyo Midori (Green) Alpine Club Expedition was led by Minoru Tatsuta and had as members Toshi Aoki, Masanori Nozaki, Takesaburo Ohashi and Naoyoshi Masuyama. From January 8 to 10 they travelled from Puente del Inca to the foot of Aconcagua’s south wall in the lower Horcones valley. At their 13,800-foot Base Camp they were astonished to find that 40% of their equipment was missing; it required some days to fill the shortage. On January 20 they began the French route. Camp I (16,750 feet) was established on January 24 between the central couloir and the lower glacier, Camp II (19,000 feet) on the 30th at the left end of the middle glacier, Camp III (20,650 feet) on February 2 at the right end of the upper glacier. On February 10 Aoki, Masuyama, Nozaki and Ohashi left Camp III with four days’ provisions. At 21,650 feet they found the bivouac site of the previous year’s Japanese party and bivouacked at 22,000 feet. On the 11th they reached the east ridge at 1:30 and the summit at three P.M. Descent was by the normal north-face route.

Ichiro Yoshizawa, Japanese Alpine Club