M 8 and Attempt on Noshaq. Our expedition was composed of seven Italians, Dr. Silvano Castelnuovo, Luciano Gilardoni, Riccardo Soresini, Bruno De Angeli, Elio Scarabelli, Marco Zappa and me as leader, Captain Mohammad Niwaz of the Pakistani Army, four high-altitude porters, Ayat-u-Din, Wilet Cha, Ali Khan and Ali Mush, and 55 Chitrali porters. After leaving Chitral, we went through Kuragh, KilaDrashan, Shagrom,and up the Udren Gol, where after a nine-day approach we set up Base Camp at 15,750 feet. After two days for acclimatization, De Angeli made a solo first ascent of Marianne Zom (6390 meters or 20,965 feet; Wala peak 119) by its north face. Zappa, Soresini, Gilardoni and I made the first ascent of M 8 (6530 meters or 21,424 feet; Wala peak 128) by its south face. Our major objective was the north face of Noshaq (24,580 feet) on which we placed three camps and reached an altitude of 21,000 feet. After having got up a 1300-foot icefall, we were planning to continue when the monsoon, particularly impetuous this year, forced us to fall back in terrible weather and to leave behind three isothermic tents. We returned by the same route with 30 porters from Shagrom. Medical examinations with electro-cardiograms were carried out up to an altitude of 18,200 feet, which we believe has never been done before.

rino zocchi, Club Alpino Italiano