Taweche. Having left Kathmandu on March 30 by air for Lukla, we were in Base Camp (16,900 feet) on April 4, Camp I (18,050 feet) on April 5 and Camp II (19,850 feet) on April 12. On April 16 Paul Gendre, Louis DuBost, Jacques Brugirard, Jean Christian Michel and I climbed to the summit of Taweche (21,463 feet). (This very difficult peak has been unsuccessfully tried several times. In 1963 David Dornan and Tom Frost, Americans, New Zealander Jim Wilson and Sherpa Ang Temba got to within 200 feet of the top.—Editor.) The mixed ice and rock route was on the 4600-foot-high southeast face. After our ascent, the mountain was declared taboo. The Nepalese have refused to let any members of the expedition visit Nepal for from four to seven years and have fined us US $600.

Yannick Seigneur, Groupe de Haute Montagne