Pumori. The south ridge of Pumori (23,442 feet) was climbed by a Canadian team consisting of Tim Auger, Lloyd “Kiwi” Gallagher, George Homer, Chris Shank, Steve Sutton and me. The ridge is the continuation of the ridge above Gorak Shep, which includes the low summit of Qala Patar, the climax of most Everest treks. Base Camp was established on September 13. We followed the route pioneered by Japanese in April 1974 and French in April 1975. We set Camp I too low and had to put in a Camp One-and-a-Half on the obvious col behind Qala Patar before the steep bit. There were difficulties after this camp but we tried to avoid most of them and we did fix rope before we got to Camp II. Gallagher and Shank made Camp III while Auger and I descended to Base Camp, where Homer was suffering from the altitude and Sutton had a bad knee. Then Auger and I climbed back up some vertical snow tunnels to get to Camp III, a snow cave of seductive proportions. The next day, October 7, we got to the summit, Auger, Gallagher, Shank and I.

Ian Rowe, Alpine Club of Canada