Annapurna 11 Attempt. The aim of the expedition was to make the fourth ascent of the mountain, but doing it alpine-style with a team of three, Alan and Adrian Burgess and me. After a nine-day walk-in, we arrived at 11,500 feet, where our Base Camp was set up. The next three weeks were spent acclimatizing. We surveyed the north face, looking for a more direct route to the summit. The idea was crushed when one morning we witnessed the largest avalanche any of us had ever seen sweep the line of our proposed ascent, destroying Camp I. (We had been at Advance Base.) We then changed our line of attack to the route by which the mountain had first been climbed. On October 6 we began our ascent with fifteen days of food and fuel. After ten days, often harrassed by high winds and new snow, we had got to over 21,000 feet. Alan had been weakened by a severe stomach and bowel infection and decided not to go higher. On October 18 Adrian and I left camp at five A.M. on a bid for the summit. At eleven o’clock we were at 23,500 feet but had to turn back in the face of terrible winds. On October 20 we began our journey back to Kathmandu.

Paul Moores, Alpine Climbing Group