Brammah’s Wife Attempt. Our expedition was composed of Richard Hester, Hugh Thornbery, Don Mabbs, Chris Parkin, Peter Blackburn and me as leader. We wanted to climb Brammah’s Wife (17,973 feet) and the Eiger (18,088 feet) alpine-style without fixed rope or camps on the mountain. Our arrival in late August at Base Camp in the Nanth Nala beside the Brammah Glacier at 12,000 feet coincided with the deterioration of the weather. Decreasing temperatures and daily storms resulted in three unsuccessful attempts on Brammah’s Wife by Thornbery and Mabbs, who also suffered some frostbite. Nester and I climbed to the west col (16,000 feet) in two days before the first winter storm broke and trapped us. A lull on the fourth day before dawn enabled us to attempt the seemingly easy snow slope to the summit. At first light we were faced with 500 feet of steep slabs covered with ice and fresh snow. This gave very hard, steep mixed climbing. The storm reappeared before we had made it to the top on September 17. We descended through heavy snow. Winter had arrived and so we left without attempting the Eiger.

Anthony Wheaton, England