Gasherbrum II. After leaving Bongla on July 1 with 60 Balti porters, we finally set up Base Camp at 16,900 feet on the South Gasherbrum Glacier on July 11. Camps I and II were on the same glacier at 18,500 and 19,675 feet, the latter at the foot of the southwest ridge of Gasherbrum II. We fixed rope on the 45° to 50° slopes of the ridge to reach Camp III at 21,325 feet. The route to Camp IV followed the ridge to a small 23,000-foot basin at the foot of the spur that leads to the summit pyramid. On August 2 at 2:30 P.M. Pere Aymerich and Enric Font, along with the Japanese Hideo Sato, Kenji Imada and Masaaki Fukushima, reached the summit (8035 meters, 26,360 feet) after a precarious bivouac at 24,450 feet. On August 3 Luis Gómez, Antonio Torá and I made a second attempt but a quick change of weather drove us back. Dr. Antoni Ricart also accompanied us.

Conrad Blanch, Centre Excursionista de Catalunya, Spain