Annapurna II Tragedy. Our expedition, Kozo Sakai, Norio Nakanishi, Nobuhiko Arita, Tuneo Kondo, Hiroshi Okazoe, Takayuki Asada, Ky- oichi Ichikawa, Dr. Yoshiyasu Sawai and I as leader, hoped to climb a new route on the south face of Annapurna II. We set up camps as follows: Base Camp, Deposit Camp, Advanced Base Camp, Camps I, II, III, IV and V at 8500, 11,150, 13,125, 15,425, 17,400, 19,000, 21,000, and 23,250 feet on September 4, 8, 11, 16, 20, 23, October 1 and 9 respectively. On October 10 Arita and Okazoe prepared the route to 24,125 feet and descended to Camp IV. On the 11th Asada, Kondo and Ichikawa set out with bivouac gear. At 24,275 feet (7400 meters) Ichikawa slipped, fell 1500 feet and was instantly killed. The expedition was abandoned.

Nobuo Kuwahara, Japanese Alpine Club