Manda, Gangotri Region. Our team members were James Balog, leader, David Sweet, Mark Udall and I. With the help of 15 porters, on May 12 we established Base Camp on a small alp below the Manda Bamak (glacier) at 14,000 feet. After acclimatization and setting up an Advanced Base at 16,500 feet, Sweet, Udall and I made an alpine- style attempt up the line of least resistance on the massive northeast face above the Manda Bamak. All of us were hit by rockfall and chunks of ice. We climbed for three days and reached the ridge that topped the face at 20,200 feet still some 1150 feet below the 21,360- foot (6510-meter) summit. We abandoned our efforts due to an oncoming storm, lack of sheltered bivouac sites and fear of a snow build-up on the lower face. The climbing was almost entirely on ice, up to perpendicular, but mostly 55° to 70°.

Anthony Herr