Annapurna I Attempt. For ten weeks from mid-March to the end of May we were on Annapurna. We were Siegfried Siebauer, leader, Günther Schnait, Erwin Beyerlein, Dr. Bernhard Einzinger, Heinz Herbert Güntner, Gerhard Kern, Karl Heinz Kimer, Jürgen Kühn, Alfred Lechleitner, Heinz Riess, Dieter Sause, Jürgen Schenk, Otto Umlauft and I. We cooperated with Hanns Schell’s Austrian group. We planned to climb without oxygen and without Sherpas. At first we hoped to climb the Dutch Rib but avalanches urged us to look for a safer route and we turned to a route on the séracs of the northeast buttress, up the 1975 route of the Spaniards who climbed Annapurna East. This led to a ramp on the north slope and to the summit of Annapurna I. We fixed 3500 feet of rope between the séracs. Camp III was placed at 20,675 feet below the ramp in a crevasse. Camp IV was established up the ramp at 22,475 feet in a snow cave and Camp V at 23,800 feet. On May 6 Beyerlein, Lechleitner, Kirner and Güntner were at Camp V, hoping for the summit. Five more of us were at Camp IV. The top four struggled to 25,925 feet after a late start, delayed by the weather, but had to turn back. We all spent three more days waiting, but the weather stayed bad and we had to give up.

Herbert Ziegenhardt. Deutscher Alpenverein