Satopanth. On July 3 Franz Huber, Thomas Kürschner, Berndt Ritschel, Armin Siwy, Georg Welsch, our liaison officer Murthi and I with 16 porters reached Base Camp at Nandanban (14,450 feet). After a number of days of excursions over the debris-covered glacier, we felt well enough acclimatized to attempt Satopanth (7075 meters, 23,212 feet) alpine-style up its northeast ridge. We camped at 16,400, 18,050 and 19,200 feet. From there we climbed the sharp ridge and final slopes up the last 4000 feet to the summit. We had to plow through deep snow the whole way, nearly to our waists in the last part. After thirteen hours of breaking trail all six Germans reached the summit on July 15 with limited visibility. It took us a day and a half to descend. We were the sixth group to reach the top. A German, Heinz Hauer, made an illegal solo ascent in the post-monsoon period.

Thomas Strobl, Deutscher Alpenverein