Lobuje West. Yuji Kamakura, Yoshihiro Taguchi, Mrs. Akiko Kanazawa, Miss Keiko Nishihira, Dr. Ken Kanazawa and I settled Base Camp on September 16 on the Lobuje Glacier at 5000 meters. Within a week we made a route in the labyrinth of a huge icefall, using 1000 meters of fixed rope. The icefall completely hid the upper glacial basin and the couloir which led to the summit ridge. On September 26 Kamakura and Tuguchi left Base Camp and entered the camp which had been pitched in the basin at 5650 meters the day before. The next day they climbed the slope to the 60° couloir. In the lower part, they climbed the left side of the couloir for 300 meters and then traversed to the right and climbed another 120 meters. After a few pitches, they reached the rock wall below the summit ridge, where they bivouacked. On September 28 they continued up the wall and snow to reach the summit (6145 meters, 20,160 feet) at 10:15 A.M. The summit was a sharply knife-edged point. It seems likely that Fred Beckey and party in 1955 climbed the east peak of Lobuje East and so ours may have been the first ascent.

Tamotsu Ohnishi, Osaka Alpine Club, Japan