Ama Dablam Attempt. The following participated in our expedition: Ted Brittsan, Ben De Han, Carl Root, Barbara Rumer, Michael Trotter, Dorothy Landeen and I as leader. Following 12 days of acclimatization, which took us from Lukla to Kala Patar and back to Pangboche, we established Base Camp on April 4 near Mingbo at 15,000 feet. The absence of water above Mingbo, the result of an extremely dry winter, forced the low Base Camp. We established Advanced Base at 16,000 feet to facilitate the move to Camp I at the apex of the lower southwest ridge. For four days we moved loads to Camp I at 19,000 feet which Trotter and Root occupied on April 9. On April 10, 12 inches of snow fell at Advanced Base, which doubled the time between there and Camp I to eight hours. The remaining team members each carried a final load and occupied Camp I on April 11 and 12. The serrated ridge narrows and steepens abruptly above Camp I and its snow-covered condition required fixing 600 feet of rope. Establishing Camp II was further stalled by daily snowfalls. Trotter and Brittsan reached Camp II at 19,700 feet on April 17 and the first loads were carried by the others on April 18. On April 19, following much discussion, we all agreed that with the prevailing weather pattern it would not be possible to complete the route with our food, fuel and time limitations. On April 20 we vacated Camp II and cleaned as much as possible of our route. The high point was about 350 feet above Camp II. Bad weather continued. By the time we reached Lukla on April 24, a steady, gray pre-monsoon rain had settled in.

James Eisenhard Unaffiliated