Saser Kangri II. The joint Indo-Japanese expedition, led by Major Hukam Singh and me, had 13 Indian and five Japanese members. After an approach from Pinchimik in the Nubra valley up the west side of the Saser group, on August 6 we established Base Camp at the snout of the Sakang Glacier at 4800 meters. Five higher camps were made above Base Camp. Advance Base, Camps I and II were set up on the Sakang Glacier at 5400, 5700 and 5900 meters. Above Camp II the team fixed 2400 meters of rope up the nearly vertical rock and mixed face to establish Camps III and IV at 6450 and 6650 meters on the crest of the northwest ridge on August 24 and 27. On August 30 Tsering Angchuk fell 100 meters onto a rock ledge between Camps III and IV and was killed. The team prepared for a summit try on September 3 but the weather became hostile and six Indians and three Japanese had to remain in Camp IV for five days. When the weather cleared on September 7, six members left Camp IV at six A.M. After a struggle of 11½hours, Phu Dorjee, Sonam Wangdu, Tshering Smanla and Sherup Chholdon reached the summit (7518 meters, 24,666 feet). Two other members, Masato Okamoto and Prahlad Singh, had to turn back 300 meters short of the summit. Saser Kangri II has two summits for which the same altitude is given; the ridge between the two summits is about a kilometer long. Our team reached the West Summit. The other Indian members were Dr. C.R. Pattaynayak, Chait Singh Kutiyal, Nima Dorjee, C.K. Tyagi, Piar Singh and Daulat Ram and the other Japanese were Tadao Ando, Kazuo Tokushima and Kaname Minemoto.

Masato Oki, Himalayan Association of Japan