Everest Attempt. Ours was not a successful attempt. Indeed snow conditions were such that we didn’t even get close. The members were Bruce Farmer, Dick Price, Mike Rheinberger, Peter Allan, Warwick Anderson, Mike Perry, Graeme Dingle, Shaun Norman, Rob Blackboume, Hugh Van Noorden, Steve Bruce, Ross Cullen, Mike Andrews and I as leader. We arrived during the monsoon, establishing Base Camp on August 5. We made Camp I under Changtse and crossed the Rongbuk to fix rope on the spur leading to the west ridge. Things went well and by September 3 we had placed Camp III 300 meters below the crest of the spur. The weather changed and slab avalanches became prevalent, burying Camp III. Two buried members were luckily dug out. We decided not to continue on the west ridge because of avalanche danger and then tried the north face with a new approach to the Great Couloir. Again we established Camp III but again we were avalanched off. A final attempt was made on the north ridge. We climbed to the latter after an avalanche had swept the couloir to the North Col before it snowed again. However, it snowed the following day. After sitting out the storm, the team descended because of snow conditions and a lack of time. There was no calm post-monsoon period this year and very heavy snowfall.

Austin Brookes, New Zealand Alpine Club