Dhaulagiri South Face Attempt. Our 16-member team had 12 Poles, two Canadians and a Pole from both France and Australia. Our objective was the 4000-meter-high south face of Dhaulagiri. We established Base Camp at 3800 meters on September 16 and Advance Base at 4300 meters three days later. On September 21, Camp I was set on the lower part of the prominent buttress just to the left of the center of the face. The first part of the buttress forms a 1200-meter-high rock wall. We placed Camp II on its upper part at 5800 meters on October 4. The rock was of continuous difficulty up to UIAA Grade VI-. Part of it was so friable that a bolt hole could be made with a few blows. Above the rock wall the route ascended a 60° to 70° ice rib with passages of 85°. Camps III and IV were set up at 6100 and 7100 meters on October 20 and 26. We fixed 3200 meters of rope. The upper part of the buttress, climbed by Maciej Pawlikowski and me, had mixed pitches of UIAA V. Camp V at 7500 meters was established on October 30 by Maciej Berbeka and Mikolaj Czyzewski. The wind tore their tent apart that night. The next morning Berbeka climbed alone over easy snow to reach the southwest ridge, joining the Japanese route of 1978. Although the way to the summit was now without difficulties, the weather was bad and time had run out. We gave up and descended the same route. Base Camp was cleared on November 2.

Eugeniusz Chrobak, Klub Wysokogórski Kraków, Poland