Annapurna Dakshin Winter Attempt. A seven-man Japanese expedition led by Masami Yamagata hoped to climb the south face of Annapurna Dakshin (South). They tried the south face for only one day. Because a huge avalanche came crashing down the face, they switched to the southwest ridge. There they fixed 3000 meters of rope, but they abandoned the climb at 5880 meters on December 21 when they had exhausted their supply of rope. They estimated that they needed 3000 more meters because of the numerous big rock pinnacles they had to go up, over and down. The highest point was reached by leader Yamagata and Hideo Tateno. They had three camps above Base Camp.

Michael J. Cheney, Himalayan Club, and Elizabeth Hawley