The Crown (Huang Guan Shan) Attempt. Our 14-man expedition was composed of Y. Hirose, N. Kondo, R. Tateyama, H. Shimizu, N. Shimizu, M. Ochiai, M. Hoshino, R. Okamoto, K. Uchiyama, T. Sakurai, T. Yamamoto, T. Mizuno, J. Tayama and me as leader. We had permission to try the Crown (7292 meters, 23,924 feet), 15 miles northwest of K2, and Chiring (7090 meters, 23,262 feet). On July 18, we arrived with camels at Base Camp at 3900 meters near the end of the Skamri Glacier via the Aghil Pass and Skaksgam River from Mazan-Dara. Advance Base was established on July 21 at 4410 meters near the junction of the Skamri and Crown Glaciers and Camp I on July 29 at 5100 meters below the southeast ridge of the Crown. We climbed a steep rock band and a snow face to Camp II on the ridge at 5800 meters and to Camp III at 6500 meters. Camp III was made on August 17. We then traversed for 200 meters on the steep snow east face and climbed 500 meters directly upward to 7000 meters. An A-shaped rock wall rises for 100 meters from there. We tried a chimney but could not complete it because of dangerous conditions. Our highest point of 7050 meters was reached on August 23. After that, Captain Henry Morgan and a British team of six came to our Base Camp on September 1. Morgan’s subsequent letter to me says that they also could not get to the summit for lack of time. They got to within 75 meters of the top. We could not try Chiring because we had no time.

Ryozo Yamamoto, Academic Alpine Club of Shizuoka, Japan