Tawoche Attempt. Mal Duff, Tony Brindle, Adrian Moore and I established Base Camp at 5000 meters at the foot of the east face of Tawoche on April 10. The original plan for our line on the east face had to be abandoned due to a lack of snow and ice; there was objective danger from rockfall. Instead, we made an attempt on the unclimbed east ridge to the left of the Seigneur route and the right of the “Japanese Couloir” route. On April 12 we made good progress to 5700 meters where Moore experienced altitude problems. He descended to Base Camp with Brindle without incident. Duff and I continued on loose ground to a good bivouac shelf at 5800 meters. It snowed heavily in the night. We progressed in threatening weather to a small bivouac ledge at 6100 meters. There remained 100 meters of difficult climbing to reach the summit plateau. It snowed heavily in the night again. On April 14, we traversed left, seeking to avoid awkward slab pitches covered with snow. As the weather was deteriorating, we abandoned the climb and abseiled off. Due to work commitments, we could not mount another attempt. The east face still provides a bold and challenging line of high technical difficulty.

Andrew Black, Scottish Mountaineering Club