Shrikailash. Our expedition from Bangalore comprised five men: B.G. Naganath, S. Sudhakar, K.V. Mohan, A.S. Ravindra and Mallik Arjuna and three women: Mala Honnatti, Dr. Shantha and me as leader. We established Base Camp on August 24 immediately after crossing the Thelu Nala. Four more camps were placed up the Raktavarna Glacier, the highest being put at 19,500 feet on September 2. To there the route had been mostly on moraine. It took almost seven hours on September 6 to get to Camp V at 21,000 feet, initially up the steep icefall and then across crevassed snow humps. On September 7, Sudhakar and high-altitude porter Tej Bahadur gained the summit (6932 meters, 22,745 feet) via the south face. On the 8th, Naganath, Tej Bahadur and I reached the top following the same route. The initial climb to the summit was on hard snow which gave way to soft snow. As we approached the summit, the steepness increased and was about 70° for a section about an hour from the top.

MissR.M. Ashavathy, Karnataka Mountaineering Association, India