Nuptse, Joint Attempt by the Left Buttress of the Central Part of the South Face. Our expedition was composed of Italians Kurt Walde, Alberto Guelpa and me. On April 14, we placed Base Camp on the Lhotse Nup Glacier. The next day, four Canadians set up camp next to ours. We all had the same objective; the route attempted in 1986 by Jeff Lowe and Marc Twight. A few days later, our group headed for Camp II on the normal Everest route both for acclimatization and to scan the 1961 British route on Nuptse, which we hoped to use on the descent. The Canadians also spent some days acclimatizing. In early May, we were all back in Base Camp, but two Canadians and Guelpa had to withdraw for health reasons. That left Canadians Jim Elzinga, Peter Abril, Kurt Walde and me, who joined forces. Starting on May 7, it took us seven days of very difficult climbing to reach the top of the buttress at 6917 meters. The weather was clear and cold on the first four days and unstable during the last three. We bivouacked at 5600, 6100, 6300, 6550, 6750 and twice at 6900 meters. On the eighth day, we were holed up in an ice cave at 6900 meters. On the evening of May 15, Peter and Jim headed up for the summit of Nuptse. Kurt had a badly infected throat and possibly frostbitten feet. We two began the descent of the 1961 British route. The Canadians had meanwhile gained 200 meters more, but they too began the descent. With another bivouac at 6100 meters on the descent we got down. The Canadians returned the next day.

Enrico Rosso, Club Alpino Italiano