Annapurna Solo Attempt. South Tyrolean Reinhard Patscheider hoped to make a solo ascent of Annapurna by the northwest face, which he knew from having been a member of Messner’s successful expedition on it in the spring of 1985; Patscheider did not get to the summit that year either. This year he got only to the foot of the face, where he placed a tent at 5200 meters on April 22. Heavy snowfall, winds and avalanching prevented him from ever sleeping in this tent. When he went back to it a week later, he found it ruined by an avalanche. He retreated immediately. His retreat was by paraglider, but after he had been airborne for only about a minute, the wind sent him to a crash landing at 5000 meters and gave him a dislocated shoulder. When he went back up after another snowstorm to retrieve his gear, a piton came loose on a short roped traverse and he fell 15 meters and bruised his back. (These were not his first accidents on the route; in 1985, he fell 600 meters and was lucky not to have been killed.) He says he will return sometime for another solo attempt on the same face.

Elizabeth Hawley