Gangapurna North Face. A small Slovene team reached the summit of Gangapuma (7455 meters, 24,457 feet) in the Annapurna Himal by the previously unclimbed north face. Rok Kolar and Stanko Mihev completed a three-day push on October 1. The other members of the expedition were Andrej Gradišnik, Edi Krebs and I as leader. Base Camp was established at 5200 meters on September 8 and an equipment dump was made at the foot of the face. Although without great technical difficulties, bad weather was the main problem. Since the monsoon lasted so long this year, there were only five good days out of the 30 spent at Base Camp. Because of avalanche danger, the lower 800 meters of the 1600-meter-high face were fixed with rope. On September 24, four members climbed to bivouac 950 meters up the face at 6800 meters. We were driven back by deteriorating weather. The final push started on September 29. After a bivouac at 6800 meters, Kolar and Mihev spent the next day in the tent waiting for better weather. On October 1, they ascended the 400-meter crux, the ramp, with passages of 65° to 75°. Difficult snow and ice led them to the ridge and the summit. They descended the same route, rappelling down the ramp.

Franc Pušnik, Planinska zveza Slovenije, Yugoslavia