Churen Himal, Central Summit. Our team consisted of Christopher Burt, Henry Chaplin and Roger Pyves and me as leader, as well as Sherpas Ang Jangbo and Lkakpa Gyalu. We completed the third ascent of the central summit of Churen Himal. There are three summits, all of which are given as having an altitude of 7371 meters (24,184 feet). Our 12-day walk to Base Camp started from Pokhara. We followed the Kali Gandaki north to Beni, where we branched off up the Myagdi Khola through Darbang. We proceeded through Sibang and Lulang over an 11,000-foot pass to Gurjakhani and finally up the Kaphe Khola to Base Camp, which we reached on October 1. From there we followed the Japanese first-ascent route on the southeast face. We established Advance Base on the Kaphe Glacier at 15,600 feet and Camp I at 16,700 feet. It took several days to fix rope up the wall above, but by October 10 we had Camp II at 19,200 feet on a spur of Ghustang North. Camp III was placed at 20,300 feet on the airy crest of a small ridge in front of the south face of Dhaulagiri VI. From Camp III we crossed a heavily crevassed bowl under the long ridge joining Churen’s east peak to Dhaulagiri VI. A lower ramp led to a broad ridge and the central peak. Camps IV and V were established at 21,600 and 22,400 feet on October 19 and 25. On October 26, Burt and Sherpas Ang Jangbo and Lhakpa Gyalu were on the summit at 12:25 P.M. After an eternity of breaking through the crust and a delicate 50-yard traverse, Chaplin, Pyves and I got there a little later.

Chuck Evans, England