Gorichen, Kameng District, 1989. The team under my command consisted of 20 officers and men from the Assam Rifles and Phurba Sherpa from the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. After extensive training and acclimatization, we reached Base Camp at Chokrasan on October 2, 1989. On the 3rd, we established Advance Base below Point 5806. On October 4, a party led by Naik Sonam Lepcha established Camp I just beyond Point 6247. On October 5, Naiks Sonam Lepcha and Ganju Sherpa, Phurba Sherpa, Lance Naik Shiv Kumar and Rifleman Shurpa Dondup climbed the southeast ridge to the summit of Gorichen (6488 meters, 21,287 feet). Nb Sub R.B. Ghale and four others were sent as a “back-up” party along the same route. Unfortunately, as they were climbing over Point 6247, they slipped and fell 300 feet, suffering two casualties. Evacuation was a more hazardous task than climbing the peak. All went well and the injured were evacuated to Base Camp in seven hours and the next day by helicopter to Tezpur Military Hospital. After the accident, two riflemen, both named Tshering Mompa, continued on to the summit, which they reached at 1:30 P.M., two hours after the other group. [Gorichen, which apparently lies three kilometers south of the Tibetan border, was previously climbed in 1966 by Indians led by T. Haralu and J.C. Joshi.—Editor.]

N. Sherpa, Commandant, Assam Rifles, Indian Army