Shivling and Meru North Attempts and Tragedies. Two groups from Palencia left to climb in the Gangotri region of Garhwal together. Our party consisted of leader César Tomé Ondicol, Enrique Fernández, José Luis Becerra, Juan Antonio Ordoñez and me; we hoped to climb Shivling by the first-ascent route. The others were Myriam García, Jesús Buezo and Miguel Angel Lausín, who had as their objective Meru North. We all arrived at our Tapoban Base Camp at 4300 meters on May 2. In the next two days, those of us heading for Shivling set up an Advance Base at 4700 meters while the Meru expedition began to reconnoiter the new route they hoped to climb. Ordoñez was suddenly struck with an aneurism and died. His body and one of us were evacuated by helicopter and the rest of the Shivling party returned home to Palencia. A few days after our return, we received the sad news that the Meru party had all perished in a sérac fall and had been found at the base of Meru, where it was too dangerous to recover the bodies.

Emilio Vicente Lagunilla (TENTE), Club de Montaña Fuentes

Carrionas, Palencia, Spain