Cho Oyu and Shisha Pangma Central (West) Summit. Our expedition was composed of leader Benoît Chamoux, Frédéric Valet, Yves Detry, Pierre Royer, French, Mauro Rossi, Italian, Josef Rokoncaj, Czechoslovakian and me, British. All seven climbers were together on the summit of Cho Oyu on April 30 and twelve days later, on May 12, were all on the top of the central (not the highest) summit of Shisha Pangma. On Cho Oyu we climbed the normal route with camps at 6500 and 7100 meters. These were set up on “acclimatization sorties.” On Shisha Pangma, we climbed a new line left of the one Steve Untch and I did in 1987. We arrived at 5900-meter Shisha Pangma Base Camp on May 10. On May 11, we moved to camp at 7000 meters below the north face, where we rested until 1:30 A.M. on May 12. We climbed an 800-meter gully on the north face to reach the central (or west) summit at 1:30 P.M. [To have reached the main summit via the connecting ridge would have required another two hours. — Editor.]

Alan Hinkes, Alpine Climbing Group