Shisha Pangma Central Summit and Cho Oyu. Our expedition left Kathmandu on August 29, hoping to climb both peaks by the normal routes and to film the ascents for Spanish television. We were Juanjo San Sebastián, Antonio Trabado, Ramón Portilla, Atxo Apellániz, José Carlos Tamayo, camerman Antonio Perezgrueso and I as leader. We got to Chinese Base Camp and real Base Camp for Shisha Pangma at 4900 and 5500 meters on September 1 and 7. We established Camps I, II and III at 6300, 6900 and 7300 meters on September 9, 14 and 20. A period of bad weather followed, but on September 28 we left Base Camp and got to Camp III the next day, where we joined a French team. On September 30, San Sebastián, Trabado, Apellaniz and Tamayo climbed to the central summit of Shisha Pangma with Frenchmen LeHir, Lombard and Benoît. All used skis to 7000 meters on both the ascent and descent. On October 7, we left Base Camp for Tingri and on the 8th were at the Cho Oyu Base Camp at 4800 meters. We got to Advance Base on the Nangpa La at 5500 meters on October 11. We planned to climb Cho Oyu without fixed camps. We arrived at 6200 meters on the 13th but because of bad weather returned to Base Camp. San Sebastián, Trabado, Portilla and Apellániz bivouacked at 6800 and 7400 meters on October 17 and 18 and on the 19th climbed to the summit with much wind and cold. This was the second ascent of the peak for Apellániz. All four suffered some frostbitten noses, toes and fingers.

Sebastián Alvaro, Televisión Española, Madrid, Spain