Dhaulagiri, Post-Monsoon Northeast Ridge Ascents and Attempts. A party of five Spaniards to the normal northeast ridge was led by Xavier González. On October 2, Jordi Corominas completed the 51st ascent of the peak. Japanese under the leadership of Hitoshi Onodera were also successful when on October 11 Toshihiya Nakajima, Koji Yokoyama and Keepa Sherpa reached the top. Haruyuki Endo and his wife Yuka Endo had hoped to lead their group of five Japanese up the east face of Dhaulagiri, but they had to give up the attempt at 5750 meters on October 3. They then turned to the northeast ridge, getting as high as 8000 meters on October 15. Two French expeditions failed; the group led by Roger Laot at 7800 meters on October 2 and those with Philippe Le Balch at 8130 meters on October 6. Six Poles and an Austrian were to have climbed under the leadership of Wanda Rutkiewicz, but she arrived too late and they had as deputy leader Piotr Malinowski. The climbers reached 7100 meters on October 15 and 28. A Spaniard, Antonio Martínez, headed for Dhaulagiri without permission from the Nepalese authorities. He was stopped before he had climbed very high by the government-appointed liaison officer with an authorized expedition and was taken to Kathmandu, where he was fined about $ 1,750.

Elizabeth Hawley