Gasherbrum II Ascents and Attempts. As has been the case in past years, many climbers have been attracted to Gasherbrum II (8035 meters, 26,360 feet). Those noted here were on the standard route. From a six-man German expedition led by Rollo Steffens, Günther Schmieder, Jan Pracker and Heinz Wittmann summited on July 18, followed on July 20 by leader Steffens and Sepp Has- holzner, who at 60 years of age is the oldest person to have climbed Gasherbrum II. A six- member Mexican expedition was led by Antonio Cortés. Isabel García suffered from high-altitude edema and had to be helped down to Base Camp. On July 18, the summit was reached by Rogerio González, Lucio Cárdenas, Alejandro Velázquez and Germán Figueroa. A Spanish Catalán expedition was composed of leader Joan Oliva, Agustí Boada, Roger Cortés, Carles González, Carles Sánchez, Emili Durán, Manuel Benavent, Manuel Miranda and José-Carlos Recio. They were joined for permit reasons by Italians Giulio Beggio and Valentina Lauthiers, but this pair acted independently. On July 18, the two Italians reached the summit; Signora Lauthiers was the 21st woman to have climbed Gasherbrum II. On July 23, Benavent, Miranda and Recio also climbed to the top. An eight-member Bulgarian expedition led by Minko Zankovski included one woman. The summit was reached on July 23 by Gospodin Dinev and Radko Rachev. A Japanese expedition led by Tadakiyo Sakahara had so many difficulties during the approach that they decided to turn elsewhere on arrival at Concordia. [See below.] A Spanish expedition from Valencia composed of Joan Agulló, Vicente García, José-Antonio Alejo and Dr. Carlos Sanchís suffered bad weather and failed at the end of September.

Xavier Eguskitza, Pyrenaica, Bilbao, Spain