Everest Summer Attempts. The North Col attempt by John Roskelley and me was unsuccessful. Although healthy and well acclimatized, we never got a shot at the summit. The monsoon arrived late and was said to have been the worst in 40 years. Despite having everything on the North Col by August 5 for an alpine-style summit push, poor weather and unstable snow conditions prevented us from going above the col for the next month. The other American expedition on the mountain at the same time was also unsuccessful. They stayed another ten days after we left. Robert Anderson, making his sixth attempt, again solo, reached 8400 meters on September 13 before turning back. Two others in the team, Paul Teare and Mike Bearzi, reached 7550 at an earlier stage of the expedition. They were lucky; on August 28, two separate avalanches struck their camp at 6700 meters in the high cirque formed by Changtse, the North Col and Everest’s north face. Anderson’s tent was not struck and he was able to free Teare and Mike Duncan, who were trapped in their tent. Their intended route was on the left side of the north face that we tried in 1982 and was finally climbed by Bonali and Sulovsky in 1991.

James Wickwire