Gyajikang. Gyajikang (7038 meters, 23,091 feet) lies northwest of Manaslu. Our expedition of ten Japanese and five Nepalese policemen, plus Nepali high-altitude porters sent a total of 17 men to the summit via the northwest ridge to the west ridge. I was the team leader. The climbing leaders were Nepalese Dinesh Chandra Pokhrel and Japanese Osamu Tanabe. Base Camp was at 4800 meters. We first climbed the right side of the glacier on the west of the peak and then crossed it to climb a rock face to place Camp I at 5350 meters on the lower part of the plateau. Camp II was on the upper part of the plateau at 6100 meters. Camp III was at the junction of the twin northwest ridges and the west ridge at 6600 meters. The summit was so broad that we could have played a game of football on the top. The route was a little difficult for the inexperienced younger members, who needed 1550 meters of fixed rope. The summit was reached on October 7 by Japanese Osamu Tanabe, Yusuke Kokubo, Toshisada Hasegawa, Nepalese Ram Kaji Sivakoti, Pasang Tshering Sherpa, Dambar Bahadur Gurung, on October 10 by Japanese Yaturo Ito, Takashi Nakamura, Yukinori Nakamura, Nepalese Geeta Bahadur Joshi, Padam Bahadur Khatri, Nuru Sherpa, and on October 14 by Japanese Taichi Fujimatsu, Kazuya Mino, Toshisada Hasegawa, Nepalese Sher Bahadur Karki, Motilal Gurung, Pasang Tshering Sherpa (again).

Taichi Fujimatsu, Japan