Annapurna, South Face Attempt. Catherine Destivelle and I were accompanied by photographer Pascal Tournaire. We hoped to climb a new route on the buttress to the right of the Bonington route. We hired two Sherpas to help carry loads to the bottom of the buttress at 7000 meters. Since the mountain was very dry and the séracs on the hanging glacier dangerous, we changed our plans. Instead of snow, we had to climb rock up to the buttress, which was difficult enough to require fixed ropes for carrying heavy loads with the Sherpas. We got to Base Camp on October 10, just as the Koreans finished their variant of the Bonington route. We used their ropes up to 6800 meters. We placed Camps I and II at 6000 and 6800 meters on October 13 and 17. Between October 21 and 24, we made a serious attempt, up to 7800 meters. After that date, we had bad weather every day, although the nights were clear. The snow conditions were dangerous. We could not make any further serious attempt, even though we tried twice.

Eric Decamp, Club Alpin Français