Thalay Sagar Attempts. Five expeditions attempted unsuccessfully to climb Thalay Sagar (6904 meters, 22,650 feet) in 1994. The attempt of three Italians led by Giancarlo Ruffino is given below. Also unsuccessful were South Koreans led by Ha Chan-Soo, other South Koreans led by Chung Kap-Soo, Americans Steven E. House and Todd McDougall and other Americans led by Cecil E. Lohn. Ha Chan-Soo’s four-man team attempted the north face. They established Camp II on July 22. The team was rather inexperienced and luckily survived the onslaught of falling stones before retiring. House and McDougall tried to climb the northeast pillar. They established Camp II at 6300 meters on October 11, but bad weather and extreme cold forced them to call off the attempt on the 16th. Kevin Starr, Will Benews and Chuck John of the other American party got to within 400 meters of the summit on September 19. In the face of bad weather, they had to abseil off the face.

Harisah Kapadia, Editor, Himalayan Journal