Dhaulagiri I, Solo Attempt in Winter. Swiss Franco Dellatorre proposed to make a solo ascent of the standard Northeast Ridge route of Dhaulagiri (8167 meters). He had assumed that he would be able to use the ropes that had been fixed by the teams who had summitted in October, but scanning the ridge from basecamp, he determined that he would need to fix about 400 meters of new rope because most of the autumn ropes were either not visible or were now uselessly off the route. He sent a message to his trekking agent in Kathmandu to provide him quickly with rope, and in the meantime he climbed alone to 6500 meters to acclimatize. On his descent to base, he found no rope had arrived; he waited another day, still no rope came, and he abandoned his climb, presuming his message must not have reached Kathmandu and the rope would not arrive. However, when he got to the nearest village, Marpha, he found there the liaison officer who had been assigned to him by the Nepalese government — and his rope.

Elizabeth Hawley