Langtang Lirung, Winter Ascent and Attempt. Two Japanese teams attempted the normal route, the southeast ridge of Langtang Lirung (7234 meters). The first party consisted of eight Japanese and four Sherpas under the leadership of Koichi (also spelled Kouich) Ezaki. Ezaki and two members, Manabu Kuboki and Masayuki Sano, had been to the mountain in the previous winter, but they had been unable to climb above about 6200 meters because of the need for more than the 1400 meters of rope they had already fixed; now they came better supplied, fixed a total of about 2250 meters between their base at 4800 meters and the top, and Kuboki, Sano and a Sherpa named Lopsang Jangbu stood on the summit on December 14. The other team, only three Japanese and one Nepalese led by Ichiro Hosoda, arrived at their 4200-meter Base Camp on December 11 and used their compatriots' fixed ropes. They pitched Advance Base Camp next to Ezaki's base and their Camp 1 where his Camp 1 had been; they had to wait for heavy snowfall and avalanching to stop before making Camp 1. On the 24th they reached their high point of 6200 meters, where Hosoda and a Nepalese placed their Camp 2 in the face of very strong winds. Hosoda waited there alone for two more days hoping the wind would drop and he could go to the summit from there. But the winter winds usually gain in strength after the middle of the month, and they did not abate for him. He gave up.

Elizabeth Hawley