Mt. Everest, North Face, Variation. A Russian expedition led by Kazbek Khamitasayev ascended what they said was an unclimbed rib on the north face to an altitude of perhaps 7500 meters before abandoning that line and traversing left to the standard route up the north ridge to put two of their 19 climbing members, Alexandre Zelinski and Sergei Sokolov, on the summit.

Elizabeth Hawley