“Bhrikuti, ” Ascent. Identifying mountains in remote parts of Nepal is not always easy, as a Spanish post-monsoon expedition to Bhrikuti (6364m) in north-central Nepal learned. The few maps of the area that exist have many mistakes, and the local people whom the Spaniards asked about Bhrikuti pointed to different peaks. So Jesus Gonzalez and his three teammates, Jose Alonso, Manuel Caballero, and Alvaro Roldan, climbed one of these mountains, all of which were about 6300 meters high, on October 17 via the northeast face, though they now wonder whether they actually scaled an unnamed virgin peak instead.

Elizabeth Hawley