Ganesh VI, First Ascent. Two members of a six-man Japanese team made what they believe was the first ascent of Ganesh VI (6480m), northeast of Kathmandu in the Ganesh Himal range. Their ultimate objective was the top of Ganesh II (7111 m), while their proposed climbing route lay along the southeast ridge of Ganesh VI to its summit and then on along the continuation of this ridge to Ganesh II itself. In 1980, Japanese had gone to Ganesh VI by the same southeast approach, but this spring’s team believe their predecessors stopped at a snow summit before the highest point.

On May 23, Osamu Tanabe and Yasuhiro Hanatani reported they had gained the true summit. They continued along the southeast ridge toward the top of nearby Ganesh II, but the difficulty of the very narrow, badly corniced ridge made them give up at 6700 meters, about one- third of the way to the top.

Elizabeth Hawley