Cholatse north face new route attempt. The Corean Alpine Club Cholatse Expedition led by Kang, Sung-woo departed from Seoul August 24. Team members were as follows: Shin, Dong-seok, Cho, Yu-dong, Ji, Jeong-deuk, Hong, Sung-woo, Hwang, In-sun, Kim, Chae-ho, and Lee, Young-joon, and myself.

We fixed ropes to 5,200m but were plagued by the weather during the entire expedition. The most paralyzing conditions occurred from September 21 until September 29, when we were inundated by heavy fog conditions, tent-bound by a deluge of rain, and left to ponder the thunderous sound of avalanches as the heavy wet snow blanketed base camp. Clear weather finally allotted us only time enough to clean the fixed lines, pack up ABC, and head down to Lukla.

Future climbers should note that the Shangri-la Trekking Map of the Khumbu region confuses the locations of Arakamtse (6,423m), Cholatse (6,440m), and Tawoche (6,542m). Aramkatse has been labeled as the mountain that should be Cholatse.

Peter Jensen-Choi, Korea