Everest, summer attempt to ski and snowboard the mountain. There was only one expedition to the mountain during the summer and they planned a ski/snowboard descent. The two climbing members were Jimmy Chin, the skier, and Stephen Koch, the snowboarder; they had with them two climbing Sherpas. They were on the north face with the intention of climbing to the summit via a direct line up the Japanese and Hornbein Couloirs, then descending the same route. But they went no higher than 7,000m, to a point near the top of the Japanese Couloir, in increasingly deep snow, which they report as not less than knee-high. On their first attempt in August the weather was warm, and wet snow stopped them at the start of the face. On the second attempt and having climbed through the night, they turned around at 8:30 a.m. on September 10. Their progress had become much too slow and the four climbers decided that under the prevailing conditions they would be very extended reaching their planned camp site at 7,800m. Unfortunately, conditions did not improve before their permit expired.

Elizabeth Hawley, Nepal