The tried and tested Basque team of Alberto Iñurrategi, Juan Vallejo, and Mikel Zabalza hoped to make the first ascent of the north face of Chamlang (7,321m). The team acclimatized on Hongu (Hongku Chuli West, 6,764m) and spent two weeks checking conditions on Chamlang’s north face. On their one attempt, toward the east side, they reached 6,000m on a hanging glacier, where they were stopped by bad weather and snow conditions. The western part of the face appeared to have long sections of difficult climbing and no real tent sites.

Instead, they decided to make an alpine-style attempt on the west-southwest ridge, first climbed in October 1986 by a large Japanese team, operating in siege style. Starting from base camp on October 17, the Basques reached 6,100m on the lower ridge without difficulty, but the next day found the crest narrow and exposed. After a bivouac with poor weather at 6,600m, they started at 8 a.m. on the 19th and overcame several steep pitches to reach the summit at 12:30 p.m. This was the second ascent of the complete ridge and sixth overall of Chamlang’s main summit. In 1990, Germans Bernd Eberle and Stefan Kohler climbed Chamlang in alpine style by the right side of the northwest face and the upper west-southwest ridge.

Rodolphe Popier, France