Prakash Sherpa, Riten Sherpa (both IFMGA guides), Luigi Santini (Italy), and I attempted the unclimbed northwest ridge of Melanphulan (6,573m) in early November. With porter assistance, we established a high camp at 5,100m on the moraine north of the mountain, where global warming has dramatically changed the condition and size of the Nare Glacier.

We climbed the slope up to the northwest ridge of Melanphulan and made our Camp 1 at 5,800m, just below and right of the col at the base of the ridge. Up to this point, the climbing was mostly easy 5th class, with some mixed ground on low-angled, unconsolidated snow. The rock was loose, but around 120m below the camp there was one pitch of 5.9 where the rock was sounder.

Our summit bid began at 10 p.m. on November 3. We climbed 100m up to the crest of the ridge, then descended it southeast to the col. Above, the ground was steeper, with 60°–70° snow slopes, mixed in consistency. The rock encountered was loose. At 4 a.m. on the 4th, having reached 6,200m, we turned around due to the bad snow and rock. Retracing our route back to Camp 1 involved downclimbing and a few rappels; from there we made nine rappels. We regained our high camp in 20 hours from our high point.

Melanphulan has received a number of attempts from various directions, and some of these have come very close to the summit. However, perhaps only one party has ever reached the top, via the west face (see AAJ 2001).

— Jay Mathers, USA