Sangemar Mar. Our expedition succeeded in making the first ascent of Sangemar Mar by the southwest ridge. The members were Takashi Matsuo, leader, Dr. Hiromi Okuyama, Takehiko Hirota, Tokio Kozuki, Masaya Oishi, Toru Sakakibara, Kenya Sato, Shinichi Miyata, Tomoyoshi Mizukawa, Hiroyuki Onishi and me. Base Camp was in a pasture named Ilkish below the Muchichul Glacier at 4100 meters. Advance Base was at 4500 meters after a traverse to the foot of the southwest ridge. To reach Camp I at 5100 meters we climbed 40° to 50° ice. There are two foresummits on the southwest ridge. Camp II at 5800 meters was at the foot of the first. We got to the top of this above an ice “slide” to place Camp III there at 6400 meters. On July 11 six members left Camp III, traversed around the second foresummit on the Batura side with fixed rope and reached the top (6949 meters, 22,800 feet) at two P.M. Two days later the remaining four members climbed to the summit. We fixed 3000 meters of rope in all.

Akira Noguchi, Osaka University, Japan