Rakaposhi, Northwest Ridge. Our expedition made the second ascent of the northwest ridge, partly by a new route, and the sixth ascent of the peak. We were Dries Nijsen, leader, Ton van den Boogaard, Rudolf de Koning, Mathieu van Rijswick and I. We reached Base Camp at 3700 meters on July 15 and Camp I at 4800 meters on July 18. From there we climbed a shorter route to the right of the 1964 attempt to get to the ridge at 6000 meters, where it joined the Polish route of 1979. Because of heavy snowfall, it was not until July 30 that Camp II was placed at 5500 meters. Camp III was established on August 3 at 6350 at the end of the difficulties. Up to there we had fixed 800 meters of rope. Then our luck changed. The weather went bad. Camp I was destroyed by an ice avalanche. Camp II disappeared under heavy snow. Nijsen got cerebral edema. It was not until August 14 that we reached Camp III again. Van Rijswick lost his pack and I suffered from continuous nausea. Van de Boogaard and de Koning moved under the summit pyramid as the Poles had to the southwest ridge and on August 17 reached the summit (7788 meters, 25,550 feet).

Robert Eckhardt, Koninklijke Nederlandse Alpen Vereniging