Changtse, South Face Attempt. On September 3, Dan Langmade, Stan Mish, Guy and Yvette Toombs and I crossed the Nepalese border into Tibet and arrived at the Everest Base Camp on the 6th. On September 9 we made our Base Camp on the East Rongbuk Glacier at 6100 meters just under the northeast ridge of Changtse. After acclimatization, we made camp at 6550 meters at the traditional Everest camp site below the North Col. On September 21, all but Yvette Toombs began to climb the south face of Changtse, following a snow route close to a prominent buttress. We reached the top of the buttress at 7050 meters at 12:30 P.M. and Langmade headed down because of illness. We continued up the south face, but at 4:30 P.M. from 7300 meters we descended due to bad weather. On September 24,I tried the route solo, starting at ten P.M. At eleven o’clock A.M. on the 25th I stopped at 7490 meters, just short of the summit, at the base of the final summit pyramid, feeling that a windslab would slide if I continued. Finding no way around the windslab, I descended to Base Camp.

Keith Brown