Dhaulagiri Attempt. Our group was composed of Italo Valle, Gino Casassa, Rodrigo Mújica, Giorgio Cattoni and me as doctor and leader. The permission for our original objective, Shisha Pangma, was cancelled. After a period of acclimatization near Everest, Mújica had to withdraw because of a recurrence of mononucleosis. The rest of us headed for Dhaulagiri. From Marpha, we crossed Dampus and French Passes, despite difficulties for the porters caused by excessive snow on the passes. We got to Base Camp at 4700 meters on April 22, below the northeast ridge, also being attempted by other expeditions. The intense snowstorms increased the danger of avalanches between Base Camp and Camp II at 5700 meters, which we occupied on April 27. On April 30, Casassa and I headed for the southwest summit of Tukuche (6690 meters, 21,949 feet) and camped at 6300 meters. On May 1, we climbed to the summit in poor weather and returned that same day to Camp II on the northeast col of Dhaulagiri. Meanwhile, Valle and Ang Phurba Sherpa had established Camp III at 6600 meters, but they were trapped there by weather until they could descend to Camp II on May 4. Casassa and I ascended to Camp III on the 5th, but bad weather prevented further progress. Up till then we had had only two good days in 14. On May 10, Valle and Casassa established Camp IV at 7200 meters and descended to Camp II on the 11th. On May 14, they had hoped to climb to Camp IV and make a summit try, but the wind was so strong that they gave up the attempt.

Mauricio Purto, M.D., AAC and Chilean Section of the

Club Alpino Italiano