Changtse, Southeast Face, 1986.I made an unreported ascent of Changtse in 1986 up a new route, the southeast face. This was the fourth ascent of the mountain and the first American one. I first tried a new line on the right of the southeast face on August 26, 1986 but was defeated by thin snow over shale at about 23,500 feet, just below the intersection with the German northeast ridge route. After a rest day, on August 28, I soloed a new route in the center of the face, up a prominent snow gully between two rock buttresses before angling to the right across the face and joining the northeast ridge, which I then followed to the top. I climbed the initial avalanche-prone gully at night by headlamp. The entire round-trip to the summit and back to Advance Base at 20,100 feet below the North Col took 15 hours.

Ed Webster