Tilitso Attempt and Tragedy. Our international expedition under the leadership of Italian Francesco Santon was composed of eleven Italians, two Argentines, me from Czechoslovakia and three Sherpas. Our objective was the north buttress of Tilitso. We reached Base Camp at 5000 meters near the Mesokanto La on September 9. On the 5th, we established Camp I at 5500 meters. After a period of bad weather, Camp II was placed at 5950 meters on September 12. Two Sherpas descended, leaving Italians Gianluigi Visentin and Roberto Malgarotto there. The lower part of the route to Camp II was in part on Grade IV rotten rock, where we fixed rope. We hoped to climb to the summit from Camp II. In the next days, the weather was unsettled with some snowfall. The two Italians waited for an improvement. On the morning of September 15, the weather cleared and let us see that not much snow had built up, but there seemed to be some windslab. After it clouded in again, we had radio contact with them at eleven o’clock. With clear skies on the 16th, we could see that Camp II had been swept by an avalanche. That same day, three members ascended and found that Camp II was covered with some three meters of snow. The bodies could not be recovered. The expedition was given up.

JIRÍ NovÁk, Czechoslovakia