In late January, accompanied by Garrett Bradley, we traveled to Haizi Shan (a.k.a. Yala, 5,820m) to attempt a line on the west face. Base camp was at an excellent hot springs beneath the face. On the 29th we started climbing up the central snow couloir at 5 a.m. [This couloir lies immediately left of the southwest ridge, attempted in 2005 by Jon Otto’s team. After abandoning the climb ca 200m below the summit, they made a rappel descent of this central couloir.] Garrett did not feel sufficiently acclimatized and bivouacked at the top of the couloir (ca 5,400m). We climbed snow and mixed terrain for a further 200m to reach the crest of the upper southwest ridge, which we followed to the snow/ice summit ridge at 5,700m. We reached the top of the mountain at 5 p.m. in excellent, if windy, weather. This is probably the third ascent of the peak, which received many attempts before it was finally climbed in 2006 by Malcolm Bass and Pat Deavoll, via the north face. It is more or less certain the mountain was climbed later the same year by Christine Boskoff and Charlie Fowler.

Marcos Costa and Bruce Normand, China