Polish-A ustrian Everest Attempt. Poles Tadeusz Karolczak and ...

Polish-A ustrian E verest A ttem pt. Poles T adeusz K arolczak and A leksander Lwow and A ustrian H elm ut Putz originally w anted to clim b the south pillar o f E verest, but the Japanese set unacceptable conditions for m aking the K hum bu Icefall accessible to them . (They also apparently had perm ission for the west ridge.) The Japanese finally agreed that this sm all team could go up the route after M ay 1. A fter clim bing on the w est ridge up to 7100 m eters, the three descended to Base C am p on April 30. Putz had a problem w ith an old back injury and stopped clim bing. The tw o Poles started up the norm al route through the W estern C w m and reached 7800 m eters on the G eneva Spur on M ay 13. They descended, intending to go for the w est ridge. But now K arolczak becam e ill. Lw ow , now entirely alone since the Japanese had gone hom e, w ent up the icefall to 6700 m eters in the C w m on M ay 24, but he was halted there by a tw o-day heavy snow fall. He descended to B ase C am p through a greatly changed icefall on M ay 27 and the clim b was finished. M ichael J. C heney , H im alayan Club, and E lizabeth H awley