Rodney Moore The trip went well, though unfortunately that silly monsoon thing meant we couldn't summit either peak.You'll be pleased to hear that I was one of only 5 of us to reach the ridge on Island peak 6189m (via the south west route). This required scaling a three pitch ice ramp of crap powdery snow. I was climbing with a young mega-star named Darragh Curran (see mountain log, Alpine meet article). The pitches were 40 metre run outs above crap belays. Unfortunately, the ridge was too corniced to continue and we quickly descended. The only other team to reach this point were led by Alpine guide Robbie Fenlon and contained Stephen Ferris and Deidre McCarthy. Most of the group reached the ridge on lobouche 6073m, however the ridge had broken away and we were unable to reach even the trekking summit. I broke the 6000m mark on both occasions but was disappointed not to reach either summit. There were some wonderful views of Lhotse and Nuptse and the stunning Ama Dablam, which will be my next project in 2004! Unfortunately some Russians were killed on Lohtse when they were hit by an avalanche.

The whole thing was a great experience with too much to write about, there are some great photos which I'll try and pass on. Anyway, good luck and I'll see every body at Christmas.

P.S. Slide show dates are in autumn's mountain log.