Mount Everest triumph

Press, 7 May 1980, Page 21

Mount Everest triumph

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo A Japanese climber hasi successfully reached the) summit b’f Mount Everest the north-east -ridge route,! the Japan Alpine Club (J.A.C.) announced in Tokyo. -Standing on the top of the world’s highest peak. Yasuo Kato, aged 31, has become the first foreign climber to reach the peak from the Tibetan side since the communist take-over in China 31 years ago. Two Chinese expeditions have successfully climbed the mountain' by the same north-east route in 1960 and 1975. Kato is one of the 39member Japanese expedition sent by the J.A.C. On May 2 a member of an

assault party from the same expedition was killed in an avalanche while trying for the peak via the unconquered north wall. The agency said that the Japanese party led by Kato making the final assault on the 8848-metre peak came upon the body of a noted Chinese climber, Wu Zongyue, about 600 metres below the summit. Wu had been leading an assault ■ party 'during the 1975 climb when he died during the attempt. China recently opened eight mountains in different parts of the country to foreign climbers. A French army team is due to attempt Mount Everest from the Tibetan side next year.