Climber falls to death

Press, 15 May 1985, Page 26

Climber falls to death

NZPA-Reuter Kathmandu A Japanese climber fell to his death after a record climb to the 6812-metre summit of a Nepalese peak in the Everest range of mountains, Nepal’s Tourism Ministry has announced. A New Zealand climber died apd three others were hurt'-ph the same seldomattempted west face of Ama Dablam in 1979 when struck by an avalanche. One of the injured New Zealanders was Peter Hillary, son of the Everest conqueror, Sir Edmund Hillary. The route has been widely shunned because of overhanging glaciers. The Tourism Ministry said that a construction engineer, Makoto Ishibashi, aged 32, from Yokohama was descending Ama Dablam on May 3 with a fellow Tokyo climber, Haruo Toyoda, aged 27, when Ishibashi slipped at an altitude of 5900 metres and fell to his death. The day before Ishibashi’s fall, the leader of the small Japanese expedition from the Sangaku Doshikai Climbing Club also managed to reach the Ama

Dablam summit. The team leader, Naoe Sakashita, aged 38, a climbing equipment distributor from Tokyo, and Masayauki Ariake, aged 27, a window cleaner also from Tokyo, pioneered the expedition’s route up the west face of the peak. It was the first time the west face had been climbed. Sakashita told Reuters before leaving for the mountain bid that he was aware that the west face had a bad reputation. ‘‘lf we pass through in just one or two days, it will be okay. During a reconnaissance last year I never saw avalanches,” he said. “It looks risky but somehow stable, I think.” It was not yet known what had caused Ishibashi to lose his footing. The Ministry said his body was recovered and it expected his team would cremate his remains at base camp. Sakashita and Ishibashi had planned to attempt the world’s sixth highest mountain, the 8201-metre Cho Oyo, but tourism officials said they did not know whether Sakashita would go ahead with the climb.