We were on the North Ridge in '75, planning to do the North Face the next day. Looking down on the route, there were two teams on the lower part. Suddenly there was a really big rockfall just below them. Tons and tons of rock just slid down. We were horrified and decided to leave it for the time being. Years later, chatting with Andy Parkin, I found out he was on one of the teams - if my memory serves me correctly.

I remember that there had been a huge fall from low down on the face recently and that it put out of the question the lower start. Like others we traversed in, soloed to the snow patch to get ahead of everyone else and managed to get back down by the north ridge the same day.