Published May 1, 2012 12:00AM

The First Ascent team makes progress up the West Ridge toward Camp III
The First Ascent team of Jake Norton, Brent Bishop, Charley Mace, and David Morton is through a patch of brittle ice and has fixed lines to within 1,200 feet of the West Shoulder. They’ll head back up on May 4. Meanwhile, the team from The North Face—Cory Richards and Conrad Anker—made a short initial foray up from Camp II on April 28 but turned back due to rockfall. Richards was evacuated by helicopter from Base Camp that afternoon with an unspecified medical problem.