Ed Viesturs, the USA´s most successful high altitude climber has retreated from high on Annapurna.He was attempting a new route with his friend Veikka Gustafsson, to try and find a safer route to the summit other than the standard French route.Their team members, Jean Christophe Lafaille and Alberto Inurrategi Iriarte are now camped between the East and the Middle Summit of Annapurna.They will be going for the top tomorrow. Veisturs commented on his website “in our own evaluation, the level of risk was increasing and the margin of safety was decreasing. It?s a tough call to make when you spend four or five weeks on an expedition like this to get so close and then are faced with an assessment like that. I?ve done it before, when it feels bad and my gut instinct is telling me it is bad, then I know it?s bad.” Viesturs has climbed 12 of the 14 8000m peaks more
