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Makalu, We've got you covered
Apr 29, 2004 13: 19 EST
There are several teams charging up Makalu this season; and every one of them is taking a different route. So what do you do if there are no more routes left for your team? How about making an assault up a whole new way.
"I am the brother of Christian Trommsdorff who is currently climbing the east face of Makalu. He asked me to send you updates of his expedition," read a mail we almost missed the other day. This was certainly news to us - the guys weren't even on our expeditions list. Well here they are, just arriving in BC:
Christian Trommsdorff, Patrick Wagnon, and Yannick Grazziani will attempt a first ascent on the Eastern side of Makalu (Tibetan side). A feat only once before attempted.
“Our project plans to explore the Tibetan side of Makalu, and then to attempt a new route in a very lightweight style, as close as possible to the pure alpine style (no oxygen bottles, no high altitude porters, no fixed ropes, no pre-established altitude camps, very small team).”
Here is the the latest from their website: “The ‘Makalus’ are at BC. From the slopes, Christian’s voice is ringing. We can see why he is happy: they arrived at a splendid base camp at the foot of the East Ridge. The tents are on grass between boulders and at the time of our call, it was dusk.
For Christian, this valley is one of most beautiful they have ever gone up. They went from the primary forest with rhododendrons, through immense and flat tundra plains before reaching the first moraines.
Their base camp is located at the end of the moraine of the Shakyetang glacier. Now, at the foot of the ‘problem’, their morale is excellent.
It was said that the locals would be drunk at breakfast. And well - it is true. Only now, on the fifth day, they are out of Chang and have they made good progress. Alcohol is a prerogative for men; it is in their habits. The girls are much more sympathetic and powerful. They never complain and make progress at a good pace. All in all, most of our thirty porters were young and rather arrogant, but we nevertheless reached BC at the appropriate time.”
Makalu; All faces covered. As reported by ExWeb, there are several other teams making assaults up various routes on Makalu. The Kazakh team, heading up the West Buttress (‘Paragot Ridge’) has reached Camp 3. Sven Gangdal, the notorious Norwegian patron of the Rum Doodle, is there with a small team. The organized and stalwart Brits, climbing the Southeast Ridge are having some nasty weather problems and were stopped short of Camp 2 today. And finally there is Jean-Christophe Lafaille who is going solo from the North Side.
Makalu (8463m) is the world’s 5th highest mountain; it is located around 35km east of Everest on the Nepal-Tibetan border. There are several routes on the Nepal side (south, west and north faces), but the east (Tibetan) side is almost completely untouched: only a very heavy Japanese expedition has attempted the east ridge in 1994, but they moved across to the normal route at 7400m.
To date, 206 climbers have summited Makalu and 22 have died. The overall summit/fatality rate is thus about 11%, a little more than Everest’s overall summit/fatality rate of 9%. Statistically at least, the world's 5th highest mountain is the 7th most dangerous of the 14 8000+ giants.
Christian Trommsdorff’s website | British Services | Montagna.org | Norwegian Adventure News | Kazakh Makalu News
Image of Camp 1 on the Southeast courtesy of British Services Makalu.
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