Makalu

The first climb on Makalu was made by an American team led by Riley Keegan in the spring of 1954. The expedition was composed of Sierra Club members including Bill Long and Allen Steck, and was called the California Himalayan Expedition to Makalu.{{cite web|url=http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200509/climber.asp|title=Career Climber|work=Sierra Magazine|date=September–October 2005 |author=Daniel Duane|publisher=Sierra Club |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714212823/http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200509/climber.asp

|archive-date=July 14, 2007}}

They attempted the southeast ridge but were forced to turn back at {{convert|7,100|m|ft}} by a constant barrage of storms. A New Zealand team including Sir Edmund Hillary was also active in the spring, but did not get very high due to injury and illness. In the fall of 1954, a French reconnaissance expedition made the first ascents of the subsidiary summits Kangchungtse (October 22: Jean Franco, Lionel Terray, sirdar Gyalzen Norbu Sherpa and Pa Norbu) and Chomo Lonzo (likely on October 30: Jean Couzy and Terray).{{cite book | last = Baume | first = Louis C. | title = Sivalaya | publisher = The Mountaineers | year = 1979 | location = Seattle, WA, USA | pages = 74–75 | isbn = 0-916890-71-6 }}

{{main|1955 French Makalu expedition}}

Makalu was first summited on May 15, 1955, by Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy of a French expedition led by Jean Franco. Franco, Guido Magnone and Gyalzen Norbu Sherpa summitted the next day, followed by Jean Bouvier, Serge Coupé, Pierre Leroux and André Vialatte on the 17th. This was an amazing achievement at the time, to have the vast majority of expedition members summit, especially on such a difficult peak. Prior to this, summits were reached by one to two expedition members at most, with the rest of teams providing logistical support before turning around and heading home. The French team climbed Makalu by the north face and northeast ridge, via the saddle between Makalu and Kangchungtse (the Makalu-La), establishing the standard route.

An ascent without oxygen was attempted by the 1960–61 Silver Hut expedition but neither of the two attempts succeeded.

File:Makalu 9916.JPG

File:Makalu 9982.JPG

File:Makalu 3D.gif

• 1955 North Face to Northeast Ridge FA by Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy of France.
• 1970: Southeast Ridge FA of ridge attempted by the Americans in 1954, was made by Y. Ozaki and A. Tanaka from Japan on May 23.
• 1971: The very technical West Pillar route was climbed in May by Frenchmen B. Mellet and Y. Seigneur.
• 1975: South Face – an expedition led by Aleš Kunaver reached the top of Makalu up its steep southern side, becoming the first Slovenes to summit an eight-thousander. The first amongst them was Stane Belak. This was the third ascent of an eight-thousand meter peak by a great mountain face and the highest peak successfully summitted without supplementary oxygen (Marjan Manfreda).{{cite web|url=http://www.gore-ljudje.net/novosti/35160/|title=Slovenski alpinisti kot postavljalci skrajnih meja|trans-title=Slovenian alpinists as setters of extreme limits|date=April 11, 2008|language=sl|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921115640/https://gore-ljudje.net/novosti/35160/|archive-date=2018-09-21}}
• 1976 – South pillar route completed by Czechoslovak expedition (first attempt in 1973 ended shortly before Makalu South at 8010m due to the fatal fall of Jan Kounický). Route goes via south buttress to Makalu South and then via southeast ridge. Makalu South was climbed by 11 expedition members. Two of them – Karel Schubert and Milan Kriššák summited main summit together with Jorge Camprubi from Spanish expedition which climbed southeast ridge. Karel Schubert died after bivouac near the summit.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}
• 1980: The second ascent of the West Pillar was completed in May by John Roskelley (summit), Chris Kopczynski, James States and Kim Momb, without Sherpa support and without bottled oxygen.{{cite book | last = Roskelley | first = John | title = Stories Off The Wall | publisher = The Mountaineers | year = 1993 | location = Seattle, WA, USA | pages = 137–152 | isbn = 0-89886-609-X }}
• 1981: On 15 October renowned Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka ascended Makalu via a new route up the north-western side and north crest. Kukuczka climbed solo, in Alpine style, without supplemental oxygen.
• 1982 : On 10 October Polish climber Andrzej Czok ascended Makalu via West face till 8000m and north-western ridge. Camp IV was reached by two more climbers, Janusz Skorek and Andrzej Machnik, but when their first summit attempt failed, Czok decided to try one more time solo.
• 1988: Frenchman Marc Batard climbed in one day (after camps were set up) to the summit via the West Buttress on April 27.
• 1989: Direct South Face, solo new start by Frenchman Pierre Beghin to 1975 Yugoslav route.
• 1990: First female ascent, Kitty Calhoun via the West Pillar route.
• 1994: On May 15, the anniversary of the first summit (1955), Anatoli Boukreev and Neal Beidleman. Anatoli has planned a record speed ascent, but gave up that idea after realising his tent in camp III was destroyed by strong wind. He made an ascent in 46 hours.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}
• 1997: After seven failed attempts between 1977 and 1996, the West face was finally ascended. A Russian expedition led by Sergey Efimov brought Alexei Bolotov, Yuri Ermachek, Dmitri Pavlenko, Igor Bugachevski and Nikolai Jiline to the summit. This ascent won the 1998 Piolet d'Or.
• 2006: On or about January 27 the French mountaineer Jean-Christophe Lafaille disappeared on Makalu while trying to make the first winter ascent.
• 2009: Makalu was first climbed in winter on February 9, 2009, by Italian Simone Moro and Kazakh Denis Urubko.{{cite web|url=http://www.planetmountain.com/english/News/shownews1.lasso?l=2&keyid=36583|title=Simone Moro and Denis Urubko: Makalu first winter ascent|publisher=PlanetMountain.com|access-date=2009-02-10}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=18037|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212174229/http://mounteverest.net/news.php?id=18037|url-status=dead|archive-date=2009-02-12|title=Simone Moro and Denis Urubko make winter history on Makalu|publisher=MountEverest.net|access-date=2009-03-01}} It was the final Nepali eight-thousander to be climbed in winter. Moro had previously made the first winter ascent of Shishapangma in winter 2005 with Pole Piotr Morawski.
• 2022: Ecuadorian Karl Egloff set a new speed record by ascending in 17 hours 18 minutes on May 8, 2022. He climbed without sherpa support and without bottled oxygen.{{cite web|url=https://explorersweb.com/makalu-fkt-ecuadorians-climb-in-17h-18m/|title=Makalu FKT: Ecuadorians Climb in 17h 18m|date=10 May 2022 |publisher= explorersweb.com|access-date=2023-02-10}}
• 2022: Adrian Ballinger made the first ski descent, skiing from 15m below the summit to the foot of the glacier.

{{Panorama

|image = Image:EverestMosaic.jpg

|fullwidth = 10800

|fullheight = 2780

|height = 200

|caption = {{center|2004 photo mosaic: the Himalayas with Makalu and Mount Everest from the International Space Station, Expedition 8.}}

}}

File:Barun Valley - Nghe.jpg – A glacier valley starting from the foot of the Makalu.]]

{{Main|Barun Valley}}

Makalu-Barun Valley is a Himalayan glacier valley situated at the base of Makalu in the Sankhuwasabha district of Nepal. This valley lies entirely inside the Makalu Barun National Park.{{clear left}}

{{Himalaya annotated imagemap|caption=Makalu area – including Everest southern and northern climbing routes – as seen from the International Space Station. (The names on the photo are links to corresponding pages.)}}

The Makalu area has been a focus for yeti expeditions.{{Cite news | url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/indian-army-mocked-for-claiming-to-find-yeti-prints-htbtrvk6x | title=Blizzard of ridicule greets Indian army's yeti footprint claims| newspaper=The Times| date=May 2019| last1=Delhi| first1=Hugh Tomlinson}}

• List of deaths on Makalu

{{reflist|group=notes}}

File:Himalaya annotated.jpg

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite aaj | author1-last = Dunmire | author1-first = William W. | author2-last = Unsoeld | author2-first = William

| title = Makalu, 1954, California Himalayan Expedition | article_id=12195500700 | volume=9 |issue=2 | pages=7-24

| location = New York, NY, USA | year = 1955 | access-date = 2016-12-26}}

{{cite aaj | author1-last = Hara | author1-first = Makoto | author2-last = Asami | author2-first = Masao

| title = Makalu's South Ridge | article_id=12197123400 | volume=17 |issue=2 | pages=234-240

| year = 1971 | access-date = 2016-12-26 |links=off}}

{{cite aaj | title = Asia, Nepal, Makalu, West Face | article_id = 12198322000 | year = 1983

| volume=25 | issue=57 | page = 220 | access-date = 2025-05-15|links=off}}

{{cite aaj | last = Batard | first = Marc

| title = Makalu West Buttress, One-Day Solo Ascent | article_id=12198918803

| volume = 31 | issue = 63 | page = 188 | year = 1989

| access-date = 2020-08-01 | isbn = 0-930410-39-4|links=off}}

{{cite aaj | last = Beghin | first = Pierre

| title = Cold Sweat on Makalu | article_id=12199000100

| volume = 32 | issue = 64 | pages = 1–6

| year = 1990 | isbn = 0-930410-43-2 | access-date = 2016-12-26|links=off}}

{{cite aaj | last = Efimov | first = Sergei | translator-first = Sergei | translator-last = Nekhai

| title = The West Face of Makalu | article_id=12199801100 | volume = 40 | issue = 72 | pages = 11-20

| year = 1998 | access-date = 2016-12-26|links=off}}

{{cite aaj | title = Shishapangma (Xixabangma), Attempt in Winter and First Winter Ascent of the Southwest Face

| article_id=12200442303 | year=2004| department=Climbs and Expeditions: Tibet

| first =Piotr | last = Morawski | issn= 0065-6925 |volume=46 | issue=78 | pages= 423-425

| access-date = 2025-05-15|links=off}}

{{cite aaj | title = Roar of the Wind, The First Winter Ascent of Makalu | article_id = 12200907200

| year = 2009 | department = Feature Article | first=Simone | last=Moro | volume=51 | issue=83 | pages=72-77

| access-date = 2025-05-15|links=off}}

{{cite aaj | title = Makalu, First Ski Descent | article_id = 13201216379 | year = 2023

| first=Dougald | last=MacDonald | volume=65 | issue=97 | page= 342 | department = Climbs and expeditions

| access-date = 2025-05-15|links=off}}

{{cite journal | last = Kurtyka | first = Voytek

| title = Makalu West Face Attempt and Solo Ascent of the Unclimbed North Ridge of Makalu

| journal = The Himalayan Journal | year = 1983 | volume = 39 | publisher = The Himalayan Club

| url = https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/39/5/makalu-west-face-attempt-and-solo-ascent-of-the-unclimbed-north-ridge-of-makalu/

| access-date = 2022-12-03}}

{{cite journal | last = Bilczewski | first = Adam

| title = Makalu West Face

| journal = The Himalayan Journal | year = 1984 | volume = 40

| publisher = The Himalayan Club | url = https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/40/9/makalu-west-face/

| access-date = 2022-12-03}}

{{cite web|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article344195.ece|title=Jean-Christophe Lafaille obituary

| work=The Independent|date=2006-02-09|access-date=2007-10-27 | url-status=dead

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120203029/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article344195.ece

| archive-date=2008-01-20}}

{{cite web | url = https://nepalindata.com/media/resources/items/12/bFactAndFigure2018.pdf | website = Nepal in Data

| title = Mountaineering in Nepal Facts and Figures 2018 | page = 145 | date = June 2018 | access-date = 2019-12-23

| publisher = Government of Nepal | department = Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation | location = Kathmandu

| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191223221831/https://nepalindata.com/media/resources/items/12/bFactAndFigure2018.pdf

| archive-date = 2019-12-23 | url-status = live | df = ymd-all}}

{{cite news|url=http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/What-s-a-Nice-Southern-Girl-Doing-in-a-Place-Like-This-.html

| title= What's a Nice Southern Girl Doing in a Place Like This? |author-link=Jon Krakauer|first=Jon|last=Krakauer

| work=Outside|date=June 1993|access-date=2016-04-06}}

}}

• Franco, Jean, Makalu : 8470 metres (27,790 feet) : the highest peak yet conquered by an entire team, J. Cape, 1957.
• {{cite book | author = Terray, Lionel | title = Conquistadors of the Useless

| pages=323–335 | publisher = Victor Gollancz Ltd. | year = 2001 | orig-year = 1963 | isbn = 0-89886-778-9}}

{{commons category}}

• [http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/119 Makalu on SummitPost]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140919041847/http://www.himalaya-info.org/Map%20khumbu_sued.htm Makalu on Himalaya-Info.org (German)]
• {{cite peakware|id=162|name=Makalu}}
• [http://www.8000ers.com/cms/content/view/56/195/ Ascents and fatalities statistics]

{{Eight-thousander}}

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Category:Mountains of Tibet

Category:Eight-thousanders of the Himalayas

Category:China–Nepal border

Category:International mountains of Asia

Category:Mountains of Koshi Province

Category:Pyramidal peaks