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New Zealand Alpine Team FB page:

NZAT team member Matty Scholes, along with Alastair McDowell, Hamish Fleming and Matthew Clark, just got back from their expedition to the Himalayas. The team set out with the objective of Makalu. They approached via the Makalu La. Unfortunately their base camp provider lied to the team about where they would place their base camp, so the start of the trip turned into a ferrying loads mission. This cost the team a lot of time and energy, that would have been better spent acclimating higher.

By the time they were acclimated enough to go for a summit attempt of Makalu, the conditions on the mountain became very cold and windy. Instead, they turned their attention towards Makalu 2 (Kangchungtse) that was a bit lower and more sheltered. Matty, Hamish and Matthew summited Kangchungste (7678m). Unfortunately Alastair had lung issues and had had to descend back to base camp.

Photo/video captions:

1. Matt Clark at around 6500m on the first acclimation round. Mt Everest in the background. It was perfect weather - unfortunately we were not ready to go to the summit at that point.
2. Video taken from approximately 6000m
3. Makalu, from basecamp, with prayer flags and Himalayan though
4. First advanced base camp (where base camp was supposed to be)
5. Hamish headed toward Kangchungtse via the Makalu La
6. Refuelling in the tent at 6800m, tail wind is all you can eat at that altitude
7. Brew at camp below Makalu La
8. Summit photo on Kangchungtse
9. Kangchungtse on the left, and Makalu summit on the right