원정 개요

Top-out Makalu Expedition, led by Ted Atkins - 29 May 2008

Atkins made two bids for the summit. On the first one, he left C4 at 3:30 am on 6 May for the top, but at 8000m, at the couloir, he turned back. He was high on the mountain, and he had become very tired from the effort to break trail -- too tired to continue on up. He turned around at 11:00 am and was in C3 at 4:00 pm and in BC on the 7th.

His second summit attempt was successful. He started up from BC again on 17 May and went directly to C2. On the 18th he went to C2; he spent an extra night there because of bad weather but on the 20th he reached C4. The Czech climber Radek Jaros turned up and asked to stay with him in his tent.

Atkins left C4 for the top at 3:30 am, climbing independently from Jaros. Atkins reached the coloir at 5:00 am and now felt his feet were very cold and partly numb, so he stopped here for an hour, wiggling his toes to restore the circulation. Jaros and Andrew Lock (Australian) joined him here briefly. Atkins went on up to the summit alone arrived there at 7 pm on a "wonderful, windless morning." His toes were now warm. He descended to C3 at 4:30 pm.

He descended all the way to BC on 22nd, clearing his camps as he went. On the 23rd he went to Hillary BC and beyond, to Yangri Kharka, where a helicopter was due to pick up him and other climbers, but poor flying weather conditions prevented it from getting there until the next day, the 25th; it took him to Tumlingtar, and from there he took a scheduled plane to Kathmandu.

Atkins used his oxygen in and above C4 to his points and down to between C4 and C3.