원정 개요

BC at south end of Chago Glacier
C2 at start of steep section of Chago Glacier via normal route.

Makalu West Face Expedition, led by Steve House - 31 November 2008

The main purpose of the expedition, as its name indicates, was to scale Makalu's West Face, and for House, Prezelj and Anderson to climb it via a new route, without Sherpas or fixed rope. But first, they needed to acclimatize via the normal NW Ridge route, and at the same time, the other two members, Cartier and Yardin, would also climb the normal route with their two Sherpas, Lhakpa and Gelbu.

Cartier and Yardin didn't get very high: Yardin managed to reach C2 once while Cartier got no higher than 6200m. When Cartier decided to leave the mountain early, his partner Yardin left with him in a helicopter from Hillary BC to Kathmandu on 18 October. Their Sherpas left soon afterwards.

The more highly experienced Himalayan climbers, House, Prezelj and Anderson, began their acclimatization climbing on 11 October, when they took their tent to the site for C2 at 6700m, then returned to BC on the 13th. On the 16th, they returned to C2 and set out for the Makalu La (7400m). All three had a chest infection, and House's bad cough bothered him enugh to cause him to stop 100m below the col, but the other two got to the col. The three slept in C2.

On the next day, the 17th, while House stayed in C2, Prezelj and Anderson moved from the camp north across the glacier and up the West Face of Kangchungtse by a new route. They summited Kangchungtse and returned to C2 via the Makalu La the same day. All three descended to BC on the 18th.

They made their first summit bid on Makalu on the 30th. They climbed the West Face to the right of the 1982 Polish route, but got no higher than 6300m. Strong wind drove them down and back to BC on the 31st.

On the 2nd of November House went back alone to the West Face and tried another line farther to the right, near the 1981 route of Macintyre, Kurtyka and Kukuczka. But again the wind became extremely strong, and he retreated from his high point of 6550m. He returned to BC on the 3rd, and the climb was over.

Cartier/Yardin Sherpas:
Lhakpa Sherpa, 27/4/65 (15/1/2022, Makalu-9
Gelbu Sherpa, 16/6/71 (2/3/2028), Taksindu