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The two Spanish members of the Makalu team went to Baruntse after their Makalu climb. Without a permit to climb Baruntse, Juan Carlos Garcia and Jose Maria Lopez on 20 May moved from Makalu BC west across Sherpani Col to the glacier just east of West Col, where Baruntse teams make their C1; the Spaniards camped here that night.

On the 21st they climbed to C2 and on 22 May they finished their ascent of the normal southeast ridge route. They left C2 at 6500m at 2:30 am in clear weather in the beginning, but a snowstorm came in at 9:00 am. Nevertheless, they followed to the left of some flags had been place and were on the summit at 9:00 am.

There was poor visibility during their descent, but their GPS helped them to find the way to their C2 tent and to their porters at C1 at the West Col. They arrived at C1 at about 1:00 pm, then crossed westwards over the Col to the lake to make their BC near other team's camps after dark.

The Danish leader, Soren Ledet, of an otherwise Australian expedition spoke about the Spaniards' claim to him at BC that they had summited in just two days, and he said he seriously doubted that they actually reached the top. He believed that a field of large crevasses between C1 and C2 would at least have slowed them down if not stopped them altogether. Garcia stated that there were red flags in place marking the crevasses, which were covered by snow, and they diverted their route around these hazards.