원정 개요

C1 at Chago Glacier
C2 at beginning of steep wall
C3 just above Makalu La on Tibet side.

The team was defeated by strong winds. Eight times they got to C2, but each time after spending one night there, they were driven back down. For example, they deposited equipment at C2 on 7 May, but 70 km/hr wind sent them down to BC on the 8th.

Finally on 21 May they managed to climb to C3 and sleep there and on the 22nd to occupy C4. On the 23rd they waited in C4 while snow fell.

The 24th was summit day. Smith didn't have enough oxygen left to go for the top, and at 6:00 am he left for BC; his Sherpa, Tapche Bhote, descended with him.

The other two, Brupbacher and Zangrilli, left at 2:00 am for the summit. But they got no higher than 7800m. They were not using oxygen and were not well acclimatized; it was windy and the temperature was minus 40 degrees Celsius; and Brupbacher, whose nose had been frostbitten on an earlier climb, was afraid of frostbite now again. They turned around at 5:00 am and were back in BC at 4:30 that afternoon.

Smith was the only person to use oxygen. He used it in C3 to C4 to C2. (Zangrilli had carried some for him). Brupbacher, Zangrilli and Tapche used none at all.

Hired:
Tapche Bhote, 24/11/72, Hatiya, Makalu-Barun, Cho Oyu X1