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Winter
Makalu 2000/2001
12-06-2000 Dispatch
Across
the Alps THE EXPEDITION TO MAKALU
All
members are present in the base at the height of 4900
meters.
We
first saw Makalu through the Keke La pass (4127
meters). The Alpinists will climb the
Western Ridge visible from its left side. It
took almost three days of forced march to get to
the base from the place where we took the
picture.
Photo:
Monika Rogozinska
We
got to the foot of Makalu at the height of 4900 meters
on the night of the fourth of December, after
two helicopter flights and four days of forced march
along the route considered the most difficult trekking
path to the eight thousand meter mountain.
We
left Katmandu with delay. There was a blockade of the
airport in Jiri, 80 km away from the capital of Nepal.
The blockade was organized by porters who oppose the
introduction of helicopters taking away their work.
Due to the blockade an agency servicing our expedition
started quibbling. From Katmandu we flew straight
towards Mount Everest, to Lukla (2800 meters). The
flight was exciting. A Russian pilot flying MI-7 found
his way through wholes in a sea of clouds. We not only
maneuvered left and right but also moved up and down
and the other way round. We stayed a night in Lukla
and got in the same helicopter to take us to a
clearing cut out in the jungle near a poor village of
Tashigaon (2070 meters). We virtually fell from
heavens there causing big sensation. The Nepalese
people greeted us merrily. Boys and men started
showing off with their dexterity and strength throwing
a huge stone. Our people did not let us down. A tall
and slim doctor Roman Mazik along with thickset and
very well built Jaroslav Żurawski won the
competition.
We
moved towards Makalu from Tashigaon. The helicopter
headed right to the base taking three and a half tones
of equipment, Dariusz Zaluski, who came back from the
Himalayas just a few weeks before and was well
accustomed to the climate along with two Nepalese
people. Jerzy Natakński reached the base the same way
the next day. Thanks to this move only 28 porters
accompanied the members of the expedition along with
tourists we met on the way.
Autumn
is the time of year at such height. Ground frost
painted exotic trees red. We passed the rhododendron
forests. They grow above the line of regular woods
here, such as dwarf pine in the Tatras. We walked the
ridges above the sea of clouds and in the snow,
surrounded by the smell of herbs and seeds of
rhododendrons heated with the sun. We slept in tents
three times at the height of 3500 meters and walked
the passes above 4 thousand meters, we descended into
deep beds and ascended again, as if we were actually
walking across the Alps.
We
built a base on Monday. The tents are torn to pieces
by a strong wind and mass of dust. There is no snow.
The clouds are not that high. Almost everyone feels
the pressure of height and less oxygen content in the
air: headaches, nausea, lack of appetite. We force
ourselves to do anything, even the simplest activity
costs us a lot of effort. Makalu and its Western Leg
dominates over the base. It is said to be the most
difficult goal an Alpinist may think of in the
Himalayan winter, bearing in mind that we gave up
using oxygen and did not hire Sherpas.
Snow
in the Kingdom : My Storm Years on Everest by
Ed Webster, Peter Williams (Editor),
(Illustrator) This item will be published in
November 2000. You may order it now and we will
ship it to you when it arrives.
