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Winter
Makalu 2000/2001
12-29-2000 Dispatch
Attack
in January
Weary
tramp
The
mountain activity went off like a shot. During the
last few
days, despite a long distance from the base, the first
camp was set up at the height of 6100 meters at the
site (route) of the first conquerors along with a temporary
camp (6600 meters).
On
Friday Gia Tortladze, Krzysztof Liszewski and Piotr Snopczynski,
the people who set up the temporary "number
two", are to install a balustrade to the highest
possible point in the direction of the Makalu La Pass
(7410m). After that they are going to descend to the
advanced base. On their way down they will meet
Krzysztof Wielicki's team who wants to leave the
advanced base (5300 m) and reach a lobby leading to
Makalu La at Camp I and go together with Dariusz Zaluski and
Maciej Pawlikowski.
Wielicki
would like to spend a night above 7000 meters for the
purposes of acclimatization. It is necessary to secure
some sections of the route with balustrades because in
winter there is actually no snow in the upper parts on
which one can walk easily. There is ice instead.
Climbing
an eight-thousand-meter mountain at this time of year
is in a large part a weary tramp of Alpinists with
heavy burden. They must carry enormous amounts of
equipment including tents, mattresses, fuel, food,
ropes and other climbing equipment. This action must be
repeated several times. You cannot reduce or eliminate
some stages of acclimatization. All teams are to
descend to the base at new Year's Eve to have a
rest. Weather permitting, we plan to attack the
summit at the beginning of January.
Update
e-mail from Monika: I wish you all the best in a
New Year. Polish Winter Makalu Expedition has just
started from the beginning. [She means starting
over...] We have lost the second camp near the South
Col of Makalu (6600 m) where we were going to join a
difficult Japanese route on south-east ridge. The
stormy wind destroyed it and took some equipment up
and over the col to Tibet side. There are 10 members
of the expedition including the doctor. Many of them
are ill. We had had fast winds with dust like on a
desert. Alpinists do not use oxygen from bottles.
There are not Sherpas for help. The leader, Krzysztof
Wielicki decided to change route for easier, normal
route by Makalu La which were taken by French
expedition in 1955. It means that we must change the
base camp which is on the South Face of
Makalu for the advanced base camp which is on the
West Face. Makalu is the last 8000 m peak in Nepal
still virgin in winter. Seven others with Everest were
conquered in winter by Polish climbers (Mount Everest
- 17.02.1980; Manaslu - 12.01.1984; Dhaulagiri -
21.01.1985; Cho Oyu - 12.02.1985; Kangchenjunga -
11.01.1986; Annapurna - 3.02.1987; Lhotse
-31.12.1988). Usually it happened by normal routes.
Cho Oyu was conquered in winter by difficult, new
route. Besides one bottle of oxygen for the climbing
the top of Everest, Polish alpinists have not used an
oxygen during that ascents in winter.
We
had beautiful, friendly and a very domestic Christmas
Eve in an old base camp. Later Krzysztof Wielicki with
Maciej Pawlikowski and Dariusz Zaluski build the
camp I (6100 m) on normal route. Wielicki would
like to climb upper part of Makalu, over the Makalu La
pass in alpine style. Today Gia Tortladze (from
Georgia), Piotr Snopczynski and Krzysztof Liszewski
made the bivaq (probably camp II) on 6600 m. They have
used some fix ropes. Tomorrow they are going to put fix
ropes in couloir which goes to Makalu La (7410 m).
During winter there is no snow on this mountains but
only ice: green, blue, turquoise and white.
Best
regards, Monika
Rogozinska, the correspondent of
"Rzeczpospolita" Polish daily newspaper from
the Makalu base camp in Nepal 12/31/2000
written
by Monika Rogozinska, "Rzeczpospolita", http://www.rp.pl
("Rzeczpospolita")
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.
