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Adventure ConsultantsMakalu
2001 Expedition
Expedition
Leader: Guy Cotter - New Zealand
Team
members:
Robert Stevens - USA
Jean-Claude Latombe - USA / France
Keith Kerr - UK / Hong Kong
Jim Milne - USA / NZ
Bruce Hasler - New Zealand
Mark Williams - NZ/ UK
Bryan
Moore - New Zealand
and
Takashi Ozaki - Japan / Hong Kong
The
Adventure Consultants Makalu Expedition 2001 has
achieved success on the world's fifth highest Peak,
Mount Makalu (8463m). Expedition leader Guy
Cotter (New Zealand) and team members Takashi Ozaki
(Japan) and Lhakpa Dorje (Nepal), along with two
members of a Chilean Expedition have reached the
summit. Congratulations
go to Lhakpa Dorje on being the first climber in
history to summit Makalu twice.
The
AC team left Camp 4 (7700m) for the summit at 4am this
morning in moderately windy conditions and reached the
summit at 2.30pm, Nepal time. The climbers
reported conditions on the summit to be windy with
cloud covering their views of Everest, Ama Dablam and
Baruntse. Their plan was to spend 10 minutes on
the summit then return to Camp 3. Other AC team
members Bruce Hasler (Queenstown, NZ), Mark Williams
(Queenstown, NZ) and Robert Stevens (Turlock,
USA) turned around earlier in the day. Bryan
Moore (Wanaka, NZ) turned around yesterday before Camp
4.
It has taken the team 6 weeks since leaving home to
get to this stage of the climb. Slowly letting
their bodies adjust to the altitude and moving their
camps and equipment into position to make their summit
attempt.
The
Expedition followed the first ascent route, the
'Classic' Route, which was first climbed on the 15th
of May 1955 by a French team led by Jean Franco.
Makalu
has had fewer than 190 ascents, and up until Lhakpa
Dorje's second successful ascent on this expedition,
there had not been a repeat summit (two successful
summits by the same person).
Rob Hall climbed Makalu in 1995 and is the only other
New Zealander to have summited.
Makalu
at 8463m is the fifth highest mountain in the world
standing close to the Everest group at the head of the
Barun valley. The summit ridge is the demarcation
point indicating the border between Nepal on the
Southern side and Tibet to the North.
Update
12th May:
SUCCESS
ON THE WORLD'S FIFTH HIGHEST PEAK
The
Adventure Consultants Makalu Expedition 2001 has
achieved success on the world's fifth highest Peak,
Mount Makalu (8463m). Expedition leader Guy
Cotter (New Zealand) and team members Takashi Ozaki
(Japan) and Lhakpa Dorjee (Nepal), along with two
members of a Chilean Expedition have reached the
summit.
The
AC team left Camp 4 (7700m) for the summit at 4am this
morning in moderately windy conditions and reached the
summit at 2.30pm, Nepal time. The climbers
reported conditions on the summit to be windy with
cloud covering their views of Everest, Ama Dablam and
Baruntse. Their plan was to spend 10 minutes on
the summit then return to Camp 3. Other AC team
members Bruce Hasler (Queenstown, NZ), Mark Williams
(Queenstown, NZ) and Robert Stevens (Turlock, USA)
turned around earlier in the day. Bryan Moore
(Wanaka, NZ) turned around yesterday before Camp 4. It
has taken the team 6 weeks since leaving home to get
to this stage of the climb. Slowly letting their
bodies adjust to the altitude and moving their camps
and equipment into position to make their summit
attempt.
The
Expedition followed the first ascent route, the
'Classic' Route, which was first climbed on the 15th
of May 1955 by a French team led by Jean Franco.
Makalu has had fewer than 190 ascents and has never
had a repeat summit, (two successful summits by the
same person). Rob Hall climbed Makalu in 1995 and is
the only other New Zealander to have summited. Makalu
at 8463m is the fifth highest mountain in the world
standing close to the Everest group at the head of the
Barun valley. The summit ridge is the
demarcation point indicating the border between Nepal
on the Southern side and Tibet to the North.
Update
11th May:
The latest news in from Base Camp is that the AC team
have all arrived safely at C4. They will rest up and
review the weather at 1am, conditions permitting they
will leave for the summit at 2:30am.
Update
Thursday 10th May:
The AC team is heading up to Makalu La today ,
the weather is good ,clear blue skies and not much
wind. We have just had the weather forecast in for the
next five days which shows good summit conditions,
around 18 knots on the summit for Saturday. Guy
and Bryan arrived at C2 to find there tent full of
water from the pre season melt. Takashi opened up his
tent to find two sleeping Iranian team members, he
kicked them out and moved in with Rob and Guy, and
Bryan took over Takashi's tent. Everyone slept
well last night and started to head up to C3 around
8:30am. It should take them about 6hrs, but due to the
other teams there may be quite a few people on the
ropes.
Guy ,
Rob and Takashi will be using oxygen, Bruce, Mark and
Bryan will not. They will sleep with oxygen at C4 and
leave around 4am for the summit and should be on top
around 10'ish. We will lose radio contact after C3
until they reach the summit ridge. Other teams on the
move up to C3 today are the Chilean and Iranian teams.
The two Austrian members going for the summit
yesterday had to turn around due to bad weather. The
Austrians and Italians will make an attempt on the
summit leaving BC tomorrow. And in breaking news: for
breakfast I had bacon, eggs and Venus coffee
(freshly plunged)! Hamish Emerson reporting from Base
Camp
Wednesday
9th May:
Hamish Emerson has reported from Base Camp that "
the weather is good , a bit of fresh snow in the
morning but has cleared up nicely, currently 10deg C ,
with little to no wind, the boys departed at 10ish and
should arrive at C2 around 4pm." The Expedition
team are on their way up the mountain! Weather
and conditions permitting they are planning to make
their summit attempt on Saturday 12th May.
Update:
Saturday
5th May
Hi
there, The AC team is now back at BC having now
completed the acclimatization phase of the expedition
by staying at Camp 3 at Makalu La (7400m).
On
3 May the team left C2 to make the long (900m) ascent
to Makalu La in good weather. Robert, Bruce, Mark,
Takashi and Guy made the ascent over 7 hours along
with our strong Sherpa team. Arriving on Makalu La was
a milestone on the expedition and our first view of
the summit pyramid of Makalu.
We
overnighted in relative comfort in reasonable weather
then yesterday (4th) returned to BC for a much
appreciated rest. What took 7 hours to ascend from C2
to Makalu La took only 40 minutes to descend!
Our
plan now is to rest up in BC for a few days then make
our summit attempt. So far no-one has reached the
summit this season. A Spanish team came within 130m of
the top but descended in the face of extreme climbing
as they were off route. In the next few days several
teams are planning to combine forces to make the top
but weather will determine the result. Unlike a lot of
other Himalayan peaks Makalu gets more difficult the
higher one goes.
The
weather is windy today so our timing will hopefully
coincide with an improvement in weather. The lunch
bell has gone, time to recharge the batteries!
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.
