It’s summit week in Nepal, with action already on Everest, Lhotse, Kangchenjunga, and Dhaulagiri. Now, with the return of good weather, ascents of 8,485m Makalu have resumed. A significant number of climbers are not using bottled oxygen on this fifth-highest peak on Earth.
Saulius Damulevicius of Lithuania left Base Camp yesterday. Forecasts promise low winds for the next few days, but Damulevicius also noted old-school mountaineering wisdom: Around a full moon (the next one is on May 12), the weather tends to be more stable. Many climbers, including Damulevicius, will probably finish sooner than that.
This afternoon, Saulius Damulevicius was heading toward Makalu La and Camp 3. Graphic: Garmin InReach
Mountain buzzing with activity
“Mostly everyone plans to summit on May 9-10, after the ropes are checked,” Damulevicius noted.
On the last summit attempt, most climbers retreated because the ropes were buried in snow. Only experienced alpinist Matthew Scholes of Australia continued to the summit. He told ExplorersWeb that he felt skilled and confident enough to proceed through the fresh snow without any ropes.
This time, the rope-fixing team led by Tashi Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks is hustling ahead of everyone to ensure ropes are available on the upper slopes.
Besides Damulevicius, Piotr Krzyzowski is expected to reach Camp 3 today. The Polish climber retreated from Camp 4 last week.
Vassiliy Pivtsov of Kazakhstan and Peter Shulgin from Russia are also on their way up, after a long acclimatization round in which they spent two nights in Camp 3 and tagged Camp 4. The effort proved too much for a third member, Misha Tarasov, who became sick and had to abandon the expedition. Pivtsov and Shulgin aren’t underestimating the challenge ahead. “It will be tough, Makalu is no lollipop,” they said.
Vassiliy Pivtsov at Camp 3 on Makalu. Photo: Kazakh Makalu team
Damulevicius mentioned that two climbers from Switzerland (first names Allen and Niels) are also proceeding no-O2.
Sebastian Graf of Germany is climbing without oxygen but with personal Sherpa support. So is Jan McManus of Ireland, who has Tsering Lama by his side. They plan to summit on May 10.
