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Challenge 8000 - The Makalu Diaries

Friday 7 May 1999

Challenge 8000 Progress Report

Alan Hinkes files another report on his return to high base camp at Makalu
(5700m):

"Over the last few days I have had a superb view across to Everest. The discovery of Mallory's body this week has made me reflect on those early years of mountaineering and how things have changed. People constantly ask me why I climb mountains and I can appreciate the now famous response that Mallory used to give; "because it is there".

This week I have pushed as high 7400m and I returned to high base camp very late yesterday. I need a few days rest before resuming my climb.

On Monday 3 May I set off very early for camp 1 at 6200m, retracing my steps from the week before. My Nepalese foreman Dawa, who has been high on Everest, has decided that he would like to try to climb as high as possible and he set off with me. We crossed the Makalu Glacier and climbed the head wall as before and camped for the night at camp 1. I had left a tent and some food and equipment at camp 1 the week before.

On Tuesday we pushed higher to camp 2 at 6500m, which was only a two hour climb. I have decided that this will be my camp 1 from now on because it is very close to the original camp 1. On the way I found my abandoned rucksack
from my '97 expedition to Makalu. It was frozen into the mountain slope. We spent the night at camp 2.

The following day was a tough one. We pushed all the way up to Makalu La at 7400m. Makalu La is a col or pass which is like a horizontal notch between the main peak of Makalu and a second smaller peak which is Makalu 2. The climb up to this height was a very long haul. The terrain was very mixed with rock and snow and I was carrying a 20kg rucksack with my food, down suit, sleeping bag and tent. We climbed flat-out for eight hours and arrived at Makalu La completely exhausted. The winds swept in fiercely across Makalu La and looking up to the summit of Makalu from there is impressive and intimidating. There is about another 1000m to climb to the summit beyond that point and it is all black rock and snow. Below the Makalu La is the Makalu Glacier and the hard ice is like a skating rink with ripples in places which glared strongly in the sun.

That night at Makalu La was very grim. I felt exhausted and spent most of the night coughing and with a splitting headache. I spent about two and a half hours melting snow for water between 1am and 3.30am. I was suffering the early signs of mountain sickness and I needed to make sure I was rehydrating properly. I was worried that I was getting the first symptoms of cerebral oedema; it felt like a really bad flu, but inside a really tiny tent in a deep freeze with no-one to look after me! Dawa had a headache too, but he had been at altitude for much longer and adapted to the height with fewer problems. All mountaineers have to go through a long acclimatisation process when they arrive at a mountain. It can take three to four weeks before I am fully acclimatised and ready to go for the summit. The best way to acclimatise is to climb up, then return to base camp to recover, climb higher and again return, then push higher still and return until finally I feel that I am ready for the summit attempt. By pushing as high as 7400m at Makalu La I may have gone a bit too quickly, but I have helped to speed up my acclimatisation process.

At about 4am the wind got up and for the next five hours nearly ripped the tent away. By 9am the winds dropped. We re-pitched the tent in a slightly better location and hammered in two-and-a-half foot long ice screws and put on extra ropes to hold the tent firmly in place. We partially covered it with snow to protect it from being blown off the mountain.

We then headed back down a couloir, or gulley, and returned to high base camp by late in the day on Thursday. My feet are a bit sore from getting very hot in my special high mountain plastic boots, but apart from feeling very tired I feel fine. I shall spend two or three days at base camp rehydrating and building my energy levels up again.

The weather has been fairly typical for the Himalaya, some sunshine, strong winds and some snow. In the afternoon the clouds gather. It gets dark at about 6.30pm and at night the temperature plummets to minus 20oC. During the night my tent becomes encrusted with ice on the inside and when I wake and start to move around, I get covered in a shower of ice and snow. I place a large bag of snow just inside the tent door so that I can use it to melt for a drink at any time. I also have my pee bottle to hand - going outside in the night when it is minus 20oC is not an option!

The conditions generally are very dry this year. There has been very little snow. This makes the conditions very good for a technical climber. I will probably set off again on Monday 10 May, climbing to my new camp 1, Makalu La and then as high as 7800m. If the conditions are right and I feel OK, I may leave a bivouac tent at 7800m and make an attempt at the summit at the end of the week. The final summit bid will be alpine-style - with the minimum of equipment.
I shall report again on my return."