Makalu | 2009 W Pillar (to 6500m)

A USA expedition to Makalu in 2009 via W Pillar (to 6500m), led by Steve House. Summit reached on 19th May 2009. 3 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 6476
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID MAKA09102
Peak ID MAKA
Year 2009
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Pillar (to 6500m)
Route 2 Makalu La-NW Ridge (to 7500m)
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Steve House
Sponsor American Makalu Expedition
Success 1 False
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach -
Basecamp Date 2009-05-01
Summit Date 2009-05-19
Summit Time -
Summit Days 18
Total Days 28
Termination Date 2009-05-29
Termination Reason 5
Termination Notes Abandoned at 7500m due to bad snow conditions
High Point (m) 7500
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 3
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 0
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired True
O2 Used False
O2 None True
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(01/05,4800m),Biv1(17/05,5600m),Biv2(18/05,6600m),xxx(19/05,7500m)
Route Notes BC below Barun Pokhari High point above the Makalu La on NW Ridge. The team was supposed to have three members, but one, Ms Melissa Arnot, was delayed on Everest and never got to Makalu BC. That left the two men, Steve House and Cory Richards, and they climbed much of the time and sometimes together. They had no climbing Sherpas with them, and they established no fixed camps above BC. House trekked in with his girl friend; Richards was the first to arrive at BC and on 1 May set up camp alone at 4800m south of Barun Pokhari in the area of the Hillary BC. He then proceeded to do some climbing via the normal route which leads up the Chago Glacier to the Makalu La and the NW Ridge. On 5 May he went from BC to near the bottom end of the Chago Glacier at 5600m, the normal BC site for Makalu's normal NW Ridge route, and bivouacked there. Next day he moved up the Glacier to his next bivouac at 6300m, and on the 7th, he climbed farther up the Glacier to bivouac at 6600m at the beginning of the steep section below the Makalu La. On the 9th he was back in BC to meet House. On the 7th, House had left his girl friend at BC and bivouacked at 5600m on moraine in a cirque of rock east of the Chago Glacier and west of the West Pillar. The next day he continued up to bivouac at 6500m at the bergschrund at the bottom of the West Face. But on the 9th House developed pulmonary edema and descended to BC. He was "quite sick," said Richards, "but functioning Ok." He stayed at BC a few days, then descended to Yangla Kharka village on the 13th to recover. On the 17th, Richards moved up alone again to 5600m, the normal BC site where he had been on the 5th, bivouacked there and rested there on the 18th. He wanted to go for the summit alone. He left 5600m on the 19th at 10:00 am and reached 6600m, where he had earlier left a tent, at 2:00 pm, fixed some soup, left 6600m at 5:00 pm, reached the Makalu La (7400m) and continued up on the NW Ridge to 7500m at 9:00 pm. This turned out to be the highest point reached by the pair. It was a pitch black night and he was alone, so he then turned back and descended all the way to 6600m because there was no other team's tent at the Makalu La. He got to 6600m at midnight. At 5:00 am on the 20th, he started down again and at 7:30 am arrived at 5600m, where he met House. House now climbed alone up to 6600m at about 11:00 am on the normal route to the Makalu La while Richards returned to BC at 9:00 am. On the 21st, House got to the Makalu La, descended all the way to BC and joined Richards there. 24 May started snowing, dumping one and a half meters of snow at BC. They now abandoned any idea of scaling the West Pillar, but still wanted to climb the mountain. On the 28th at 3:00 am, the two men left BC together on the snow's crust to go up the normal NW Ridge route. When they arrived at 5200m at 5:00 am, the crust was longer supporting their weight and they now sometimes crawled on it, other times walked, sinking into the snow up to and even above their waists. They found a cache of gear House had left at 5600m, then with this gear managed to get to the place at 5600m on the normal route where Richards had bivouacked before. It was now 1:30 pm; they had taken ten and half hours to cover a distance that normally took three and a half hours. They bivouacked there. On the 29th, they started up at 5:00 am and at 7:30 am reached the place at 5900m where Richards had left a cache. His cache was full of snow, and they finally gave up. They were back in BC at 10:00 pm. Just before they got to BC, Richards fell into a hole full of snow and injured his left knee. The next day his knee was stiff and became swollen. They called a helicopter to evacuate them. Because of bad weather conditions, the helicopter couldn't reach them until 1 June. It dropped them at the helipad at the Tribhuwan University Teaching Hospital. There was time for just one X-ray to be taken before the power went off; the diagnosis was that the soft tissue of his knee had been damaged. Because there was a general strike in Kathmandu, they had to hire ambulance to take them to their hotel.
Accidents House pulmonary edema; Richards injured knee
Achievement -
Agency Adventure Thamserku
Commercial Route False
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2457925
Year 2009
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) w pillar (to 6500m)

Members

3 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Steven Edward (Steve) House M 1970 USA Leader Terrebonne, Oregon Alpinist Details Other expeditions
Courtney Woodward (Cory) Richards M 1981 USA Climber Interlaken, Bern, Switzerland Photographer Details Other expeditions
Melissa Sue Arnot F 1983 USA Climber Ketchum, Idaho Alpine guide Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.