Makalu | 2010 Makalu La-NW Ridge

A Netherlands expedition to Makalu in 2010 via Makalu La-NW Ridge, led by Arnold Coster. Summit reached on 25th May 2010. 11 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 6805
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID MAKA10106
Peak ID MAKA
Year 2010
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 Makalu La-NW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Netherlands
Leaders Arnold Coster
Sponsor Outware International Makalu Expedition
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 121
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Turkey, UK
Approach -
Basecamp Date 2010-04-16
Summit Date 2010-05-25
Summit Time 1015
Summit Days 39
Total Days 41
Termination Date 2010-05-27
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8485
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 2500
Total Members 7
Summit Members 4
Member Deaths 1
Total Hired 5
Summit Hired 2
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb True
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(16/04,4750m),ABC(19/04,5750m),C1(25/04,6160m),C2(30/04,7200m),C3(22/05,7450m),C4(23/05,7700m),Smt(25/05)
Route Notes BC at Hillary BC C3 at Makalu La. Most of the summit party moved up from C3 to C4 on 23 May with the intention of going to top the next day. But there was fresh snowfall on the 24th, so they had to a day in C4. On the 24th, Kiriakakis left C3 for the summit at 8:00 pm and joined the other members in C4, all left C4 together at 9:30 pm. The others were Brands, Coster, Findik and Pennington. All, except Kiriakakis and Kancha, arrived at the summit with Dawa on the 25th at 10:15 am. Lhakpa Ongyal turned back at 8100m because of a problem with his oxygen system. Kiriakakis and Kancha finally made it to the top at 1:00 pm. Pennington and her Sherpa Pemba Chhiring were also in the summit party to 8200m. Then Pennington had to abandon her summit bid because she was very ill. When she returned to Kathmandu she was told she had pneumonia; back in England it was found that one lung had collapsed. She was very weak. She had a kidney infection in late April-early May while on the mountain, but the doctor for a German expedition led by Luis Stitzinger gave her antibiotics and she carried on. She was using a new type of oxygen system, and Coster thinks it wasn't working properly. When Coster and Dawa met her as they were descending from the top, she was lying down, nearly unconscious, and appeared to be suffering from cerebral edema and hypothermia. Coster gave his oxygen system, and he and Dawa had to drag her down to a small tent in Stitzinger's C4 at 7800m, from which the German summiters had left (it was 100m above their own C4). Meanwhile Findik had descended to C3 at 3:00 pm. Brands made his way down very slowly because he was very weak and arrived at Stitzinger's C4. He tried to take refuge in the small tent now occupied by Pennington, Coster and Dawa, but Coster said there was no room there and he should go on down to his tent at their camp. Coster says Brands fell asleep on his way down, and as a result got badly frostbitten fingers (and slightly frostbitten toes). Findik was the first member to return to BC, where he arrived on the 26th. Coster got there on the 27th, Brands and Pennington came into camp on the 28th. Kiriakakis never turned up. He was met by Coster at 12:30 pm on the summit ridge: Coster was coming down from the top and Kiriakakis was going up. Coster told him it was too late for him to continue ascending and he must turn around. Kiriakakis refused to do so and they very nearly came to blows. Kiriakakis and his Sherpa, Kancha, went on up to the top. At the top of the French couloir, below the Makalu La, Kiriakakis and Kancha got into an argument, perhaps because the Sherpa was trying to hurry Kiriakakis, who now told the Sherpa to go on down and wait for him at the bottom of the couloir. Kancha waited for three hours, then climbed up about 100 meters but found no sign of Kiriakakis, and after 2:00 pm it was snowing and windy. Kancha went down to C4 about 5:00 pm and reported to Coster by walkie-talkie that Kiriakakis was not coming down. Coster told him to wait as long as he could. At eight o'clock the next morning, Kiriakakis radioed to Coster that he had spent the night in a cave, didn't know where he was but thought he was at 8200m, the altitude of the bottom of the couloir, but hadn't been able to find their team's black fixed ropes. Coster told him to come out of the cave so he could be seen, but actually most of the mountain was not visible. Kancha went up to the bottom of the couloir at 1:00 pm, but by now 30 centimeters of new snow had fallen and all tracks were covered; he found no sign of the missing member. Coster told him to return to C4 and stay there. On the 27th, Lhakpa Ongyal and Kancha searched up to the bottom of the couloir, but again there was poor visibility and now also strong wind. Kancha was coughing blood, and Coster told them to come down. Later a search team of six Sherpas on the ground, and a flight in a helicopter on 1 June, discovered no trace of Kiriakakis. Coster speculates that he had strayed far to one side of the route and ended up buried under the snow. For most of his climb, Kiriakakis had consistently been a slow climber, but on the summit day, he was exceptionally strong for the first eight hours: he was right behind the Sherpas who were fixing rope. Then he slowed down noticeably. He often talked approvingly about doping in sports. According to the leader of another Makalu expedition, hypodermic needles were found in his tent. Other non-summiting members: Doron reached C4 on 23 May with the group heading for the summit, but then he decided he couldn't get to the top and he went down to C2. He was back in ABC on the 26th. Rutland was with the team that pitched C2 on 30 April, climbed to 7100m the next day, then back to C2 on an acclimatization trip, and on 2 May down to ABC. Now there was a long period of bad weather; he stayed for a while but his motivation was deserting him, and on 18 May he was flown from BC to Kathmandu. Oxygen was used by all members from C3 to their high points to C4 and by their Sherpas from C4 to their high points to C4. Sherpas: Dawa Sherpa, 16/6/69, Loding-9, Solu, Everest X6 Lhakpa Ongyal, 19/8/66, Nurbugaon, Makalu-9, Makalu X2, Everest X1, Manaslu X1 Kancha Sherpa, 23/1/81 (10/10/2037), Beni-5, Solu Pemba Chhiring, 38 yrs, Bhakanje, Solukhumbu
Accidents Kiriakakis died during descent from summit
Achievement -
Agency Everest Parivar
Commercial Route False
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2458297
Year 2010
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) makalu la-nw ridge

Members

11 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Guntis Ivar Miko Brands M 1951 Switzerland Climber Sarnen, Obwalden, Switzerland Businessman Details Other expeditions
Arnold Coster M 1976 Netherlands Leader Capelle a/d Ijssel, Netherlands Mechanical engineer & professional alpinist Details Other expeditions
Mor Doron M 1974 Israel Climber Haifa, Israel Math student Details Other expeditions
Tunc Findik M 1972 Turkey Climber Ankara, Turkey Alpine guide, professional climber & writer Details Other expeditions
Zaharias Kiriakakis M 1965 Greece Climber Marousi, Greece Physician Details Other expeditions
Adele Marie Pennington F 1966 UK Climber Dronfield, Derbyshire, England Alpinist Details Other expeditions
Ronald (Ron) Rutland M 1948 UK Climber Coniston, Cumbria, England Director of company operating trekking-goods shops Details Other expeditions
Dawa Sherpa M 1969 Nepal H-A Worker Loding Tamakhani-9, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Kanchha Sherpa M 1981 Nepal H-A Worker Mopung, Beni-5, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Lhakpa Ongyal (Lhakpa Wangel) Sherpa M 1966 Nepal H-A Worker Nurbugaon, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Pemba Chhiri/Chhiring Sherpa M - Nepal H-A Worker Bhakanje, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

2 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
MAKA10106 - - http://www.outwareexp.com/index.php?linkId=119 - - -
MAKA10106 - Findik, Tunc Altitude 8000 Tunc Findik Publications, Istanbul - -