Makalu | 2018 Makalu La-NW Ridge

A Spain expedition to Makalu in 2018 via Makalu La-NW Ridge, led by Jesus Morales Manzanares. Summit reached on 13th May 2018. 15 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 9928
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID MAKA18101
Peak ID MAKA
Year 2018
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 Makalu La-NW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Spain
Leaders Jesus Morales Manzanares
Sponsor Seven Summit Treks Makalu Expedition 2018
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Australia, Costa Rica, Germany, Italy, Peru, Poland, Romania
Approach Flight to Tumlingtar, Jeep to Num, trekked to BC
Basecamp Date 2018-04-10
Summit Date 2018-05-13
Summit Time 1500
Summit Days 33
Total Days 51
Termination Date 2018-05-31
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8485
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 11
Summit Members 3
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 4
Summit Hired 1
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(10/04,4800m),C1,C2,C3,C4,Smt(13-14,24/05)
Route Notes Seven Summit Treks Makalu expedition was a combination of several independent teams (1-2 climbers each). Seven Summits provided transportation, base camp facilities and various levels of high altitude support (oxygen, high-altitude porters, tents, etc) as required and contracted for by each team. The individual accounts for each team are given below: Nil Angli (Spain) Appr: Flight to Tumlingtar, Jeep to Num, trekked to BC Camps: BC(13/04,4800m),ABC(15/04,5700m),C1(20/04,5900m),C2(21/04,6000m), C3(12/05,7500m),xxx(13/05,8100m) Left: 16/05/2018 Hired: 0 Term: Abandoned at 8100m due to lost jumar. Summit attempt between the 13/05 and 14/05. The summit bid was w/o O2. All was going well, but at some point between 8000-8100m when clipping the jumar to the harness, it slipped from the carabiner (I still do not know how) and fell down the slope. Without a jumar, I deemed it too risky to climb the French Couloir and I went down. I left ABC on the 16 July together with Valerio Annovazzi, who had serious frostbite. Oxygen: Not taken, not used Valerio Annovazzi (Italy) Appr: Flight to Tumlingtar, Jeep to Num, trekked to BC Camps: BC(16/04,4800m),ABC(18/04,5700m),C2(24/04,6000m),C3(13/05,7500m), xxx(14/05,8100m) Left: 16/05/2018 Hired: 1 Term: Abandoned at 8100m due to cold hands and feet Team of Annovazzi and Dorje Sherpa started from C3 at 1 am. Weather was cold, but clear. At about 8100m Annovazzi noticed that his hands and feet were cold. The pair descended to C3, where they stayed the night. On 15/05, they reached ABC and on 16 May he was flown to Kathmandu. He has to stay at the CIWEC clinic for four nights due to frostbite on both hands and both feet. Oxygen: Not taken, not used Enrico Cambini (Italy) Appr: Flight to Tumlingtar, Jeep to Num, trekked to BC Camps: BC(23/04,4800m),ABC(24/04,5600m),C1(29/04,6100m),xxx Left: 04/05/2018 Hired: 1 Term: Abandoned at 6100m due to feeling unwell and predicted bad weather forcast. Cambini was not well during the entire climb and as the weather forecast predicted bad weather, he decided to abandon the expedition. Oxygen: Taken, not used Lech Flaczynski (Poland) Wojciech Flaczynski (Poland) Appr: Flight to Tumlingtar, jeep to Num, trekked to BC Camps: BC(10/04,4800m),ABC(12/04,5600m),C1(14/04,6100m),C2(15/05,6700m), C3(28/04,7400m),C4(23/05,7700m),Smt(24/05) Left: 31/05/2018 (evacuated from C2) Hired: 0 Term: Success Father (Lech) and son (Wojciech) left C4 at 11 pm on 23/05. The weather was calm and clear. Deep snow and they had trouble finding the fixed ropes. Even though Wojciech was not using supplemental oxygen, he was quicker than Lech. He continued and according to Lech he could no longer see his son in the French Couloir as he was far a head. When he reached the end of the French Couloir and stepped on the summit plateau, Lech decided to turn back as he thought it was too late to continue to the summit. He thinks it was about 4 pm. He tried to radio his son but could not find him so he started to descend. At about 10 pm Wojciech had caught up with his father and shortly afterwards, Lech lost his headlamp. They tried to descend together for a while, but it was too dark so they bivouacked out in the open at about 8150m. They spent the night there and Wojciech kept got up every once in a while, descended for 20m and ascended again to keep warm. As Lech was running out of oxygen, Wojciech remembered the three bottles that were hanging on a fixed rope about 50m higher up and as they were the last team on the mountain he ascended and collected the three bottles and brought them down to his father. On 25/05 at sunrise they continued their descent to C4 and reached it quite late in the day. Lech felt a bit confused and fortunately they had taken the extra oxygen from the fixed ropes as Lech would have been in real trouble if he had not had oxygen. They boiled some water, but had hardly any food up there. And then the winds picked up and the pair was stuck at C4 for three nights! Winds were up to about 95km/h. On 27/05 the wind started to die down to about 40km/h and they descended to the Makalu La (C3). However, as neither of them had taken an ice axe with them (they had left them at C3 as they thought they could climb an 8000m peak without an ice axe and with a ski pole only!!!), they found the descent on blue ice with no fixed rope quite challenging. It took them a long time to get to the Makalu La. On 28/05 they descended to C2. They were both very tired and when they reached C2, Lech had a very bad stomach. It was so bad that he was screaming. On 29/05 they asked Lakpa, who was at BC, to come up and help them, but it became obvious very quickly that Lech would be unable to descend on his own. They contacted Sonam at BC to organise a helicopter to pick him up. On 30/05, the weather was good on Makalu, but bad in the Kathmandu valley and a rescue was impossible. Finally, the helicopter picked them up from C2 on 31 May at 8 am. They picked up Richard Hidalgo from BC and flew via Lukla to Kathmandu. Lech Flaczynski is currently at ERA hospital in Naya Bazaar, but they have not diagnosed him with anything. Left BC on 31/05 (evacuated from C2 by helicopter). Oxygen: Taken and used by Lech from C4 to high point to C2; Wojciech did NOT use oxygen. Richard Hidalgo (Peru) Appr: Lobuche, heli from Dingboche to Makalu ABC Camps: ABC(09/05,5700m),C2(12,21/05,6600m),C3(23/05,7500m),xxx(24/05,7900m) Left: 31/05/2018 by helicopter Hired: Term: Abandoned at 7900m due to bad weather, too much wind, no time Weather forecast was good for 24/05 according to the Polish weather forecast, which said it was zero wind. He was climbing with the Flaczynski's and he stayed at C2 for two nights while the Faczynski's went up to C3 on 22/05. They moved to C4 on 23 May, Hidalgo to C3 on 23/05. Hidalgo left C3 at 10 pm on 23/05. When Hidalgo left it was windy as opposed to the weather forecast. After about 5 hours, at about 7900m he decided to return to C3, where he arrived at 4:30 am. he slept there for a few hours. When he woke up he saw the big cloud on the summit and descended to ABC. He was waiting for the Flaczynski pair, but they did not come back. Hidalgo got in touch with the weather forecaster in Poland and told him that they had no contact with him. Oxygen: Not taken, not used Thomas Laemmle (Germany) Appr: Heli to Yangla Kharka, trekked to BC Camps: BC(18/04,4840m),ABC(20/04,5700m),C2(24/04,6600m),C3(03/05,7480m), C4(12/05,7700m),Smt(13/05) Left: 16/05/2018 by helicopter from Makalu ABC to Everest BC Hired: 0 Term: Success On his summit push, Laemmle arrived at C3 on 10/05 and stayed for two nights. It was very windy, but he had a weather forecast that said that the 12th was good, however, it was not. He waited for another day and then ascended to C4. He left C4 at 1 am. Fixed rope was to the end of the French Couloir, but no new fixed rope on the summit ridge. He spent about half an hour on the summit and descended to C4, where he arrived at 8 pm. On 14/05 he descended to C2 and dismantled it; on 15/05 to ABC. The Chinese climber Ge Shui-Gin invited him to a helicopter flight to Everest BC and the heli left for Everest BC on 16/05 for his attempt on Lhotse which he summited on 23 May. Oxygen: Not taken, not used. Adrian Laza (Romania) Appr: Flight to Tumlingtar, Jeep to Num, trekked to BC Camps: BC(21/04,4800m),ABC(05/05,5700m),C2(11/05,6600m),C3(12/05,7400m), C4(13/05,7700m),Smt(14/05) Left: 03/05/2018 by helicopter to Lukla Hired: 2 Term: Success After Laza reached Hillary BC on 21/04, he attempted Baruntse, then returned on 2 May to attempt Makalu. Summit team of Laza and Dawa Sherpa left around 9:45 pm on 13/05. There was a Chinese climber and his Sherpa in front of him. It was a straightforward climb. They summited at 5:30 am and spent about 10 minutes on the summit. The weather changed and on the way down, they had wind and snow. They descended to C3, where they arrived at 3 pm. It was very windy and they had a very windy night. On 15/05 they descended to ABC. Oxygen: Taken and used from C4 to top to C4 by Laza and Dawa Sherpa Sherpas: Pema Sherpa, Ekuwa, Pathibhara, Makalu-Barun 28/08/1973 Dawa Sherpa, Nurbugaon-5, Makalu 26 years Jesus Morales (Spain) Walter Rojas (Costa Rica) Appr: Heli to Makalu Lower BC (had previously completed the Everest Trek and climbed Island Peak as acclimatization) Camps: BC(21/04,4900m),ABC(23/04,5700m),C1(28/04,6100m),C2(29/04,6700m), xxx(07/05,6900m) Left: 18/05/2018 Hired: 1 Term: Abandoned at 6900m due to bad weather conditions Abandoned because wind was too strong. When wind subsided, it was snowing to a degree that they considered it would have been unsafe to continue. Both members returned to C2 and then mixture of camps whilst waiting for better weather. Realised on 18/05 that there would be no further window for climbing and expedition was abandoned. Trekked back to Num and then jeep to Tumlingtar airport. Flight not possible and consequently jeep to Biratnagar and small plane to KTM, arriving 24/05. Team supported by Dr. Mireila Gili who stayed at base camp. Oxygen: Taken, not used Sherpa: Dendi Sherpa Gavin Vickers (Australia) Appr: Flight to Tumlingtar, Jeep to Num, trekked to BC Camps: BC(10/04,4800m),ABC(12/04,5600m),C1(14/04,6100m),C2(15/04,6700m), xxx(20/04,7100m) Left: 01/05/2018 Hired: 1 Term: Abandoned at 7100m due to bad cough Vickers abandoned his climb due to a persistently bad cough and fatigue on the 30/04 and left ABC by heli on the 01/05 to Kathmandu and flew to Australia later that night at 11:15 pm. Oxygen: Taken, not used
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Seven Summit Treks
Commercial Route False
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2462925
Year 2018
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) makalu la-nw ridge

Members

15 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Jesus Morales Manzanares M 1971 Spain Leader Barcelona, Spain Barcelona train mechanic Details Other expeditions
Nil Angli Padro M 1985 Spain Climber Oxford, England Engineer Details Other expeditions
Valerio Annovazzi M 1958 Italy Climber Prittaluna, Lecco, Italy Mason Details Other expeditions
Enrico Cambini M 1965 Italy Climber Livorno, Italy Medical equipment salesman Details Other expeditions
Lech Wieslaw Flaczynski M 1948 Poland Climber Grudziadz, Poland German language translator Details Other expeditions
Wojciech Bartlomiej Flaczynski M 1974 Poland Climber Grudziadz, Poland Sports teacher & social worker Details Other expeditions
Richard Leopoldo Hidalgo Jara M 1967 Peru Climber Cabada, Lima, Peru Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Thomas Laemmle M 1965 Germany Climber Waldburg, Baden-Wuerttemburg, Germany Alpine guide & sports scientist Details Other expeditions
Adrian Laza M 1963 Romania Climber Piatra Neamt, Romania & Vancouver, British Colombia Forestry engineer Details Other expeditions
Warner Rojas Chinchilla M 1972 Costa Rica Climber Escazu, Costa Rica Jungle guide & motovational speaker Details Other expeditions
Gavin Roy Vickers M 1970 Australia Climber Thornton, NSW, Australia Engineer Details Other expeditions
Dawa Sherpa M 1989 Nepal H-A Worker Nurbugaon, Makalu-5, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Dendi Sherpa M - Nepal H-A Worker - - Details Other expeditions
Dorje Sherpa M - Nepal H-A Worker - - Details Other expeditions
Pema Sherpa M 1973 Nepal H-A Worker Ekuwa, Pathivara-1, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.