Makalu | 2018 Makalu La-NW Ridge

A Sweden expedition to Makalu in 2018 via Makalu La-NW Ridge, led by Carina Ahlqvist. Summit reached on 14th May 2018. 2 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 9930
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID MAKA18103
Peak ID MAKA
Year 2018
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 Makalu La-NW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Sweden
Leaders Carina Ahlqvist
Sponsor Swedish Makalu Expedition 2018
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 Flight to Tumlingtar, trekked to BC
Basecamp Date 2018-04-20
Summit Date 2018-05-14
Summit Time -
Summit Days 24
Total Days 27
Termination Date 2018-05-17
Termination Reason 7
Termination Notes Abandoned at 8200m due to bad weather and snowblindness
High Point (m) 8200
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 1
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 1
Summit Hired 0
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(20/04,4800m),ABC(22/04,5700m),C1(25/04,6100m),C2(01/05,6600m),C3(12/05,7500m),C4(13/05,7700m),xxx(14/05,8200m)
Route Notes BC 20/04 4800m ABC 22/04 5700m C1 25/04 6100m C2 01/05 6600m C3 12/05 7500m C4 13/05 7700m HPt 14/05 8200m by Ahlqvist and Pasang Sherpa. High point team left C4 at 8:17 pm. The weather was clear, but windy. The ropes had been fixed by SST Sherpas. The conditions on the mountain were good. They climbed the French Couloirs and when they came out of the couloir it started snow and they were in a bit of a whiteout. Pasang wanted to go down, but Ahlqvist carried on for another 100 meters. Pasang was behind her, but she got the feeling that he wanted to go down. At about 8:37 am Pasang spoke to Nima Gyalzen of Sherpa Treks on the radio. He told him that the weather was turning bad, so they turned back. On the way down to C4, Ahlqvist was fine and had no problem with her eyes; however, when she got into her tent at C4 at around 3:30 pm all of a sudden her vision went white. She must have got snowblinded or her eyes were damaged from the wind. She was not wearing glasses on the way up as her oxygen mask did not fit properly and she had to take it off. So she thinks that she must have got too much wind into her eyes. They stayed the night at C4 and when she woke up on 15/05, she could not open her eyes. Her cornice was burnt and her eyes were stuck together. They thought that a helicopter was going to collect them on 15/05, but the helicopter could not make it and they decided to descend to C3 at around lunch time. Pasang was leading her by the arm to get down. They spend the night at C3 hoping for the helicopter to pick them up from there, but it did not. On 16/05 they descended to C2, where they stayed the night. On 17/05 she was finally rescued by Maurizio on a long-line from C2 to ABC. She was then flown to Lukla and then to Kathmandu and went straight to hospital. First to CIWEC[?] and to Norvic. She was diagnosed with a burnt cornice and stayed in hospital until 22/05. Ahlqvist left BC on 17/05 by heli long-line from C2. Oxygen: taken and used from 7100m to high point to C2 by member and Sherpa From Carina’s FB Page: Me and Pasang Sherpa left Camp 4 at 7500 meters for our Makalu summit attempt May 14. We passed the French couloir and climbed over 8000 meters, just having 4 hours to summit when snow and complete white-out ended our summit chances. We were the last persons on that altitude. Returning to Camp 4 I was hit by snowblindess and could not open my eyes. As the rescue helicopter could not get that high I had to rapell down eyes blind and closed from Camp 4 at 7500 meters to Camp 2 at 6600 meters, covering some of the hardest parts at Makalu with blue ice, rocks and snow almost vertical at times. I fell fully into a crevasse as I had to jump over it without seeing but managed to get up. When we were sitting without tent at about 7000 meters and got the message that heli could not come due to bad weather there was no choice but to continue down. I made some great learnings about inner capacity, navigating with inner eyes, changing gear to inner focus and intuition and how the body and mind can run on full adrenalin when you thought you run out of resources. When crying makes your eyes hurt like fire you need to use other means to move ahead. You have more energy than can imagine. Thank you Pasang for guiding me down and for your patience. After three days attempts the helicopter manged to pick me up, hanging flying in a rope from Camp 2 at 6600 meters to ABC at 5700 meters. Value your life and be creative. Now I wish to engage in cleaning up Makalu from garbage. Makalu is a genuinly beautiful and pristine mountain that deserves respect. My message is: take care about the planet. This is our home. There is no planet B. Do something good out your life. I'm greatful to be alive, full of new level of compassion. I did not summit but reached inner summits and learned that climbing down can be more challenging than climbing up. Thank you all for believing in me. Namaste!
Accidents Snowblindness of Ahlqvist
Achievement -
Agency Expedition Himalaya
Commercial Route False
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2462926
Year 2018
Summit Success False
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) makalu la-nw ridge

Members

2 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Carina Annette Ahlqvist F 1967 Sweden Leader Varmdo, Sweden Company project manager Details Other expeditions
Pasang Nima Sherpa M 1971 Nepal H-A Worker Bakachol-9, Khotang - Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.