Makalu | 1984 W Pillar

A USA expedition to Makalu in 1984 via W Pillar, led by Carlos Buhler. Summit reached on 21st May 1984. 6 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 1037
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID MAKA84101
Peak ID MAKA
Year 1984
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Pillar
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Carlos Buhler
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 Canada
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1984-03-25
Summit Date 1984-05-21
Summit Time -
Summit Days 57
Total Days 69
Termination Date 1984-06-02
Termination Reason 7
Termination Notes Abandoned at 8400m due to exhaustion of Congdon and Buhler
High Point (m) 8400
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 6
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 1
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
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(25/03,5400m),C1(28/03,5950m),C2(13/04,6550m),C3(02/05,7315m),C4(17/05,7770m),xxx(21/05,8400m)
Route Notes BC at French 1971 ABC site probably. Exhaustion of team's strength. Buhler and Congdon exhausted by their summit bid and 2nd bid by Wood and Sole failed 28th May and they cleared mountain on 29th May and descended. Weather changing, deteriorating. I felt like a kindergartener on Makalu. "Such difficult route," very steep rock pitches continually for thousands of feet and on top of that, a very difficult vertical rock pillar to C4 with very long day's carry and tremendously difficult final summit day at very high altitude. Buhler - 10 June 84 We were very close but we did not reach the top. Climbed to 27,500 ft on 21 May by Congdon and Buhler - had left BC on 17 May. Sharon Wood reached C4 at 25,500 ft 17 May. Would have gone to summit on birthday if she and Charles Sassara had not carried such loads (Sole had carried there 2 days earlier). 400 ft below summit it began to snow - visibility 200 ft. Slabs covered by deep snow made progress very slow and decided to avoid night out in such conditions. Decided that "if we made the summit we might lose our lives." Had left C4 1:30 am and returned to C4 midnight. Back in BC 24th. C3 on 22nd and C1 on 23rd. Were very exhausted on 22nd then cleared gear on mountain and left BC 2 June. Congdon highest can go without oxygen. Wood - 9 June 84 May 26th Sole and Wood to C1 May 27th Sole and Wood to C2 May 28th Sole and Wood to C3 Decided factors against us: - Sole's retinal hemorrhage gave him concern though not a problem. - deteriorating weather - valley clouds coming up and snow-pattern seemed to be changing with afternoon storms. - other teams had disappeared which affected my enthusiasm. 2 had left May 29, went back down. Push had been been carrying heavy loads to establish C4 and needed rest instead of going on long summit push stating early next am and all without oxygen. Previous Canada women altitude record about 22,000 ft. Sassara - 9 June 84 Left BC on 25th. Wood and Sole were leaving to go up to clear gear or go for top, not clear which. Sole [went up] despite retinal hemorrhage which he got at 25,000 ft. Left BC because of job to go back to and personal obligations. Others should be in KTM by 10th June. Wind was predominant problem - came at 2:00 pm with afternoon snow showers. Never had an avalanche problem. Wood, 25, Candian women's altitude record BC 17,700 ft C1 19,500 ft C2 21,500 ft Brian Hall, British Makalu - 27 May 84 When Hall and party left and C 20th May US-Canada team's high climbers were at their C4 for summit bids; had surmounted last difficulties of ascent, put C4 in usual place and had one long's days push to summit. Albi Sole had dropped out of climb with retinal hemorrhage. Sharon Wood was going very strong. Chive and Sue Davis, trekkers from BC with Hall. Plan was for 2 summit teams: 1st on 22nd May = Buhler and Congdon, 2nd = Wood and Sassara. Expedition Report by Carlos Buhler From KTM a large dilapidated bus was hired to drive us and our own supplies approximately 300 miles to the village of Hille where our approach walk would begin. In Nepali style, the bus required no fewer than five men to drive, and mainly repair, our "last legs" bus on the journey. We were constantly amazed at the mishaps this five strong bus crew would handle. They created workable parts out of junk as the 12-hour bus ridge turned slowly into 24-hour endurance test. They never lost faith even in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere with engine parts and tools spread all over the road. We established BC (17,700 ft) where the 1971 French team had put their C1. This saved us very valuable time and energy because we had all our gear and a well stocked home at the foot of the West Ridge. However, it put us in rather bleak campsite, which was very exposed to the mountain weather. In addition, the high altitude slowed physical recovery from exhaustion and sickness. Acclimatizing at base camp, we spent several days organizing our gear and setting up a livable kitchen dining shelter from stones and tarps. On March 28 we reconnoitered the mountain's lower rocky slopes. By crossing the Chago glacier in a sweeping contour we avoided losing much altitude on our journey to C1. Without much trouble we found a gulley system leading through the lower rock cliff to the moderate scree slopes above. Within four hours we arrived at the French camps site we would use for Camp 1. There were many signs of the large French expeditions; a dozen leveled tent platforms, bailing wires, stoves, gas cannisters and garbage debris. We left our light loads there and returned to base camp by evening. The next four days we spent stocking C1 with the supplies necessary to support two climbers fixing rope above. One approach porter who seemed particularly strong and keen was asked to remain with us in base camp after the others left. His willingness to carry loads over this easy terrain to C1 was a great asset to us. This man became "one of them" almost immediately. On the 2nd April, Dwayne and I moved into C1 and set out the following day to begin fixing rope towards C2. The technical climbing began abruptly above our camp site with a 400 ft, 50-degree ice slope. This led to a sharp ridge of snow and ice over the first of two large humps. After dipping, the ridge rose continuously for a km over the second hump at 21,000 ft. Rounding out, it gradually ascended to an overhanging ice cliff at 21,500 ft. We took turns acclimatizing to these higher elevations and setting out the seven and eight millimeter rope to aid our travel across this very exposed section. By 9th April we had anchored all the ropes leading to our second camp and had transported a good stock of food, fuel and climbing equipment there. Originally, the journey with loads along this ice arete took us gasping six hours one way. From C2 the ridge took on a much more serious tone. It rose in a perfectly straight steep line 3000 vertical feet to its junction with the massive white granite prow above, the awesome feature which gave the route its name, the West Pillar. On April 13 Sharon and Dwayne moved in C2. Orginally tents were place slightly lower down on the ridge but we soon learned that the wind blasting over the ridge crest made existence there almost unbearable. We moved the camp up to within 20 feet of the overhanging ice cliff and tucked our tents in as close as possible to an adjoining rock wall. Even in this sheltered spot we needed fifty feet of spare 7 millimeter line to anchor the geodesic tents from flattening against us during the night's howling winds. Throughout these first few weeks of climbing our BC was experiencing high winds and winter weather as well. The temperature there rose above freezing for about seven hours each day, the time between sunrise out our east over Makalu and sun set to the west over Baruntse. Our Sherpa tent was destroyed after a week of enduring the violent winds. Such were the conditions when Dwayne and Sharon set off from C2 on the 14th of April. For the two days they climbed ice faces and loose, delicate, rocky ground. Forcing their way up in bitter cold winds they approached an airy and complex two hundred foot rock traverse onto the South Face. This deviance from the ridge crest avoided several large overhanging rock steps and this allowed further progress upwards. The French had named this 200 ft section the Terrible Traverse due to the extreme nature of the climbing and steep wall it crossed. Albi traded places Dwayne on the 16th and together with Sharon reached the point where this "traverse" began. During this time the three other members not in front were ferrying laods between C1 and C2 with an occasional rest day in BC to enjoy the lower altitude and a square meal. Equipment loads were carried and ropes fixed until the happy message was received on the 17th that the trek had reached the original French Base Camp, about a five hour walk down the Barun Glacier. On the morning of the 18th I set out early twoards French Base. My mother and I enjoyed a wonderful reunion among the huge mounds of ice and glacial debris of the Barun Glacier beneath Makalu's South Face. Two of the hearty trekkers continued upwards, arriving at our BC by midday. Later that afternoon, they returned to the French Camp accompanied by Dwayne, Sharon, Charlie and Ken. On the evening of the 18th our entire team (Albi joined us after a carry to C2 that day) was gathered in the French Base Camp with the trekking party and shared the one and only total respite from the mountain that we were to have in the 68 days we spent actually climbing the ridge. The following morning, after a late brunch, the trekkers began their downward journey towards Hille. The six of us, together with one member of the trek who came to do some painting and photography, plodded back up the glacier to our home on the rocky moraine. On the morning of the 20th, Charlie and Dwayne left for C2 followed the next day by Albi, Sharon, and myself. We were elated and had gained new energy by coming together, away from the mountain, even though only for 24 hours. With our renewed enthusiasm, we climbed confidently and proficiently. The Terrible Traverse was led in a snow storm by Dwayne and Charlie on April 22. Their determination lifted our spirits even more, Albi and Sharon then went ahead onto the 1000 ft jof steep ice runnels and iced over granite slabs that characterized the very challenging climbing above the Terrible Traverse. Averaging about 450 per day they managed to continue climbing through attrocious weather conditions for three long days. On the 27th Charlie and I took over the lead. We carefully maneuvered up the last section of snow covered cracks and slabs and then threaded our way back to and along the knife-edge ice and rock ridge to within one hundred yards of C3. The weather continued to be very unsettled, with snow falling every afternoon for four or five hours. The daily routine of rappelling thousands of feet back to C2 after an exhausting day was a tricky and dangerous ordeal requiring steady concentration. April 30th was lost to unusally high winds but finally, on May 1, Albi and Dwayne succeeded in establishing C3 at 24,200 ft. On such a long and involved ridge each camp became a goal in and of itself. Reaching C3 was no exception. The team was full of optimism as the evening radio communication informed everyone that the way was now open as far as the second to last camp. This section had been slow, delicate work and had demanded quite a bit more from us than we had anticipated. The carry from C2 to C3 proved to take a shattering eight to ten hours round trip. We immediately became determined to make as few journeys along this section as possible. Sharon, who along with Dwayne, had organized our high altitude food rations, cut the C3 food provisions to an absolute minimum in order that the essential equipment could be more quickly ferried up for the climbing above. On May 5 Charlie, Sharon and I bought personal gear to C3 and dug out a platform underneath an ideal wind sculptured shield of ice. With more food still needed. Sharon then descended to C2 while Charlie and I settled in at 24,200 ft readying ourselves for the next day's work. We were painfully aware at this altitude what damage the lack of oxygen does to body. We would have to spend as little time in C3 and above as possible. The smooth grayish white pillar of rock above us stretched into the sky for 1300 vertical feet. Here, our upward progress would rely on the skills of gymnastic rock climbing. Charlie and I spent the next three days placing fixed up rope 900 ft of steep rock slabs and walls to 25,000 ft. Though the climbing was on smooth, solid granite we wore crampons throughout this terrain, as much of it was clogged with spindrift whelming vastness of the rock wall and space around us. The bone chilling winds and afternoon snow fall took their toll however. By the third day we had frostnipped our fingers and toes, leaving them ultra sensitive to the cold. Meanwhile, Albi, Dwayne and Sharon redoubled their efforts to bring up more supplies to C3. On May 10th, after day's rest in C2, Albi and Dwayne took over the lead. Charlie, Sharon and I went down to BC to recuperate our strength. It had been 18 days since any of us had come off the mountain. The original strategy had been that Albi and Dwayne would establish the fourth camp before their final rest in BC prior to a summit push. There was an outside chance that if they felt strong and conditions were right, they might even make a summit bid on the 14th of May once they had established C4. The 11th and 12th of May were restless days for those of us waiting in BC and extremely taxing for the two higher above on the pillar. The last five hundred feet of rock to C4 necessitated the steepest climbing yet. Albi and Dwayne passed the site of the fifth French camp, marked by a frozen, shredded tent in the snow of a small alcove in the cliff. Above this they climbed an overhanging crack and vertical wall to reach more step slabs and chimneys higher up. With unrelenting determination, at the end of their second day they rounded the last rock corner and gasped their way up a snow covered ice gulley to a small notch. Again with a shredded tent visible, they were aware that they had arrived at the highest French Camp 6 at 25,500 ft. They knew also that it would be the site of our final camp. They fixed the rope to a piton left by the French and began rappeling down late in the afternoon. The rest of the team at BC had been watching them all day with binoculars but had lost sight of them due to heavy, afternoon cloud build up. That evening, at 7:00 pm, it was an optimistic twosome that radioed down from C3 with the long awaited news about reaching C4. They were settled in for the night at C3 after driving themselves near to the limit during the past two days. Nevertheless they were still keen about carrying on the following morning and establishing a livable camp at 25,500 ft before returning to Base for a full period of recovery. Unfortunately it was not to work out this way. We learned in the morning radio call that during the night Albi had suffered a severe headache. More seriously, a sudden retinal hemorrhage was obscuring the vision in his right eye. Though Ken assured us that it was not cause for alarm it meant that they would have to descend immediately for a complete diagnosis of Albi's condition. The four of us in BC opted to wait on May 13 for Dwayne and Albi to come down in order that we could discuss the logistics of the summit push together as a group. After assessing Albi's condition Ken made the difficult but honest recommendation that he not return to extreme altitude for a minimum of three weeks in order to avoid the possibility of further bleeding in the retina. With four of us left for the remaining work of establishing C4 and making a summit bid we were painfully aware of the position we were in. Two of us would have to support the other two by making a sacrificial carry with very heavy loads to 25,500 ft and dig out of the ice a platform for the last camp. The other two would then run the best odds of reaching this high camp with enough strength to climb the remaining 2300 ft to the summit and return without oxygen. The sacrificial team might having then been down for a rest, have the strength to attempt the summit themselves. On May 14 Charlie and Sharon set off on the gruelling four days climb to C4. Allowing Dwayne as full a recovery as each of us had, he and I started up behind them on May 17th. This same evening our final camp was established. After eight solid hours hauling gear up the steep and vertical fixed ropes on the pillar by 2 more hours of oxygen starved work chopping out a tiny ledge, Sharon and Charlie crawled into their tent for the night. They were exhausted and would wait until morning to descend. The night of the 18th both teams slept in C2, dividing two double sleeping bags into four and huddling closely together for warmth. In the afternoon of the 20th Dwayne and I arrived at C4, set up the folded tent and began rehydrating for our summit attempt that evening. We dozed fitfully in our sleeping bags for two hours and at 10:30 pm again began tediously melting ice for drinks. At these high altitudes it seems impossible to drink enough fluids to replace what is lost through exertion and heavy breathing in the extremely dry air. Adequate hydration of the body at high altitude is as crucial a condition as any on the mountain. At 1:30 am on a moonless night, we began climbing up the 45-degree mixed ice and rock gullies by headlamp. The actual top of the West Pillar route lay 1600 vertical feet above us where it abutted against the Southern Ridge at 27,100 ft. From there the summit lay a further 700 ft up relatively easy ground. Just a day break, about 4:30 am, we stopped in the wind trough of a rock outcrop and had a small amount to eat and drink. Several hundred feet above us on the ridge lay a 400 foot, broken, rocky step with no clearly defined route by which to ascend it. With great care we zig-zagged up the delicate and exposed ledges of rock and snow as the sun rose. Its warmth was hidden from us to the east but its rays cast magnificent hues of pink on Everest, Lhotse, Baruntse and the rest of the great Himalayan range spread out beneath us. The day dawned fine and the winds were kind to us. We knew that it the weather held, or chances of reaching the top were very strong. By 8:30 am we began the horizontal ice ridge that marked the last crest of the West Pillar. We climbed the section more rapidly than we had expected. By noon, in a sky of broken clouds, we were standing at 27,100 ft on the Southeast Ridge. Only the summits of the five giant mountains of Asia were above us. It had taken us fifty seven days to climb the West Pillar. I took a few photographs before we started off for the summit 700 ft higher to the north. Very soon after this we were no longer visible to our companions in BC as the mountain became mantled in cloud. Within an hour, as if in mockery of our efforts to reach the highest point, a heavy grey overcast covered the sky and by 1:30 pm it was snowing. Dwayne and I pressed on, knowing that only a few hours separated us from the summit cornices we could see before the snow had begun to fall. In the growing storm we came to the 50-meter triangular rock wall, an outcrop which bars the way up the last 100 yards to the highest point of Makalu. Dwayne crossed a low angle, avalanche threatened snow bowl and led through a gap around to the right of this barrier. With singleness of purpose, we strained our way up the deep, unconsolidated 45-degree snow over rock on the east side of the ridge. At 3:00 pm our visibility was down to about 30 meters and though the winds were low, a layer of new snow was settling on the mountain. Almost in a daze by the lack of oxygen, our minds were conscious enough to realize that with the fresh snow and the lack of visibility our descent would be very complicated. We realized, too, that if were were not able to down climb the 400 ft of broken rock ledges before night fall that we would be forced to bivouac. On Everest I had seen what a night in the open meant for a man above 26,000 ft without oxygen; our chances of survival would be fifty percent. At 3:30 pm with the new snow falling heavily and the summit about a hundred yards away, we began to descend. Moving with all posible speed we half climbed half slid down the unconsolidated powder snow, rounded the 50m rock wall and traversed the snow bowl back to the ridge crest. With a drowsiness that must ahve come from a lack of both oxygen and sleep we drove ourselves on in a slow motion trance towards the top of the broken rock ledges. By sunset a dense fog hung heavily in both the sky and our minds but we were finally then descending the delicate rock terraces. Darkness caught us where day break had, near the top of the rock and ice gullies that led down the ridge. With the darkness and cold my body and mind shifted into a familiar ultra low gear that, though extremely slow and mechanical, is methodical and sure. After series of rappels and careful down climbing on the front points of crampons. It was midnight when we reached our tent at C4 and dropped into fitfull sleep. In our exhausted state it required two and a half days for Dwayne and I to descend to BC. We arrived there midday on the 24th of May. Although tremendously relieved at having survived the ordeal unscathed, we were unsettled by not having gained that highest cornice of wind blown snow. It was not long after that a talk at BC centered around the possibility of another summit bid. Unfortunately we faced another dilemma. Though Sharon was stronger than ever and was keen to make a another summit attempt, after sixty days in BC or above, Charlie was mentally spent. Due to personal reasons at home he elected to withdraw from the expedition. Ken, our doctor, was also feeling the pressures of having to return to his private practice afer a three month leave and thus, on May 25, they set out for Kathmandu and home. Albi, on the other hand, had been resting in BC for eleven days. His eye sight had returned to normal almost immediately. Though the blood vessels of his retina were still somewhat enlarged, all of us shared this same common high altitude symptom. Actually, even a small amount of hemorrhaging is not uncommmon in climbers at high altitudes. Albi had completely recuperated his strength by this time as well. He finally made the decision to propose that he and Sharon make an effort to reach the top. Driven by forces that come only after putting so much of oneself into making a dream become reality, Sharon and Albi left for Camp 1 on May 26th. They would continue ascending so long as no complications developed and only while both felt one hundred percent about going on. They ascended the knife-edge ridge to C2 on the 27th but that evening all was not right. The approaching monsoon was changing the weather patterns on the mountain. And both felt some reservations about a possible recurrance of Albi's eye problem. The morning of the 28th they mutually called off their attempt on the summit but continued unselfishly up to C3 in order to bring down the valuable camp equipment that had been left on the mountain. Five days later Dwayne and I found the strength to make a final journey to our second camp and brought down the remaining gear. In the late afternoon of June 1st we were all gathered safely back in BC. After sixty eight days the climbing was over.
Accidents No accidents or frostbite; Sole had retinal hemorrhage
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2448816
Year 1984
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) w pillar

Members

6 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Kenneth Lyle Bassett M 1952 Canada Exp Doctor Invermere, British Colombia Physician Details Other expeditions
Carlos Paltenghe Rockhold Buhler M 1954 USA Leader Bellingham, Washington Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Dwayne Congdon M 1956 Canada Climber Canmore, Alberta Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Charles Jones Sassara III M 1956 USA Deputy Leader Anchorage, Alaska Builder (general contractor) Details Other expeditions
Albert (Albi) Sole M 1953 Canada Climber Banff, Alberta Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Sharon Wood F 1957 Canada Climber Invermere, British Colombia Alpine instructor Details Other expeditions

References

5 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
MAKA84101 AAJ Buhler, Carlos - - 59:252-254 (1985) -
MAKA84101 HJ Buhler, Carlos The American-Canadian Makalu West Pillar Expedition - 41:12-19 (1983-1984) -
MAKA84101 CAJ Congdon, Dwayne American Makalu Expedition - 68:68-69 (1985) -
MAKA84101 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198525204/Asia-Nepal-Makalu-West-Pillar-Attempt - - -
MAKA84101 - - https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/41/3/the-american-canadian-makalu-west-pillar-expedition/ - - -