Makalu | 1993 W Pillar (to 7650m)

A USA expedition to Makalu in 1993 via W Pillar (to 7650m), led by Jeff Lowe. Summit reached on 14th May 1993. 5 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 1228
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID MAKA93102
Peak ID MAKA
Year 1993
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Pillar (to 7650m)
Route 2 W Face (to 7000m)
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Jeff Lowe
Sponsor Makalu W Face/W Pillar 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 France
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1993-04-10
Summit Date 1993-05-14
Summit Time -
Summit Days 34
Total Days 47
Termination Date 1993-05-27
Termination Reason 5
Termination Notes Abandoned at 7650m due to heavy snowfall and avalanching
High Point (m) 7650
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 500
Total Members 5
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(10/04,5400m),C1(19/04,6500m),C2(18/04,6400m),C3(13/05,7400m),xxx(14/05,7650m); WFace.xxx(23/05,7000m)
Route Notes BC at roughly site of some ABC's beyond glacier's junction West Face C1 at hanging glacier West Pillar C1 at West Pillar High point 1 at West Pillar High point 2 at West Face. From BC, Erick Decamp & Destivelle went to W Pillar, while Lowe went to W Face (to hanging glacier also went LO Prem Gurung & Sirdar). Lowe did not go to pillar. When Lowe arrived at Mtn, Italians already well established on face, so used their fixed ropes to hanging glacier after a couple of climbs without them, felt ridiculous doing this on lower part of mountain. I was quite demotivated "by this": didn't want to join Italians but doing his own line lower down seemed foolish. Then on 17th May Italians decided to abandon face so planned to solo line nearby then big snowstorm dumped enough snow to make face "completely out of condition" (avalanches brought so much that it piled up & buried his safe biv tent at 6500m+) so gave up on 25th. This was 1st of monsoon-type storms. W Pillar: 25th May Decamp & Destiville gave up also because even on ridge too much snow. Progress slow between C2 & C3 because of lot of wind. High point reached in acclimatization foray; went up to C3 on 23rd but heavy snowfall of 24th stopped further progress. Fixed a total of 500m only.
Accidents Nothing serious; Lowe buried by avalanche (took 3 hrs to dig out)
Achievement -
Agency Mountain Travel
Commercial Route -
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2452105
Year 1993
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) w pillar (to 7650m)

Members

5 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Erik Decamp M 1954 France Climber Le Champ-pres-Froges, Isere, France Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Catherine Monique Susanne Destivelle F 1960 France Deputy Leader Paris, France Professional alpinist Details Other expeditions
Jeff Lowe M 1950 USA Leader Nederland, Colorado Designer of outdoor equipment Details Other expeditions
Rene Robert M 1961 France Climber Les Bossons, Haute-Savoie, France Photographer Details Other expeditions
Jesse Guthrie M 1958 USA Climber Nederland, Colorado Mountaineering equipment distributor Details Other expeditions

References

3 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
MAKA93102 AAJ Hawley, Elizabeth - - 68:205 (1994) -
MAKA93102 HIGH - - - 130:9 (Sep 1993) -
MAKA93102 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12199420502/Asia-Nepal-Makalu-West-Face-Attempts - - -