Makalu - Barun Valley The National Park Of Makalu

Makalu-Barun Valley - A glacier valley starting from the foot of the Makalu.

Makalu-Barun Valley is a himalayan glacier valley situated at the base of Mt. Makalu in the Sankhuwasabha district Nepal. This valley lies entirely inside the Makalu Barun National Park.

Barun Valley provides stunning contrasts, where high waterfalls cascade into deep gorges, craggy rocks rise from lush green forests, and colorful flowers bloom beneath white snow peaks. This unique landscape shelters some of the last pristine mountain ecosystems on earth. Rare species of animals and plants flourish in diverse climates and habitats, relatively undisturbed by human kind.

The first attempt of the Ski in the Himalayas expedition traveled along this valley to reach to the Makalu Base Camp.

Makalu Barun National Park is the eighth national park in the Himalayas of Nepal and was established in 1992 as eastern extension of the Sagarmatha National Park. Covering an area of 1500 km2 in the districts of Solukhumbu and Sankhuwasabha it is the world’s only protected area with an elevation gain of more than 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) enclosing tropical forest as well as snow-capped peaks.

The northern border of the national park coincides with the international border to the Tibet Autonomous Region. Adjacent to the southern and southeastern border is the bufferzone Makalu Barun Conservation Area covering an area of 830 km2.

Red Panda

The rugged summits of Makalu, with 8,463 m (27,766 ft) the fifth highest mountain of the world, Chamalang (7,319 m (24,012 ft)), Baruntse (7,129 m (23,389 ft)) and Mera (6,654 m (21,831 ft)) are included in the national park. The protected area extends to about 66 km (41 mi) from west to east and to about 44 km (27 mi) from north to south. From the Arun river valley in the southeast, located at 344–377 m (1,129–1,237 ft) above sea level, elevation gains about 8,025 m (26,329 ft) to the peak of Makalu.

Barun Valley

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Notable ascents Of Makalu

• 1970: The first ascent of the southeast ridge route attempted by the Americans was made by Y. Ozaki and A. Tanaka from a Japanese expedition on May 23.
• 1971: The very technical West Pillar route was climbed in May by Frenchmen B. Mellet and Y. Seigneur.
• 1975: An expedition led by Aleš Kunaver reached the top of Makalu up its steep southern side, becoming the first Slovenes to summit an eight-thousander. The first amongst them was Stane Belak. This was the third ascent of an eight-thousand meter peak by a great mountain face.
• 1980: The second ascent of the West Pillar was completed in May by John Roskelley (summit), Chris Kopczynski, James States and Kim Momb, without Sherpa support and without bottled oxygen.
• 1981: On 15 October renowned Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka ascended Makalu via a new route up the north-western side and north crest. Kukuczka climbed solo, in Alpine style, without supplemental oxygen.
• 1988: Frenchman Marc Batard climbed in one day (after camps were set up) to the summit via the West Buttress on April 27.
• 1988: On October 12, Carlos Carsolio summit Makalu for his third eight-thousander in his personal account.
• 2006: On or about January 27 the French mountaineer Jean-Christophe Lafaille disappeared on Makalu while trying to make the first winter ascent.
• 2009: Makalu was first climbed in winter on February 9, 2009 by Italian Simone Moro and Kazakh Denis Urubko. It was the final Nepali eight-thousander to be climbed in winter conditions. Moro had previously made the first winter ascent of Shishapangma in winter 2005 with Pole Piotr Morawski.

Makalu is one of the harder eight-thousanders, and is considered one of the most difficult mountains in the world to climb. The mountain is notorious for its steep pitches and knife-edged ridges that are completely open to the elements. The final ascent of the summit pyramid involves technical rock/ice climbing.

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Climbing history Of Makalu

The first attempt on Makalu was made by an American team led by William Siri in the spring of 1954. The expedition was composed of Sierra Club members including Allen Steck, and was called the California Himalayan Expedition to Makalu. This was the first American mountaineering expedition to the Himalaya. They attempted the southeast ridge but were turned back at 7,100 m (23,300 ft) by a constant barrage of storms. A New Zealand team including Sir Edmund Hillary was also active in the spring, but did not get very high due to injury and illness. In the fall of 1954, a French reconnaissance expedition made the first ascents of the subsidiary summits Kangchungtse (October 22: Jean Franco, Lionel Terray, Sardar Gyaltsen Norbu and Pa Norbu) and Chomo Lonzo (October 30(?): Jean Couzy and Terray).

Makalu was first climbed on May 15, 1955 by Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy of a French expedition led by Jean Franco. Franco, G. Magnone and Sardar Gyaltsen Norbu summitted the next day, followed by Bouvier, S. Coupe, Leroux and A. Vialatte on the 17th. This was an amazing achievement at the time to have the vast majority of expedition member summit, especially on such a difficult peak. Prior to this time, summits were reached by 1-2 people at most with the rest of teams providing logistical support before turning around and heading home. The French team climbed Makalu by the north face and northeast ridge, via the saddle between Makalu and Kangchungtse (the Makalu-La), establishing the standard route.

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Makalu the fifth of Eight thousanders Of Himalaya

Makalu from the southwest

Makalu is the fifth highest mountain in the world at 8,481 metres (27,825 ft) and is located 19 km (12 mi) southeast of Mount Everest, on the border between Nepal and China. One of the eight-thousanders, Makalu is an isolated peak whose shape is a four-sided pyramid.

Makalu has two notable subsidiary peaks. Kangchungtse, or Makalu II (7,678 m) lies about 3 km (2 mi) north-northwest of the main summit. Rising about 5 km (3.1 mi) north-northeast of the main summit across a broad plateau, and connected to Kangchungtse by a narrow, 7,200 m saddle, is Chomo Lonzo (7,804 m).

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Timeline Climbing Of Lhotse

• 1955 Attempt by the International Himalayan Expedition.
• 1956 First ascent of the main summit.
• 1965 First attempt on Lhotse Shar by a Japanese expedition - reached 8,100m.
• 1979 First ascent of Lhotse Shar by Austrian expedition.
• 1979 Second ascent of the main summit by Jerzy Kukuczka.
• 1981 April 30 Third ascent of the main summit by Hristo Prodanov, Bulgaria.
• 1981 October 16 Second ascent of Lhotse Shar Switzerland
• 1984 May 20 The first ascent of the south face of the mountain finished on Lhotse Shar Czechoslovakia
• 1986 Ascent by Reinhold Messner, thus becoming the first man to climb all of the Fourteen Eight-Thousanders.
• 1988 December 31 Krzysztof Wielicki, a Polish climber, completed the first winter ascent of Lhotse.
• 1989 October 24 Jerzy Kukuczka perishes while climbing the South Face of Lhotse, when his secondhand rope breaks.
• 1994 May 13 Carlos Carsolio got mountaintop solo, introducing a world speed record at 23 h 50 min rise from basecamp to the summit.
• 1996 Chantal Mauduit becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Lhotse.
• 2001 First ascent of Lhotse Middle.
• 2007 Pemba Doma Sherpa, Nepali mountaineer and two-time summiter of Mt. Everest, falls to her death from Lhotse at 8000 m

Lhotse Middle

Lhotse Middle was first climbed in 2001 by three groups of Russian climbers. At the time it was the last unclimbed named eight thousand metre summit.

The 2001 climb was not the first expedition to the peak; the idea of its ascent was originated by Vladimir Bashkirov (who died in a 1997 expedition).

Summit party details:

• May 23 - first group: Alexey Bolotov, Sergey Timofeev, Evgeny Vinogradsky, Petr Kuznetsov
• May 24 - second group: Nikolay Zilin, Gleb Sokolov (the first person to have climbed all the Lhotse peaks), Yuri Koshelenko
• May 27 - third group: Vladimir Yanochkin, Viktor Volodin

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Climbing Of Lhotse

An early attempt on Lhotse was by the 1955 International Himalayan Expedition, headed by Norman Dyhrenfurth. It also included two Austrians (cartographer Erwin Schneider and Ernst Senn) and two Swiss (Bruno Spirig and Arthur Spöhel), and was the first expedition in the Everest area to include Americans (Fred Beckey, George Bell, and Richard McGowan). The Nepalese liaison officer was Gaya Nanda Vaidya. They were accompanied by 200 local porters and several climbing Sherpas. After a brief look at the dangerous southern approaches of Lhotse Shar, they turned their attention, during September and October, to the West Cwm and the northwest face of Lhotse, on which they achieved an altitude of about 8,100 metres (26,600 ft). They were beaten back by unexpectedly strong wind and cold temperatures. Under Schneider's direction they completed the first map of the Everest area (1:50,000 photogrammetric). The expedition also made several short films covering local cultural topics, and made a number of first ascents of smaller peaks in the Khumbu region.

The main summit of Lhotse was first climbed on May 18, 1956 by the Swiss team of Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger from the Swiss Mount Everest/Lhotse Expedition. On May 12, 1979, Sepp Mayerl and Rolf Walter of Austria made the first ascent of Lhotse Shar. Lhotse Middle remained, for a long time, the highest unclimbed named point on Earth; on May 23, 2001, its first ascent was made by Eugeny Vinogradsky, Sergei Timofeev, Alexei Bolotov and Petr Kuznetsov of a Russian expedition.

On May 23, 2010 Tamara Lunger becomes the youngest female climber (aged 23 years, 11 months, and 17 days), to have reached the main summit. On May 20, 2011 at age 17 years, 11 months and 16 days, Arjun Vajpai becomes the youngest climber ever to summit the main peak. On May 2011 the Spanish climber Carlos Soria Fontán became the oldest person ever to summit Lhotse, at the age of 72 years and 105 days.

As of December 2008, 371 climbers have summitted Lhotse and 20 have died.

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Lhotse the fourth of Eight thousanders Of Himalaya

Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain on Earth (after Mount Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga) and is connected to Everest via the South Col. In addition to the main summit at 8,516 metres (27,940 ft) above sea level, Lhotse Middle (East) is 8,414 metres (27,605 ft) and Lhotse Shar is 8,383 metres (27,503 ft). It is located at the border between Tibet (China) and the Khumbu region of Nepal.

Notable features

Lhotse is best known for its proximity to Mount Everest and the fact that climbers ascending the standard route on that peak spend some time on its northwest face; see below. In fact Lhotse has the smallest topographic prominence value of any official eight-thousander, as it rises only 610 m (2,000 ft) above the South Col. Hence it is often seen as a minor eight-thousander.

However, Lhotse is a dramatic peak in its own right, due to its tremendous south face. This rises 3.2 km (2.0 mi) in only 2.25 km (1.4 mi) of horizontal distance, making it the steepest face of this size in the world. The south face has been the scene of many failed attempts, some notable fatalities, and very few ascents (one of them, by Tomo Česen, unverified).

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