Climbing Mount Makalu
Heber Orona - Aventurarse Expert

An Argentine climbing the fifth tallest mountain in the world. An exciting adventure in the Himalayas mountain range; a world in itself. Notes of an expedition. Sir Edmund Hillary once wrote, "The freedom offered by the mountains is only comparable to the one given by writing: White peaks and white paper. Those of us who enjoy these pleasures are clearly seeking to expand our limits and our fantasy."

During the month of November of 1997, I received a fax written in broken Spanish. It was an invitation to join the expedition that would climb, without the aid of oxygen, the 8563 meters of Mount Makalu, in the Himalayas mountain range.

Makalu translated to "The Sacred Black Goddess". It is the firth highest peak in the world, preceded only by Mount Everest(8848 meters), the difficult K2(8611 meters), Mount Kanchenjunga (8586 meters) and the beautiful Mount Lhotse(8516 meters). Makalu was climbed for the first time in 1954, by two Frenchmen: Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy.

The fax mentioned my experience in ice climbing and the way my body easily adapted to height. The idea of climbing Mount Makalu conquered me immediately; not only because of its height, but also because of its technical difficulty and the fact that I could be the first Argentine climber to explore its summit.

The months after receiving the invitation were occupied by finding financial support and guiding a couple of ascents in Aconcagua, slowly adapting my body to the height. On April the 6th, when everything was ready, I flew to Barcelona. A week later, we flew to Kathmandu. Looking out the airplane window, I could spot some of the world's tallest mountains.

The Kathmandu airport is chaotic with people coming and going, with people offering their services in poor English; almost as poor as mine, but enough to communicate. Dharma suddenly appeared amid the crowd. He would be our liaison, cook, Sherpa coordinator and was the manager of the hotel where we would rest in Kathmandu. The hotel was called Thamel, after the neighborhood it was in, where most of the city's tourist services were offered.

Katmandu collides, with strength and pride, against Western values. It is a mystic city, where poverty, happiness, religion and peace go hand in hand. Temples rise here and there and complement the city's traits. During the next three days, we explored the city and acquired a few pieces of equipment we were lacking.

Until arriving in Europe, I only knew one of the members of the expedition: Iván Loredo, a Mexican who had conquered three of the fourteen peaks in the world that rise above 8000 meters. We had shared some adventures in the Andes. The leader of the expedition was Oscar Cardiach, from Cataluña, with six peaks over 8000 meters on his back. The team was complete with Nani Duró, from Andorra and Luis Rafo Pujol, also from Cataluña.

In order to transport all of our equipment up to the base camp, we used the service of 44 Sherpas. The Sherpas are a shepherd culture that has inhabited the region for countless years. 1008 years ago, to be precise, they were guided into the mountains by the gods and their leader, Thakpa Tot. They are very kind, short and resemble Mongolic physical traits. They can carry incredible loads, packed in backpacks that hang from straps placed across their foreheads. Until the arrival of tourism, the Sherpas were uninterested in money and possessions, but as they got used to climbers and walkers, they changed many of their ways.

On the road to base camp

A small aircraft of the Nepal Royal Airlines flew us from Katmandu to the city of Tunlingtar. 11 harsh days of trekking awaited us. This helped us adapt slowly to the new atmospheric conditions, and allowed us to get acquainted with a land of precarious houses, ancient history and impossible rice fields.

During these days of trekking, we rose above 4000 meters several times. Here vegetation is almost inexistent. We would then descend below 1000 meters, amid the humid, subtropical forests. We got to see many beautiful mountains, some above 6000 meters, that have never been climbed: They form part of the people's sacred values.

20 days after leaving Argentina, we arrived at the base camp, where, as we looked towards the skies, we had to hold our breath for a couple of seconds: we were impressed with Macula's impressive figure, in front of us for the first time. I understood why the Sherpas call it the "Sacred Black Goddess". At a height of 4800 meters, the wind was starting to feel cold.

With a reduced number of Sherpas, we approached the advanced base camp, at 5600 meters. We found four expeditions: a German expedition on its way down, one from Russia, one from Czechoslovakia and one from Austria. Three days before, the German crew had tried to summit unsuccessfully and were forced down. At reached 8000 meters, and on the way back were unable to find their tent and had to spend the night elsewhere. Two of them had serious freeze problems.

The weather was not very good at these altitudes, and no one had been able to summit during the whole season. The wind and the strong snow had not rested when we go there. We had to rest from the long days of trekking, so we welcomed a few stormy days.

At the base camp, the Russian expedition, rough and friendly, had a satellite phone. We were able to let my family know that we were okay and hear some news from Argentina (at a price of $10 a minute).

The ascent

Three days later, we began climbing and set up Camp Nr 1 at a height of 6600 meters. On the same day we were able to go back down to the advanced base camp, with Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse making their way out of the clouds, overwhelming and motivating us.

We repeated our trip to Camp 1 several times, gradually getting used to the height, before we set up Camp 2 at a height of 7400 meters. We set up permanent ropes in 600 of the 800 meters that separate Camp 1 from Camp 2. In Camp 2 we spent a cold night, and in the morning we went down to the advanced base camp to rest and wait for good weather to climb again.

On May the 17th, 20 days after arriving in Nepal, we began to climb, the summit in our minds. Nani and Oscar had parted the day before, and we hoped to find them in Camp 1, but they followed the Bulgarian expedition's footsteps. When we arrived at Camp 1, a thin sheet of snow covered our tents. Until then I was feeling strong and willing to summit. Iván felt the same, but Luis did not look too good. We then went on to Camp 2 and spent the night. The next day, we headed towards Camp 3, through 40 to 45 degree slopes. The final stretch was a difficult 60 degree pass. We then built our tent in the only place possible: a small clearing amid the cliffs. That night, at a height of 7900 meters, we happily found out that the other two members of our group had taken advantage of the Bulgarian ropes and stepped on the summit on a splendid day.

The Domains of the Gods

Spending the night at a height close to 8000 meters is complicated, but I was feeling well. The altimeter, nailed in 7900 meters, was hard to believe. Misunderstandings among the group forced us to stay there another day, and spend another night. A German with no tent arrived with the sunset, and we let him sleep in ours. Our anxiety grew as we saw the summit just above us, and we knew that we could make it.

During our second night there, we saw that the weather was good. WE woke up at 2:15 am and prepared breakfast. Iván and I changed, but Luis didn't. He was decomposed and dehydrated.

After preparing our equipment, we left Luis in the tent and began to climb. The first 200 meters were a combination of snow and rocks. At 8200 meters, we came across a difficult pass where permanent ropes had been installed. But they were not in good shape and we didn't use them. We climbed freely, but close to the ropes, in order to hang on if we were in trouble. We carried on to 8350 meters, where we found a terrain of decomposed rock. Temperature was beginning to get worse. The dark clouds were approaching us. After 2:oo pm, the wind became strong, and the height was felt in our bodies. Iván could hardly think or advance slowly. I had about an hour to reach my objective, and had to carry on alone, Iván couldn't go on.

At 3:00pm, 60 meters away from the summit, 8400 meters above sea level, responsibility towards myself and my teammate forced me to abandon my struggle for the summit.

Anger, impotence, disillusion and loneliness invaded me, but I knew I had done the right thing. This certainty was confirmed when, already in the evening, we couldn't find our tent, hidden in the white winds. We then saw a something shining among the snow. We followed it and found the long-lost campground. As we saw the tent being shaken by the wind, I remembered something I learnt when I first began climbing, "Mountains are only climbed when they allow people to climb them, and they stay there forever, always giving us the chance to try again."

We spent the night with our German friend, and then climbed down to the advanced base camp. Aided by 25 Sherpas two carry all our equipment, we made our way to the lower base camp, where a helicopter would pick us up, together with the Russian expedition. As we loaded our two tons of equipment, an urgent distress cal came across the radio form the base of the Everest. Iván, whose girlfriend Carla was climbing the tallest mountain in the world, sighed in relief when he found out she was alright. He then took advantage of the helicopter trip to wait for her at the base.

Wind was soaring in the Makalu base, and I took a final look at Mount Makalu before getting on the helicopter. I thought of our trip, and was invaded by the satisfaction of exploring this incredible mountain, of thinking and having fun, 8 kilometers above sea level, without the aid of oxygen, of learning and growing with this new experience. One step more, that I enjoyed like every other mountain I have climbed since I was a little boy.


Heber Orona is thankful for the support of CTI Móvil, Banco de San Juan, Mendoza Plaza Shopping, Dirección de Deportes (Mendoza) and I.E.

I met Heber a couple of years ago. He had just come back from climbing the South side of Aconcagua. Even then he was humble as always. It was because of this humility that it was hard to get him to write this article. Since then we have been great friends and shared many adventures. Before parting towards Nepal, he had climbed the Aconcagua 15 times, several peaks in the Bolivian Real mountain range, had been part of several expeditions in Chile and Argentina, the Ojos de Salado Volcano, Mount Mercedario, and the Tupungato volcano. Today Heber arrived with a new adventure on his mind, one of those adventures that illuminate your sight and freeze your blood at the same time. Obviously, we will be with him in this new adventure. Like friends of the mountain…friends of steel.
Javier Pia