Makalu Expedition

Mt Makalu was first attempted to climb by American team in 1954 led by W. Siri under the banner of California Himalayan Expedition to Makalu. Their attempt was unsuccessful due to bad weather – constant storm beyond resistance – thus they were forced to turn back at 7,100 m/ 23,300ft. due to bad weather. The team of American climber used southeast ridge to climb. In the same spring, same year 1954, New Zealand team including famous now Edmond Hillary were trying but due to illness and injury their team abandoned from the Camp II.

In the fall of 1954, French Reconnaissance expedition to Mt. Makalu was carried out and they successfully climbed the subsidiary peak of the Makalu namely Kangchungtse or often called as Makalu II at 7,678 m/ 25,190 ft and lies some 3 km / 1.9 mile northwest of the main summit Makalu. This proved to be helpful for the successful summit of the Mt. Makalu next year in the spring.

Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy from the French Expedition lead by Jean Franco became first human to stand atop Makalu on May 15, 1955. Franco – the leader of the team himself, Guido Magnone, and Gyalzen Norbu Sherpa reached the top of Makalu next day. Next day on the 17th of May other climbers reached the top and became a huge successful expedition since almost all members of the team summit the peak. This expedition chose the north face route from the north East Ridge.

As an early explorations, in 1849 the peak was registered by Indian Topographical survey as the Peak XIII – XV was the notation given to the peak Mt Everest. From his expedition to Everest in 1921 as the team member of British Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition, Howard Burey made elaborated description on Mt. Makalu region, and took pictures of the summit. Subsequently, the Britain Everest Committee led by Eric Shenton in 1951 located the routes on the South face of Makalu. As described earlier in 1955 French climbers reached on the summit of Mt. Makalu and since then many climbers have reached to the top.

In1970 Japanese mountaineers Ch. Takanaka and I. Otsaki climbed the South-East ridge of Makalu successfully and became the first team to summit the peak from south east route. 1971 French expedition team members J. Senior and B. Millet climbed the peak via the west ridge. In 1977 The Russian expedition team led by Sergey Efimov and his team Alexei Bolotov, Yuri Ermachek, Dmitri Pavlenko, Igor Bugachevski and Nikolai Jiline had summit most difficult west face of Mt. Makalu. The Italian climbers Simone Moro and Kazakh Denis Urubko became the first climbers to reach the summit of Makalu in the winter season.

Satori Adventures operates 55 days full board Makalu expedition each spring season. However we are not limited to the spring season be there your interest for the autumn season. We are equally efficient in both seasons for the Mt. Makalu Expedition operations with our staff resources, Sherpa guides, and others. We are happy to provide services at the fair and reasonable prices in autumn season too.

During the Mt. Makalu climbing, Satori adventures fixes five camps including Advance base camp.

Our Mt. Makalu Advance base camp will be at the height of 5,600 m / 18,372ft while the first camp is at an altitude of 6,400m / 21,000ft. The distance between these two camps is merely a 4-5 hours of ascent/walk. Our team fixes Makalu Camp II at a height of 6,800m/ 22,310ft which takes about 3 hours to climb from Camp I. Similarly, Camp III will be fixed at 7,450 m/24,445 ft. that is about 4 hrs. Ascent, and the final camp will be at an altitude of 7,900m / 25,918 ft. before the summit.

Satori Adventures offers unrivaled expedition services in Makalu Expeditions with high level of competency, safety measures, and comfort. We are attentive to small size of the climbing groups to bring you successfully to the top. What we are different to many commercial teams and expeditions is our efficient management due to group size.

You will be served with fresh and nutritious food at Base Camp in our Base Camp service and hygienic and nutritious food above Base camp for full board service. You will get sufficient mask, regulators, and bottles of Oxygen for your successful climb.

During your Makalu Climbing, we use climbing Sherpas who are the most seasoned, highly professional, experienced and trained in the western standard. They are known for their personalized care and professional assistance. We are in fact well known for the seasoned expedition operations in the Himalayas with safe climbing environment equipped with highly experienced Sherpas, sophisticated equipment’s, and unparalleled management abilities. Our price for the Makalu Expedition is affordable and competitive with the maximum success rate.

Your Makalu expedition starts from arriving in Kathmandu and after a two-day staying at Kathmandu and final preparations including climbing equipment, climbing permits, high-altitude foods, etc. trekking to the Advance Base Camp through beautiful Sherpa settlements. You will fly from Kathmandu to Tumlingtar and reach to Advance Base Camp of Makalu Himal with 09 days of trekking.

You are welcome to contact our expert advisors for further information on Mt. Makalu Expeditions, Makalu Guided Expedition 2024, Makalu climbing route, Makalu Climbing Season and others.

Satori Adventures found that many mountaineers choose to climb the wrong technical mountain because of a lack of proper information before they decided. Accurate information is really important for you so you can fit the mountain as per your experience, stamina, and interests. When a climber read the wrong information about the technical parts of any mountain through internet/ websites, the climber will make the wrong decision where risk and unsuccessful results.

We found that many climbers get information from search engines, blogs, and social media regarding how technical is Mount Makalu climbing. Mountaineering is difficult. How easy or how difficult is Makalu expedition in comparison with other 8000m or the peak of similar heights. It also depends on the climber’s previous climbing experiences, physical fitness, weather, age, quality of personal climbing equipment, experience of climbing Sherpa guide, reputation and background of the operator, and climbing season as well.

Mt. Makalu is one of the hardest and technical eight-thousander in the world to climb. Primarily between Camp II to Camp III, and final ascent of the summit pyramid involves technical rock climbing with some 400m of knife ridge ascent route.

The approach to base camp on its south side is through the Barun region of Nepal leading up to Sarsing Kharka Glacier. It starts with the flight to Tumlingtar from Kathmandu and the beautiful trek via Num, Yangle Kharka, Langmale Kharka to the Makalu Base Camp and Advance base Camp finally. The Advance Base camp of Makalu is also called Hillary Base camp at 5,600m /18,373 ft. This pre-climbing period of trekking is of 10-12 days including acclimatization period.

The Makalu Advance Base camp is on rocks so is hotter than other base camps. As the base camp is in front of the mount Makalu, the summit is almost invisible because of rays of sun in the morning and visible shining in the latter afternoon and evening. It takes about 5 hours to reach the Advance Base camp from Makalu Base camp. The first two hours is easy and light, and the rest of the three hours is difficult because of snow and rocks.

After two or three days of rest and preparation at the Makalu base camp, your climbing Sherpa guides take you up to the Camp I and Camp II for acclimatization. On average, it takes approximately four and half an hour for you in the first time to reach Camp I from the Advance base camp.

From camp 1, it takes about three hours ascends to reach camp 2, if you are a climber with average stamina. It depends on your acclimatization, weather condition, physical fitness, and walking pace. After an hour of snow uphill in 25-30 degrees ice wall slope, and another 30 minutes of the rough climb you reach sections which pose challenges for climbers. The journey between Camp-1 and Camp-2 is considered being a moderate part of the Lhotse expedition. There is one Ice Crevasse in this Lhotse climbing route. Climbing rope fixing team fixes the ladder 1 places (it depends on climbing season and year) to cross these crevasses. The ladder is in flat Steep in between 2.5-3 meters’ distance of Crevasse.

Mt. Lhotse camp 2 and Everest camp 2 is also located at the same place and point. Satori adventures have kitchen and dining arrangements at camp two where we are able to provide fresh cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner including all kinds of hot drinks. There is a totally fixed-rope route line between camps one and 2. Camp II is located at the height of 6,400m/20,997ft., which is also a safe location as the campsites of the Everest south col wall. There are totally Small and large sizes of stones and if there is snowfall then-new snows at the Lhotse Camp-2, climbing Sherpa’s guides fix the Dining tent, kitchen tent and member tent here to provide more quality of service.

The Mount Lhotse climbing from Camp 2 (C2) to Camp 3 (C3) is safe and comparatively easy to climb. It takes about three hours for average stamina climbers to climb this section. After two hours of walking above the snow slope about 15-20 degrees, you will arrive at the rope fixing section was about 100 m high vertical Ice slope below C3 and takes about 30 minutes to climb. This place is very steep with snow and ice. Since there are many climbers to climb Mt. Everest and Lhotse in the spring, not all climbers have enough space for Siberia. For the same reason, the third base should be made by clearing the snow and breaking the ice. Lhotse Camp-3 is pitched at an elevation of 6,900m / 22,638 ft.

From Camp 3, it takes about four and a half hours climbing to reach camp 4 (C4) for average stamina climbers. This duration can fluctuate depending upon how many climbers are there at a time to carry out their climbing. If there are many climbers ascending and descending and traffic is bad, then it may take 6-8 hours because the climbing route from the advance base camp of Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse to the fourth camp (just below camp four) is the same for both the mountains. About 380 climbers on Mount Everest and 100 climbers on Lhotse and the same number of Sherpa guides strive for a successful ascent each spring season. The climbing route is a more vertical snow wall in this part, and with a limited Anker that can be used to either ascend or descend by one climber at a time in Yellow band. Lhotse camp–4 is also set up above the Ice. The Lhotse 4th base camp is also steep and ice-fearing, so space should be made and placed on the snow. Lhotse Camp 4 fixed about height of 7,925m /25,984 ft.

The Lhotse climbing route from the fourth camp to the mount Lhotse summit is smooth and safe except in Couloir below the summit where you have to walk and spent 6 hours to ascend and 4 hours to descend. We advise climbers to bring and wear a helmet as there is a greater risk of small rocks and ice fragments falling from the summit in this area. As per our previous experience, almost 90% of climber use Oxygen in this summit part. That might be the reason that climbers feel easy to ascend. You may start at about 23:00 pm to 00:00 am for the Lhotse summit target by 07:00 to 08:00 am. That means the distance between Camp 4 to Summit of Mt. Lhotse is an average of 08-09 hours of climbing distance—not fixed to any climber and it’s all approximate to the climber with average climbing stamina. It takes about 4-6 hours of descent from the summit to Camp four.

About one and half an hour ascending from the Lhotse Camp 4 you reach the vertical snow wall climbing place, which is about 45-50m to even 60 degrees of slope gorge between two hills. After crossing this vertical snow wall with fixed static rope, you ascend six to seven-hour further. Almost from here to just below the real Summit of Lhotse 8516m/ 27940ft. approximately, it takes about 30 minute’s average pace of 50 degrees of the vertical route to stand on the top of the mount Lhotse summit at a height of 8516m/27940ft. The rope fixing team always fixes the rope line from C4 to summit completely for safety reasons. The space on the Mt. Lhotse summit point is really narrow even hard to accommodate 2-3 climbers together. This is why sometimes there is long traffic on summit queues.

If you are a climber with good stamina, then you can descend all the way down to Camp 3 or even Camp 2 the same day from the summit. If you are a climber of average stamina, then you can descend to Camp 4 and then next day to Camp 2 and to the Advance Base camp the subsequent day.

Makalu Base Camp (5,600M/18,372ft):
Makalu Advanced base camp is located on a rocky moraine with amazing views of the Himalayan peaks surrounding. Satori Adventures’ Makalu Advance Base camp will be setup for almost one month period. On any 8000m expedition climbers spend most of their time at base camp thus naturally this base camp becomes a home away from home. We establish our camp at a walking distance between different groups and with a strategic view of the Makalu massif. Satori provides a personal tent which will be your private retreat for a month, a dining tent that is the common area, a shower tent and a toilet tent. When you arrive at the base camp it will already be fully established with hot beverages and snacks available immediately. Your base camp staff and high altitude climbing Sherpa will be awaiting there. Prior to your climbing period you will have a Pooja ceremony at the base camp for safe passage to the summit and good fortune with weather. This is one Nepalese tradition not to miss.

Makalu Camp I (6,400 m/ 21,000 ft.) 3-4 hrs. Ascent:
Once you completed some stimulating training session by your climbing Sherpa guide, to confirm coordination during the climb, at the Base Camp, you are now ready for your attempt to climb to camp I which is at a height of 6,400 m/ 21,000 ft. Prior to the first section of glacier you will encounter grassy slopes, rock boulders and moraine. Once on the glacier you will encounter mixed terrain including a few crevasses and some 200m of blue ice. The first section of climbing on the moraine takes about an hour after which you reach at the crampon point at the mouth of the glacier. It takes approximately two hours of walk/climb the glacier portion. For climbers with average stamina it takes about 3-4 hours to reach to the Camp I. There are two sections of camps known as Lower Camp I and Upper Camp I and the distance between the two is about 100m/328ft. Thus Camp I is fixed between 6,400m – 6,500m depends upon the situations.

Makalu Camp II (6,800m/22,310ft): 2½hrs Ascent
Climbing from Camp I to Camp II at 6,800m/ 22,310ft. is considered the moderate technical section on Mt. Makalu climbing. During this section you encounter the heart of ice and snow. The first section is slogging over snow for about an hour, and then you encounter several steep sections of ice. You encounter to some short sections of ice fall during the climb, but that do not require ladder. These sections can be crossed with the help of fixed ropes, and few big steps. For the most climbers this is the crux of the route. To climb from Camp I to Camp II, slow climbers take about 2½-3 hours. Camp II is situated above the beautiful snowy terrace.

Makalu Camp III (7,450 m/24,445ft): 4 hrs. Ascent
This is the longest section of the route in distance. It extends 600 m/ 1,968ft. It does not require any ladder crossings, but there are few crevasses that are roughly a half meter long that you jump. Main ropes are fixed by a climbing Sherpa support team. Climbers primarily feel easier to climb this section but still not to be taken lightly. Climbing is on sustained slopes and there is exposure to cold and wind. This is the camp from where 40% of climbers plan to do their summit push. However, Satori Adventures always fixes Camp IV before the summit so that clients can get a half night rest and accomplish their summit bid successfully. This section roughly will be climbed in 4 – 5 hours depending on stamina and exposure in this height.

Makalu Camp IV (7,900 m/ 25,918ft.):
Though many climbers attempt their summit push from Camp III, but we fix Camp IV for the successful climbing of Makalu. Climbing from camp III to camp IV feels like a short day, the distance is short, but now you are nearing the death zone. The oxygen level is very low at this altitude so it is expected that any effort no matter how minimum or trivial will be arduous. You climb for some 3 hours on a steep snow that is at 50º-55º slope. The section is a bit dangerous in autumn season because the snow slope covers a layer of ice that makes the section avalanche prone. This is the reason Satori Adventures operates Mt. Makalu Expedition in the spring season only. Many consider the crux of route to be the Seignior Wall which will be crossed here. Camp will be set up right above the Makalu La. Camp IV at 7,900m allows you to have a shorter summit day.

Makalu Summit (8,485m/ 27,838ft): 16-17 hrs.
This is the most important section of the climbing and the day you achieve your long standing goal. You may begin your summit bid at around 11:00 pm. If all goes well you reach the summit between 7-10am. While approaching to the summit there is a false summit below the main summit. The main summit is reached via an exposed ridge. The climbing is not technical in the early part as you ascend through several basins with short snow headwalls. Satori Adventures Sherpa guides will fix ropes, break trail and make every effort to assist the group to reach the summit of the 5th highest mountain in the world. It takes about five hours to return to Camp IV from the summit and another two hours to get to camp three for overnight stay.

Satori Adventures operate our expedition in the Himalayas with well-trained Sherpas of western standard born and raised in the foothills of the Himalayas. Their excellence and glorious climbing history need no more explanation. Our Sherpas have climbed Everest and other peaks in the Himalayas of all heights multiple times, and prove themselves to be the best climbers and Leader/guide.

Our Sherpas will make sure that cooperation with other Sherpas from different companies and Base Camp organizations is intact. It is essential that all climbing teams work together in the Himalayas with proper contribution from all operators on the tasks such as route fixing and ensuring safety of climbers from Base to the summit. Our Sherpas lead in these efforts.

How to choose an experienced expedition service provider
It is important for each climber to choose the right expedition guide service that not only fits with their needs, but provides the best possible, safe, and secured climbing experiences. There are more than 1,700 trekking companies in Nepal who claim to offer 8,000 meter expeditions including Everest, but only about 30 companies operate expedition to 8,000 meter peaks on a regular basis. We are proud to be one of these 30 companies and consistently offer, run and succeed on this adventure year after year.
It is very important that you choose Satori Adventures for this kind of a lifetime experience trip which must be compatible with the program we offer with your expectations.  We do not want to simply “fill our expedition” seats, but instead we want to comprise a team of companionable climbers who are focused on reaching their goal i.e. the summit of Mt Makalu. We commit and promise to provide the level of support and safety standards that are equal to the Mt Everest expeditions. We offer the best possible environment and opportunity for you to be successful on the world’s highest mountain.

Small-Sized climbing Team members
We are constantly focusing on improving our operational systems to ensure you benefit from the services we provide as much as you can. We make sure that our expedition members do not deserve anything less during the trekking and climbing! To ensure the optimum chances of summit, we limit our team size. That gives the best summit options even in the limited window of good weather. There is a common practice that companies operate the expedition in the big size of group offering cheap climbing costs that quite often have to split out the group over several groups on the potential summit days. We try our best to make sure that our climbing members feel that they are climbing as a family and friends besides international combination. We accept maximum 08 people in a group and if we have more than that we always split in two groups. So that our base camp staff cooks, climbing Sherpa guide will fully taking care about you and provide service as per your desire.

Maximum Summit Success Rate
Satori Adventures’ methodology and tactical approach to climbing Mt Everest and other 8000m helps towards the highest success rates. And similarly our extensive experience gives us the edge when it comes to making the right decisions. We provide a consistently higher Sherpa and Guide ratio than any other operators, resulting in more support and backup for your summit attempt and therefore a greater safety margin and more chances of success. There is always a 1:1 ratio of the climbing Sherpa/guide and client in our expeditions. We always use professional and experienced climbing Sherpa or guides who have all reached the summit of Mt. Everest multiple times and the Mt Makalu as well.

Highly Qualified Sirdar/Team leader
Our guides are professionals who are trained and assessed either via the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations (IFMGA) resulting in a greater repertoire of skills that enable them to provide a dedicated level of security to you during the expedition. They have many years of mountaineering experiences on the world’s biggest peaks. Our guides are experienced in both advanced and basic rescue courses as well and can handle the risk situations independently and all have a minimum of 3 years guiding experiences on the Mt. Everest and other 8000 m peaks.

Advanced Communication method
Satori Adventures all expeditions have been at the forefront of providing top communications for our expeditions. This allows us to obtain and deliver comprehensive weather forecasts via U.S., European and Kathmandu weather forecasting services. Our lead guide is always equipped with a satellite phone during the climbing and at base camp. Two way radio communications between climbing members, guides, Sherpa and base camp staffs is also provided. There is also local mobile network available at base camp that provides easy connection with your family during your stay at base camp.

Facilities camp setup at Base Camp and Kitchen at camp two
Satori Adventures focuses on comfortable conditions at base camp, including good quality food and other services. We find that this helps clients with their overall success rate on the mountain. Our cooks are some of the best in the business, providing wholesome and appetizing meals with an agreeable array of menus to suit all your food requirements. The meals you are served on the mountain are also of the highest standard and designed to sustain you for the rigorous ascent. We offer various choices that will suit any diet plan, including vegetarian, Vegan, continental, Indian and others. If you have special food consideration, please provide this to us 60 days prior to the expedition so we can plan the best meals for your trip.

Approaches to ABC
The approach on its south side is through the Barun region of Nepal leading up to SarsingKharka Glacier. It starts with the flight to Tumlingtar and the trek via Num (1980m/6,496ft), Seduwa (1500m/4,922ft), Tashigaoun (2100m/6,890ft), KhongmaDanda(3500m/11483ft) ,Dobsto (3650m/11,975ft),YangleKharka (3600m/11,811ft), LangmaleKharka (4410m/14469ft),  Makalu Base Camp (5018m/16,464ft) to Advance base Camp (5600m/18,373ft). It takes typically 12 days to reach ABC from Kathmandu.

What to expect?
When you arrive at the base camp, our staff will set up the camp and you will have time to rest and continue to acclimate. Upon completing a Pooja ceremony at base camp, our team of Sherpa’s will begin to open the route to camp I. When this is completed, our guides will begin to take you and necessary loads of logistics to camp I. Depending on your physical fitness and bodies’ reaction to altitude, you may stay at camp I for a second night, or move up to camp II and then descend back to base camp.

Our team will then open the route and fix the lines to camp II and supply the camp with gear, equipments and food. If required for acclimatization and if the weather conditions allow, you may sleep a second night at camp II, or proceed up to camp III and then return. During your rest and time at base camp our team will continue to open the route, fix the camp and line and supply food, oxygen, and equipment and prepare for the summit push.

After your camp I and II acclimatization, our climbing guides will check the weather forecast, group fitness and recovery conditions. If upcoming weather reports, your physical fitness and conditions are good, we will begin the summit push. On the summit push, you will move to camp I, camp II and then camp III before moving to the summit.

If due to any reason (bad weather, group physical fitness, accident, or other unavoidable incidence) we have to return to base camp before the summit push, but still have climbing time, good weather conditions and climbers are interested for another summit push, we will provide one more opportunity. However, more than 98% of climbers either summit on the first try, or give up the trip after the first summit attempt.