Chris and Marty left early Sunday morning for their second trip beyond ABC. The following day they traveled by glacier to their mid-camp located at 6200m. Today, the team left camp in freezing temperatures to face a great white wall of snow and ice known as the col on their way to the southeast ridge, a path very few have journeyed up. They arrived at the ridge just before noon and established Camp 1.

Each day they have faced declining visibility and high winds after noon, thus the team headed quickly back to their mid camp. They managed to reach camp as the clouds were closing in with visibility giving them only about a 40 foot distance in view. Chris and Marty spent the remainder of the day resting in the thick cloud enveloping the mountain. They will head out again with the early chill of the morning, make their way back to Camp 1, recon their next challenge and remain at Camp 1 for the night and continuing making progress on Makalu. 

Marty and Chris hope to reach a high point of 7500m in the next week, before heading back to Base Camp for some long deserved rest and relaxation before facing Makalu once more on their way to the summit!

All the best , 

-Ashley 

Did you catch the most recent video dispatch? View the conclusion to Video Dispatch #4 here!