Makalu

The fifth-highest mountain on Earth, 8,485 metres, twenty kilometres east of Everest. Makalu is a four-sided pyramid — a near-perfect geometric form rising from the surrounding ridges with a clarity that makes it instantly identifiable from any direction. The name comes from the Sanskrit Mahā Kāla — "great black" — a reference to the dark rock that dominates the upper mountain when seen from a distance.

The first ascent was made in 1955 by a French expedition led by Jean Franco. Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy reached the summit on May 15. By the time of the second summit attempt three days later, every climber who had tried — nine in total — had reached the top. It remains one of the cleanest first-ascent expeditions in the history of high-altitude climbing. No deaths. No major incidents. A team that arrived prepared and executed.

What makes Makalu difficult is not the standard route but the mountain's character. The summit pyramid above 8,000 metres requires technical climbing on rock and steep ice — more sustained difficulty than any other 8000er via its standard line. The fatality rate is approximately 22 percent. The weather pattern, similar to Kangchenjunga's, is among the worst in the range.

The West Pillar, climbed first in 1971 by another French team, is one of the great alpine routes in the Himalaya — a continuous granite buttress rising 2,500 metres to the summit. It has been climbed only a handful of times since. Makalu does not attract the volume of attempts that Everest and Cho Oyu do. Those who come are climbers in the older sense.