About 14 miles East of Mt. Everest lies Makalu, the 5th highest
peak in the world. First summited by the Frenchmen Jean Couzy and
Lionel Terray on May 15th of 1955, Makalu is considered among one
of the hardest mountains to climb due to its knife-edge ridges and
steep pitches. Not hard enough, however, to keep Italian
mountaineer Simone Moro and Kazakh Denis Urunko from making the
first winter ascent just several months ago - February 9th,
2009.
Appropriate Houston Training regimen: Build an indoor
rock wall in a walk-in freezer. Cover half of the handholds with
ice and climb repeatedly for 5 hours with a 45 lb pack.
Other caches in this series:
No Hills Here - Nuptse
No Hills Here - Cho Oyu
No Hills Here - Lhotse