High winds stopped Vince Anderson and Marko Prezelj from making any headway with their ambitious alpine style attempt on the West Face of Makalu (8,485m), but they came away with a notable consolation prize; the first direct ascent of the West Face of 7,678m Makalu II.

Makalu II (aka Kangchungtse) lies to the north of Makalu, the two separated by the high saddle of the Makalu La (7,400m). The standard route to both peaks climbs west-facing glaciated slopes to the La, before turning right for Makalu and left for its lower neighbour.

Anderson, Steve House (both USA) and Prezelj (Slovenia) are generally acknowledged to be amongst the finest high altitude climbers in the World, particularly when it comes to climbing technical terrain. As part of their acclimatization for the West Face of Makalu, all three gathered at Camp 2 (6,700m) on the Normal Route, hoping to remain a few nights and possibly climb Makalu II. House had a bad cough and stayed put, but Anderson and Prezelj left at 7.00 one morning and, travelling light, reached the bottom of the c900m West Face of Makalu II two hours later.

Progressing slowly but steadily, the two climbed increasingly difficult mixed ground to the prominent broad snowfield high on the face. By the time they reached the steep rocky ground below the summit it was already dark, and with Prezelj in the lead the pair pressed on through high winds, gathering cloud and dehydration (they had now run out of water) to reach the summit.

Anderson was experiencing trouble with vision, so Prezelj continued to lead down to the Makalu La, the pair eventually regaining an eagerly-awaiting House and hot drinks by 11.00pm. The storm that had threatened all day arrived that night.

Makalu II was first climbed in the autumn of 1954 during the French Makalu reconnaissance expedition. Jean Franco, Sherpas Gyaltsen Norbu and Pa Norbu, and Lionel Terray reached the summit via the Makalu La and South Face. Although Japanese climbed the North West Ridge in 1976 and Germans climbed the East Ridge in 1979, no serious attempt appears to have been made on the West Face before 1989. Stonefall had proved the biggest deterrent, particularly from the big broken rock walls that form the left side of the face.

On the 27th September 1989, Victor Saunders and Stephen Sustad, part of a British expedition with designs on Makalu II and a traverse of Makalu, left a camp on Makalu's Normal Route at c6,500m with no stove nor sleeping bag, and climbed difficult mixed ground on the lower West Face of Makalu II to reach the steep central gully. This proved hard so they opted for the buttress to the left, which led to the broad upper snowfield.

Here they ran into thigh-deep snow, and adding to their troubles the morning's perfect weather began to deteriorate rapidly. Making a long ascending traverse to the right, they forced a two-pitch chimney - the crux of the climb - and emerged in the dark onto the South East Shoulder, Pt 7,600m on the map, some 300m distant from the main summit. The climbing had been roughly equivalent to Alpine TD.

In the teeth of a storm they descended immediately, eventually forced to sit out a cold few hours of darkness with nothing to drink, somewhere near the Makalu La, before stumbling and sliding down through a metre of new snow the following day. As Saunders confessed, 'it cannot be said that we lost our way coming down; we never knew it'. They found their tent almost buried, 46 hours after leaving: lesser mortals may never have made it.

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