The pre-monsoon season in Nepal has produced several new lines, though compared to 2009 none appear to be outstanding. In the main it is climbers from the Ukraine and Russia that have completed these ascents.

Denis Urubko's route on Lhotse has already been reported but on 8,485m Makalu, a Ukrainian team climbed a little new ground on the left side of the South West Face and also made a south to north traverse of the mountain.

The team started up the 1975 Slovenian Route but where this slants right on a rocky rib towards the centre of the face, the Ukrainians moved out left below great rock walls to reach the crest of the West (French) Pillar at c7,500m, below its main difficulties.

From Camp 5 at 7,800m on the pillar Sergei Bublik, Vladimir Roshko and Dmitry Venslavovsky reached the summit. Finding that climbers from other expeditions had reached the top via the Normal Route, the three chose to follow tracks down towards the Makalu La and established high camps to the north.

The Ukrainian line seems to be more of a shorter, but harder variation start to the Pillar, rather than an independent route.

The West Pillar was climbed in 1971 for the third ascent of the mountain by Robert Paragot's expedition. Bernard Mellat and Yannick Seigneur reached the summit.

Aesthetically, it is one of the finest lines on any high mountain in the Himalaya and at the time of its ascent was, together with the 1970 British Route on the South Face of Annapurna, the hardest.

It has still received few ascents. On the last, in 2004, American Jay Sieger and Ukrainian Vladimir Terzyul reached the summit but were killed on the descent. Sieger's body was discovered at 8,300m by two Kazakhs on the same expedition but Terzyul, who had climbed 13 of the 8,000m peak, some by new routes, was never found.

Bublik, Roshko and Venslavovsky found equipment belonging to Terzyul at Camp 5 and passed Sieger's body on their way to the summit.

There have only been two ascents of the South West Face, the first in 1975 by Slovenians on their first major success in the Himalaya. In 1989 the formidable Pierre Beghin established a hard variation start to this route (using fixed ropes and French companions), and then went solo from 7,200m to the summit - one of the great solos in the history of climbing on 8,000m peaks, particularly as he was the only person to summit the mountain by any route that season.

At the start of the current season, Russians Alexander Gukov, Viktor Koval and Valery Shamalo climbed very steep mixed ground up the right side of the North Face of Cholatse (6,440m) to join the final section of the 1995 French Route.

There main goal was the huge rock pillar but on the first attempt one of the team, the very strong female climber, Galya Cibitoke, lost consciousness and had to be brought round by artificial respiration. Carbon Monoxide poisoning was thought to be the blame and the team descended.

The first foray showed that the upper, partially overhanging, pillar would need much aid, a portaledge and capsule style. The Russians did not want to employ capsule style, and neither did they have a ledge, so on the second attempt the reduced team took a line further left and climbed alpine-style for eight days to reach the summit.

Cold was the main issue, with temperatures down to -20°C, and progress was often restricted to no more than two or three pitches a day. However, the three eventually completed their 1,400m route and made a tricky two-day descent south to the Gokyo Valley.
 

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