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In 2014, photographer Tim Taylor joined an expedition to the summit of Makalu, the world’s fifth tallest mountain. This is the story of their harrowing journey. 1/ wired.trib.al/pIRqEYQ
📸 Photographs by Tim Taylor
📸 Photographs by Tim Taylor
Makalu is an icy giant 14 miles west of Everest that straddles the border of northeastern Nepal and Tibet. Its four sharp ridges ascend almost vertically toward a 27,765-foot summit. 2/ wired.trib.al/pIRqEYQ
Taylor’s team featured eight climbers, five Sherpa, and a handful of cooks and other support staff. 3/ wired.trib.al/pIRqEYQ
Their route up the mountain's southeast edge involved 4.5 miles of slip-and-you're-dead ridgeline with no fixed ropes above 23,000 feet. 4/ wired.trib.al/pIRqEYQ
The team traversed for two and a half months. In order to acclimatize, they climbed and retreated for anywhere from five to 16 hours a day. 5/ wired.trib.al/pIRqEYQ
One day, an electrical storm without any thunder or lightning hit. The air and their metal equipment hummed.
"We began to receive painful electric shocks, like hundreds of tiny needles being driven into your skin," Taylor says. 6/ wired.trib.al/pIRqEYQ
"We began to receive painful electric shocks, like hundreds of tiny needles being driven into your skin," Taylor says. 6/ wired.trib.al/pIRqEYQ
Then everything fell apart. A blizzard rolled in, forcing them to retreat back to base camp as it demolished tents and buried rope lines.
It ultimately claimed dozens of lives in the region. 7/ wired.trib.al/pIRqEYQ
It ultimately claimed dozens of lives in the region. 7/ wired.trib.al/pIRqEYQ
They made one last push and reached a height of 26,250 feet, but by then they had been living at an extreme altitude for so long that each had lost more than a dozen pounds. With temperatures plummeting, they abandoned their quest for the summit. 8/ wired.trib.al/pIRqEYQ
For more of Taylor’s stunning images from Makalu, check out the full gallery. 9/ wired.trib.al/pIRqEYQ
