Two teams of Taiwanese mountain climbers who are to test their mettle on Mount Everest and K2 respectively are at Mount Makalu to train for their upcoming efforts.
Chan Chiao-yu (詹喬愉), who has climbed Mount Lhotse, the fourth-highest mountain in the world at 8,516m, at the start of this month arrived in the area and is climbing Makalu as a warm-up for Mount Everest later this month.
It would be difficult to climb two “8,000ers” in one month, Chan said.
Photo courtesy of Chan Chiao-yu
The name refers to a group of 14 mountains that are higher than 8,000m above sea level as recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation.
Chan expects to reach the summit of Makalu by Sunday, although she reportedly has a slight cold.
The other group of climbers, Lu Chung-han (呂忠翰) and Chang Yuan-chih (張元植), have also arrived in the Mount Makalu area to train from their summer summit of K2, the second-tallest mountain in the world.
K2 is known for its complex geographical details and steep slopes, which pose a formidable test for climbers.
It is sometimes called the “Savage Mountain” for its extreme difficulty to ascend. There have been 300 successful summits and 77 fatalities.
As no Taiwanese climbers have summited K2, Chang and Lu’s climb has garnered great attention in Taiwanese mountain-climbing circles, with a crowdfunding project on Zeczec.com garnering NT$2.99 million (US$96,589) for their attempt as of 4pm yesterday.
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