The first Slovene expeditions in the 1960s (Trisual 1960, Kangbachen 1965 and Annapurna IV 1969) laid the groundwork for Slovene alpinism in the Himalayas. With the experience gained on these expeditions, and in view of the fact that all 14 eight thousanders had already been conquered, Slovene climbers came to the realisation that simply climbing these mountains by the routes taken by their first ascenders was not a worthwhile aim, and that it was necessary to look for new challenges.
An expedition to climb the 8,485-metre south face of Makalu was organised in 1972 and reached an elevation of 8,000 metres, but not the summit itself. A new expedition was therefore organised in 1975 and duly reached the summit in October of that year: the first ascent of Makalu by the south face. Between 6 and 11 October 1975, 11 of the 21 members of the expedition stood on the summit. With this extraordinary feat of mountaineering, Slovene alpinism reached the summit of the world, both literally and figuratively, later consolidating its position with ascents of Hidden Peak, Everest and Lhotse and many great achievements by younger generations of climbers.
During the expedition it became apparent that the Nepalese porters, who contributed greatly to the expedition’s success from the logistical point of view, did not possess adequate mountaineering skills and were therefore of little use in high altitude camps. In the years that followed, the expedition’s leader Aleš Kunaver created a school for mountain guides in Manang in order to rectify this situation. In the 40 years since it opened, the Manang Mountaineering School has provided several generations of Nepalese porters with the necessary skills to become qualified mountain guides and has in this way laid the foundations for the development of tourism in Nepal.
Avgust Delavec Foundation Miro Eržen
Chair
