Vladislav Terzyul dreamt about this route for a long time.

V.Terzyul, behind his back is the West Buttress of Makalu.

For the 2004 season Terzyul planned climbs to Makalu and Shishapangma Main including a ski descent from the top. An opportunity arose to climb Makalu with the Kazakhstan team in the spring via the Paragot route. He began actively to work on this project – negotiating, preparing gear, finding financial support. He had less than 3 months to get ready. Terzyul wanted to take Nikolay Goryunov, his young friend and partner, on this expedition, but could not contact him – Nikolay was in the Caucasus mountains. When Vladislav learned about the tragedy there – Nikolay with 3 friends allegedly were buried by an avalanche on Mt.Ullu-Kara – he went to the Caucasus and organized independent rescue operations, which unfortunately were also not successful. But it was too late to change anything and Vladislav, having made an acclimatization ascent on Mt.Elbrus, finally decided to go ahead and climb Makalu…


V.Terzyul on the route at 7400 m

Fragment from the Kazakhstan team report on Makalu climb (www.mountain.kz):
“…On May 17 Vladislav Terzyul and Jay Sieger (the third group) went to the top from the summit camp at 8300m. At 17:00 – 18:00 – 19:00 they were observed through the clouds on the level traverse before the summit, then the top was covered by clouds. Visual contact ended with darkness. Due to their late start they could not return to the summit camp. The last radio contact took place at 15:45. According to their information everything was OK. The second group descended to BC to have a rest. The first group, Pivtsov and Zhumaev, climbed to C2 (6300m).
On May 18 Terzyul and Sieger did not contact by radio. At 09:20-10:00 Jay Sieger had been seen descending after a cold overnight near the summit. Sieger got out of sight at around 8300m. The whereabouts of Vladislav Terzyul was unknown. The first group, Pivtsov and Zhumaev, climbed to C3 (7400m). On the ridge at approximately 8300m they observed a motionless red spot (Terzyul had a red jacket).
On May 19 no information from the third group have been received. Pivtsov and Zhumaev climbed to C4 (7800m) and at midnight went to the summit.
On May 20 at 09:48 Pivtsov and Zhumaev summited (8481m). On the way down they found Jay Sieger’s body and to bury him was impossible…”

According to information from Pivtsov and Zhumaev they found Terzyul’s landmark on the top with a Tibetan tag and the empty file where Vladislav kept his “Odessa” alpine club pennon. On the way to the summit they noticed the same landmarks and fixed rope (belonged to Terzyul) on the steep part of the rock on 8400m. This proved that Terzyul had summited and having gone first marked and prepared the route for his partner and for the way down.