Mountain · Nepal, China
Makalu
Makalu is the fifth highest mountain on Earth at 8 485 metres, and it is shaped like a four-sided pyramid with four sharp ridges. That shape makes it easy to pick out from far away.
Picture credit: Indra Rai (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Shilbhadra (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Sergey Pashko (CC BY 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Makalu?
Makalu is part of the Mahalangur Himal, Himalayas.
You will find it in: Nepal, China.
Summit: 27.890° N, 87.089° E
The story behind it
Most high Himalayan peaks are crowded together in long walls, but Makalu stands on its own, which is why its pyramid is so easy to see. A French team reached the top for the first time on 15 May 1955, and then something unusual happened: over the next few days almost every member of the expedition climbed to the summit too. Until then an eight-thousander had usually been shared by one or two climbers while the rest carried loads and turned back. Books do not all agree on how tall Makalu is — older ones print 8 463 metres and newer ones 8 485 — because the mountain has been measured several times with different instruments, and a few metres of snow on top can change the answer.
Find it on the globe
Makalu is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How tall is Makalu?
Makalu is 8 485 metres high and the fifth highest mountain in the world. Older books give 8 463 metres, from an earlier survey.
Where is Makalu?
Makalu stands on the border of Nepal and Tibet, in China, about 19 kilometres south-east of Mount Everest.
Why is Makalu shaped like a pyramid?
Four glaciers have been grinding away at its four sides for a very long time. Where two of those hollows meet, a sharp ridge is left standing, and four ridges meeting at a point make a pyramid.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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