Makalu is a beautiful and stunning mountain. For quite some time, Makalu was thought to be the highest mountain in the world, since he appears to be slightly bigger than Mt. Everest when seen from Darjeeling, i.e. from southeast. For this reason, the French, in 1954, even abandoned their plans to climb Mt. Everest! After a failed 1st attempt, the French expedition team was able to reach the summit one year later, in 1955.