Makalu is the 5th highest summit, sitting on the border of Nepal and China. A total of 49 hikers lost their lives in an attempt to summit this peak. The greatest dangers are altitude sickness and falling.

Makalu only has two deaths by avalanche. There is lower risk of falling seracs and avalanches because of the steep rock faces.

The majority of the deaths were from altitude sickness, with 19 climbers unable to return. Makalu is often a training climb before conquering Everest, so a significant proportion of the climbers are inexperienced, or looking to gain experience climbing in the Himalayas. This results in more cases of altitude sickness from climbers that don't know what oxygen level they can handle.