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An expedition from southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region left here on Mar.31 for Nepal, for their planned attempts on the 8,463-meter Mount Makalu at the Himalayas later this year.

The expedition planned to arrive in Nepalese capital Katmandu on April 5 and the 5,100-meter base camp at the foot of the Himalayas at the Chinese-Nepalese border, at about April 15.

The Chinese expedition will set up five camps in the mountain area for their attempts on the world's fifth highest peak sometime between April 16 to June 2, with dates to be decided upon local weather conditions. The team will return to Lhasa in mid-June.

Mt. Makalu is a highly difficult peak for climbers and is known of frequent avalanches in the area. After failed attempts by British, French, American and New Zealand teams, nine French climbers became the first group to make it to its summit in May 1955, from the northwest face in China.

The Tibetan region's expedition, found in 1993 has set a target of scaling all the 14 peaks 8,000 meters and above in the world. They have made it to 11 of them so far.

The expedition made a failed attempt on the peak in September 1996. They gave up their efforts after reaching the height of 6,000 meters, due to bad weather and lack of supplies.