Steck participated in the first attempt on Makalu in Nepal which was made by an American team led by William Siri in the spring of 1954. The expedition was composed of members of the Sierra Club and was called the California Himalayan Expedition to Makalu. This was the first major American mountaineering expedition to the Himalaya. They attempted the southeast ridge but were turned back at 7,100 m (23,300 ft) by a constant barrage of storms, as well as food shortages and lack of bottled oxygen.