All Manaslu Newsletters
Back in Kathmandu
First of all, Himalayan Experience would like to apologise for getting the numbers of this season’s Manaslu summiteers slightly wrong. In our last newsletter, we stated that 46 people had reached the summit of the eighth highest peak in the world, however, after our Sirdar Phurba Tashi got back to base camp, we compared figures and noticed that instead of 23 Sherpas, ‘only’ 21 Sherpas had reached the top, reducing this number to 44. Despite this minor mistake, Himalayan Experience has still succeeded in almost putting 10 percent of the total ascents since 1956 on the summit in two days.
Read more
Himalayan Experience Summit Success
Within two days, Himalayan Experience has put 46 people on the top of Manaslu, which actually makes up almost 10 percent of the total summits since the eighth highest mountain was first climbed by a Japanese team in 1956. “It turned out to be a good year, even though we were first worried that the weather would play tricks on us and we would not reach the summit at all,” a pleased Russell observed when the team and Sherpas got back to base camp.
Read more
Quizzical looks at the Weather
After having relaxed in the snow, rain and finally in the sunshine, the team is getting ready for their second summit attempt. The weather had played a few tricks on us and after the two groups had come down from the mountain last weekend, it had continued to snow and rain for another two solid days. “It is difficult to accept all the sitting around but I guess waiting is part of big mountain climbing,” said Sergey from Russia. “I definitely have to sit it out as I cannot go back to Russia without the summit in my pocket,” he continued with a smile.
Read more
‘The mountain was not ready for us’
Like so often in the mountains, things did not go to plan for our first summit attempt. We were all ready to go for the top in the coming days; everyone had prepared and packed their food, their oxygen equipment and their gear for their summit bid, the Sherpas had prayed and burnt incense around our base camp altar, the Chorten, just before the team left for their mission (this ritual is very important for the Buddhist Sherpas) and the weather forecast looked promising for the 26th and 27th September.
Read more
Getting Ready for the Summit
The countdown is on. On Tuesday, Russell and the guides revealed our tentative summit dates and all of a sudden everything seems to be happening very quickly. “I can’t believe we have been here for almost one month, and now we are so close to our goal,” Herbert observed. And he is right - the preparations for our summit attempt are almost over, and now the success of our expedition depends on good leadership, a strong team, hard-working Sherpas, well fixed ropes, good snow conditions and, of course, the weather.
Read more