Early on Saturday, several Seven Summit Treks’ clients, plus their Sherpas, reached the point where the ropes end on Manaslu. Whether that point is the true summit remains to be seen.
Interestingly, those returning from the summit ridge have not yet commented. If they had reached the highest point, it seems likely that they would have announced it. The coveted true summit stands behind a short but exposed ridge. It is a particularly technical final climb when the mountain is loaded with snow, as seems to be the case this season.
A video filmed by Pasang Norbu shows that the rope fixing team dealt with thigh-deep snow while approaching the summit ridge. These conditions might explain why a strong Sherpa team reached the summit (or close to the summit) so late in the evening.
A member of the rope-fixing team breaks trail in very deep snow. Photo: Pasang Norbu via Lakpa Sherpa
Backed by a strong Sherpa team (comprising several IFMGA credited mountain guides), only Mingma G has mentioned aiming for the true summit. He plans to fix ropes from the current endpoint, if required. Mingma’s Imagine Nepal team left Camp 1 yesterday. Today, they planned to skip Camp 2 and spend the night in the more comfortable Camp 3. Tomorrow, they will move to Camp 4, rest for a few hours, and then set off toward the summit sometime on Sunday night or early Monday morning.
While we wait for news, you can get a good aerial view of conditions on the mountain via this drone video by Anna Tybor.
It looks like Nimsdai made a remark on his instagram about his team aiming for the “real” summit as well. We’ll just need to wait and see! Good luck and safe passage to all the Sherpas and clients!
Cornice breaks aren’t worth the risk of a few more feet of purchase.
It’s not getting up the mountain that’s the main goal, it’s getting down-alive.
You are so right. If that ridge is loaded with snow and un-protectable, I don’t think Mingma will risk it. He’s got a good record of making wise decisions. Better to wait for Spring when it might be less dangerous.
I’ve been following from afar the climbing Legends from our day, one by one or in droves, dieing on lonely frozen mountain tops.
Tens of thousands of vertical feet and thousand’s of miles from their homes and families.
Any other sport with such spectacular and tragic accidents and deaths would be considered foolish. Climb on but come back alive, there’s always tomorrow.
Follow John Guptas ascent on Manaslu live on a new three 3D map of the Himalya.
https://mount-everest3d.com/live-tracking/
Well, a certain ‘young’ social media effluencer and jumar ‘hero’ of Pakistan has already been claiming a successful ‘summit’ of Manaslu – with no photos from the summit.
Surely that’s enough nowadays? Right?
Jumar hero! LOL! If any jumar heroes made it to the true summit they would be claiming it loudly and proudly. Silence is a pretty good indicator that it didn’t happen.
Mingma G posted that he and his full team reached the true summit. Adri Brownlee also posted a summit pic that is clearly NOT the true summit