Everything is arranged on the eight-thousander Manaslu for the mountaineers from Bahrain. The base camp is ready for occupancy – and the Sherpa team of the Nepalese operator Seven Summit Treks (SST) has already prepared most of the way up the mountain. According to SST expedition manager Chhang Dawa Sherpa, the route to Camp 3 at 6800 meters is prepared. The mountaineers from Bahrain have acclimatized on Lobuche East not far from Mount Everest. According to SST, they reached the summit of the six-thousander last Saturday. As reported, the 8,163-meter-high Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain in the world, located in Nepal, will be only the overture for the mountaineers of the Royal Guard of Bahrain – for Everest next spring.
No mandatory quarantine?
The expedition, with a special permit, is currently the only one on an eight-thousander in Nepal. Last week the government in Kathmandu had announced the corona regulations for foreign mountaineers and trekking tourists in this fall season. They must present a negative corona test on entry, then go to a hotel quarantine for at least one week and have another test on the fifth day. After the outcry of the tourism industry it is now allegedly thought about dropping the mandatory one-week quarantine. But this has not yet been officially decided.
Failed attempts on Muchu Chhish
Meanwhile, the seven-thousander Muchu Chhish in Pakistan remains unclimbed. First the Czechs Pavel Korinek, Pavel Bem and Jiri Janak returned home without summit success after they had to turn back at 6,400 meters due to bad weather. Later, the Spaniard Jordi Tosas and the Austrian Philipp Brugger also gave up. Tosas reached an altitude of 7,000 meters, but then gave up further ascent because of too great avalanche danger and skied down.
The 7,453-meter-high Muchu Chhish in the Batura massif in the Karakoram is the second highest still unclimbed peak on earth. The highest, the 7,570-meter-high Gangkhar Puensum, is located on the border between Bhutan and China. In Bhutan, the mountains are considered to be the residence of gods and have therefore generally not been allowed to be climbed since 2004. Only trekking is still permitted in the small Himalayan kingdom.
Fatal accident at Dhi Sar
US climber Colin Haley also returned from Pakistan empty-handed. An intestinal infection stopped him in his attempt to open a new route on the 7,282-meter- high K6.
There was a tragic mountain accident last week on the six-thousander Dhi Sar in the Karakoram. The Pole Michal Ilczuk died from injuries he had suffered in a fall. His compatriot Jakub Bogdanski was brought to safety by helicopter.
Update 6 October: Today five Sherpas of the rope-fixing team on Manaslu reached Camp 4 at 7,400 Meters.
