The first reports of success from the 8,163-meter-high Manaslu are trickling in. On Sunday, the six-member Nepalese rope-fixing team – consisting of mountaineers Chhiring Bhote, Pasang Sherpa, Hira Bhote, Tashi Sherpa, Karma Sharki Sherpa, and Lakpa Sherpa – secured the normal route to the highest point and at the same time ensured the first summit successes of the fall season on Nepal’s eight-thousanders.
On Monday and Tuesday, the first commercial clients, accompanied by Nepalese mountaineers, also reached the summit of the eighth highest mountain on earth. Today, the Nepalese tour operator Seven Summit Treks alone reported that 17 clients and 17 Nepalese Climbing Sherpas had reached the top.
The “Mount Everest” of the fall season
For this fall, the Ministry of Tourism in Kathmandu issued 374 climbing permits for Manaslu to climbers from 31 teams. This once again makes the mountain in western Nepal the “autumn Everest,” the most frequented eight-thousander of the climbing season. By comparison, last spring the Nepalese government issued 517 permits for Mount Everest.
Bargiel’s ski descent from the South Col
This season, Polish ski mountaineer Andrzej Bargiel is once again attempting to climb the highest mountain on earth without bottled oxygen, followed by a ski descent from the summit at 8,849 meters to base camp. As part of his acclimatization, the 37-year-old reached the South Col at nearly 8,000 meters and skied down from there. This is Andrzej’s third attempt at Everest after two failed attempts in 2019 and 2022.
P.S.: Sorry you haven’t heard from me in a while. I spent three weeks actively unwinding in the mountains of Austria – and my computer was on vacation too.
