Today is the last day of waiting. It’s six days since we came down from our false start of a summit push, and tomorrow we begin again. There’s been no serious precipitation for a few days now, and the heavy
Read moreManaslu – The time has come
Year: 2011
The joys of Samagaon, gateway to Manaslu
One of the considerations when hanging around at base camp for days on end waiting for a weather window is to ensure you stay in shape and get enough exercise. This isn’t always easy. Base camp on Gasherbrum in Pakistan
Read moreThe best weather forecast is to look out of your tent
A few days ago I reported that there looked to be a promising weather window on Manaslu which we were about to take advantage of and push for the summit. Yesterday morning I awoke in Camp 1 at 5770m to
Read moreFirst Manaslu summit push
The last day at Manaslu Base Camp before our summit push. Although our acclimatisation schedule has been quite aggressive, a reasonably benign weather window has appeared which we need to take advantage of. We leave for Camp 1 tomorrow (23rd)
Read moreOn parasitic climbers; Manaslu’s serac maze
As the rain continues to hammer on the roof of my tent, as it has every day since arriving at Manaslu base camp, I think about the last few days, our first sleeping on the mountain. It’s been a struggle
Read moreA monsoon trek and first foray onto Manaslu
I’m sitting in a damp and misty Manaslu Base Camp, tired but excited. Yesterday we made our first foray onto the mountain when we went up to Camp 1 to deposit loads. It was a big jump in altitude from
Read moreSpirit Mountain: my attempt on Manaslu
If at first you don’t succeed, go and lie on a beach next time and get yourself a nice sun tan … is not a phrase you hear many mountaineers saying. In fact, once bitten by the mountaineering bug your
Read moreHow to escape from a yeti
The great Tyrolean mountaineer Reinhold Messner famously claimed to have seen a yeti when he was camping alone in a clearing in Tibet in 1986. Whatever it was, it moved adeptly on two legs and was too big to be
Read more8 useful web tools for expedition base camp
Well, it’s nearly that time of year again when I escape from the real world to spend a couple of months in a tent on the side of a mountain. At the end of the month I head for the
Read moreWhat’s the definition of a mountaineer?
I’d been climbing for several years before I dared to call myself a mountaineer. I suddenly realised it one evening a couple of years ago when I got introduced to someone down a pub with the words, “here’s my friend
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