Climbing around the world

This morning we climbed from C2 to C3. It’s not very far (just over a km) but the last part is very steep. Not technically demanding at all but just exhausting because of the altitude which is beginning to be the all overriding factor. Luckily, I have no single sign of high-altitude disease (like many others in the camp). Since carrying our camping stuff (tent, sleeping bags, food, fuel, mattresses etc) up is quite demanding, Pemba has the audacious idea to skip C4 completely and climb to the summit from C3. That is 1450 vertical meters at high altitude but with minimal luggage.

We climbed from C1 to C2 and, again, I am totally exhausted as it extremely steep and demanding. It cost us an hour less than previous time, but it felt harder. At a few occasions, I had to stop as it turned black before my eyes. The crevasses and steep snow slopes have deepened and the ice wall had turned into an slight overhang since last week. Although not too difficult, several people simply failed to get over it . Pemba and I have been hanging under the overhang for more than half an hour. As Pemba realised that the half dozen people above us would never make it across the overhang, he got out on to a ledge and hauled a ladder up. With another sherpa he fixed it across the overhang to offer an escape for the ones stuck. Once I finally cleared the ice wall after hanging there endlessly, I felt totally done and we held a super long break. When we left it was very foggy, but now the sun started to peek through the fog making it very warm. As we both also carried a big load of supplies and oxygen cinders, this was by far the hardest day so far. Now in the tent, melting snow for coffee.

Arrived in C1. It took Pemba and me less than 4 h to reach C1 from MBC (and only 2 1/2 h from Crampon Point to C1, which is an hour faster than last time which indicates we’re pretty well acclimatised). We are now melting snow and getting the tent organised. Tomorrow phase 2: climbing to C2.

Last Friday, we started our first rotation on Manaslu. The goal was to make the final set-up of Camps 1 (5775 m) and 2 (6350 m). We left around 11 h in the morning to Camp 1. The ascent is relatively easy, over the rocks to Crampon Point (5150 m), where you enter the Manaslu glacier and from there mainly snowy slopes to Camp 1. The weather was not so good, foggy with light snow fall every now and then. There are a few stretches that are bit steeper but overall a fairly easy ascent. It took Pemba and myself four and a half hour to cover the 920 m up (over a distance of 4.5 km). Once we arrived at 15:30 h, the tent needed to be set up. Snow was shovelled away to get a more or less even surface for the tent. Around 17 h everything was set up. Pemba cooked dinner and we went to sleep.

Saturday morning we got up at 6 h to melt snow, make coffee and breakfast. We packed our sleeping gear (tent, sleeping bags, mattresses) and food and headed for Camp 2. The views of the glacier breach are breath-taking, but so was the climbing. The route up to Camp 2 is very steep (we climbed 665 m over a distance of less than 2 km) with several stretches going almost vertical on ice or hard snow. At a short but very steep ice wall, a sherpa got stuck kust above me (I was very happy to wear my helmet as his struggling caused a lot of ice fall down). Luckily Pemba helped him by taking off his backpack (which was hauled up separately later) and instructing him what to do. Pemba did very well as usual: half an hour later Gina fell into a crevasse and he rushed forward to get her safely out. Overall, it was a very heavy climb which took us almost 6 h and I felt exhausted when we finally reached Camp 2. Again, snow was shovelled away to set up our tent, Pemba melted lots of snow and cooked dinner. When we were about to sleep , Pemba discovered that his Nalgene bottle had been leaking and his sleeping bag was soaked. Be ended up sleeping in my down jacket with his own down jacket around his legs.

Pemba, cheerful as always

Yesterday morning we got up early again (around 6h) and after breakfast Pemba went down to fetch more materials in Camp 1 to bring ip to Camp 3. I went down alone later with the group of Mingma. We are at least a day ahead of other teams climbing Manaslu as many people climbed up while we we trying to get down causing big traffic jams at the steep spots. On the way down yo Camp 1, I met Pemba who had rushed down and was already climbing up again – he cached materials in Camp 3 and subsequently climbed down to Manaslu Base Camp, arriving well before dinner…
After quite a while, we reached Camp 1, rested a bit and then swiftly went down all te way to Manaslu Base Camp where we arrived early afternoon. The weather was splendid with a lot of sun shine which allowed us to have a bucket shower. Later that evening we celebrated Dawa’s birthday with cake. Pemba surprised me with a bottle of red wine that Namgya had asked him to carry up for me.

Today and tomorrow we have a resting day at Manaslu Base Camp, it is very sunny weather (laundry day!). We plan the second rotation Wednesday or Thursday with the summit push on September 27th.

18 sep 2021 – Yesterday we climbed to C1 and slept there. This morning at 6 h we woke up and prepared for our climb to C2, about 700 m up. We have arrived an hour ago and it was very hard, I’m totally exhausted: everything was dead-steep: steep snow slopes, steep ice couloirs, really hard work, especially at this altitude. Gina and Dawa climbed in front of us and gave Pemba extra work. In a steep ice couloir Dawa simply could not get up. I was a meter below him and covered in a stream of ice falling down, luckily I was wearing a helmet. After 20 minutes or so, Pemba took his backpack and without it and with a lot effort Dawa cleared the couloir and then it was great trouble to haul his backpack. An hour later, Gina fell into a crevasse, not very deep, but Pemba rushed to get her out. Altogether it was a very heavy and exhausting day. Glad the tent is set up and we can lie down, cook dinner and sleep.

This morning we left around 11 h for C1, which is 900 m higher than
MBC. It was snowing, but nevertheless quite hot outside the wind. We
had hoped to get above the clouds around 5400 m, but unfortunately it
kept snowing. Finally, when we reached C1 at 5776 m, it stopped. Pemba
set up the tent and we are now trying to make coffee. It took us 4 1/2
h to get up to C1 which is longer than the previous time, but we were
now both carrying a full backpack. Actually, it was quite hard to get
up and we took frequent rests. Especially the last stretch at ~5700 m
is very steep. Nevertheless, we seem quite well acclimatised. The tent
is in utter chaos. Pemba threw everything in and we will definitively
have to reorganise a bit before we can go prepare dinner and go
sleeping. The plan is to continue tomorrow to C2 at around 6400 m.

Today is a resting day, but Pemba is up to C1 with four bottles of oxygen to cache. The weather seems to improve slowly. This morning I hiked up to Crampon Point and toured MBC, just to keep a bit of activity and help acclimatisation. We have been promised WiFi in our part of MBC. If they get it working I might be able to send some photos.

Yesterday we had the traditional Puja ceremony that started already at 8 h. The weather was nice with quite a bit of sun and the ceremony was followed, as usual, with a lot of beer and shots of whiskey. Obviously, the rest of the day not much happened anymore. Today we got up early, with breakfast at 6:30 h, as most of us would try to reach C1. If only to cache supplies for the rest of the expedition. Pemba and I took off a little before 7 h. Pemba had a huge load of supplies with him. We had been told by Mingma the night before that C1 was just over 5400 m. After 2 h we reached that altitude, but it turned out that C1 was actually at 5775 m (there is also a lower camp apparently, but I guess that is not used). I will never say again that Manaslu is “easy” as it was pretty hard. This might partially be psychological as we had to climb 900 m instead of the expected 550 m. In addition, like on Larkya Lake, my left eye, my bad eye, caused a lot of trouble. Double seeing and at a certain moment, apparently a combination of lack of oxygen and tiredness, it just gave up. Pemba, luckily, takes very good care to get me down safely every time. Tomorrow we plan another resting day and afterwards we go up to sleep in C1.

This morning we woke up in a white world: it had snowed quite a bit and the sun was shining! Unfortunately, it’s raining now again. We decided to make a small acclimatisation tour to ‘Crampon Point’, the spot where the ice starts on Manaslu glacier at ~5100 m. As there are no fixed ropes yet and the rocks were frozen, Pemba thought it too dangerous to go further. That was a pity as I wanted to test my brand-new shoes with crampons. I got the La Sportiva G2 (considering if Antonio Moro could climb Gasherbrun with them, I should be able to climb Manaslu with them) but have never worn them. They are very sophisticated and nice. I will try the crampons on one of the icefields around MBC (they are everywhere as we are basically camping next to the end of the Manaslu glacier). As far as planning goes, we expect the start of the rope fixing tomorrow. The Puja ceremony is also planned for tomorrow. Rumour runs that Monday some sort of WiFi will be installed in MBC, which -if true- might allow to upload some nice photos.

This afternoon the sun appeared and for the first time we had a magnificent view on Manaslu… very impressive. With the sun out, everything dried quickly at last. In addition, Mingma had decided that everyone who wanted could take a ‘shower’. I did and it was very nice to poor hot water from a bucket over me with a mug in a specially set up tent. My own tent is leaking quite a bit, so everything on the floor is soaked. They promised I can move to another tent tomorrow. This afternoon, I have strolled around the entire base camp. There are quite a few groups and I estimate that there may be up to 200 climbers. I saw a few familiar faces (it’s a small world) and talked to several people. The mood in MBC seems very good.

Arrived at Manaslu Base Camp in 3 h 15 min from 3526 m to 4833 m. The trail to Base Camp is very steep, but Pemba and I rushed up at almost 500 m/h, taking shortcuts to overtake several barrens of mules carrying our stuff up. The 2 oldest men on our permit (David from USA and me) arrived first. The camp looks great: fantastic view, and nice communal tent where the others are slowly flocking in. Everybody seems thrilled and in a good mood. I was just approached by Dawa, who seems to run this place. He asked me whether I snored, and said he will put me in a tent close to the main tent (the best option). So far, so good ! Luckily we were fast as it raining heavily (the monsoon is not yet over) and we are cosily in the communal tent drinking lots of warm chocolate. Slowly, the 11 other members on our permit that make use of Base Camp logistics arrive. It seems a very nice group. Pemba just told me my tent is ready. Up till now, I always slept in a tiny expedition tent, but now we got a spacious tent with even a little carpet on the floor. Never had such a luxurious sleeping spot on an expedition. In addition, the view is superb as I am in the last tent of the camp. Base Camp logistics seems to be a really good outfitter indeed. We got just served a very nice lunch. It’s good to get acquainted with the group: an Iranian lady, a Macedonian couple, a couple of Americans, very diverse, very nice.