Mt. Manaslu is located in the west-central Nepal about 50 miles from Kathmandu and is the 8th highest mountain. It was first climbed in 1956 by a Japanese expedition via the north East Ridge. Manaslu has a reputation as one of the “achievable” 8000m mountains and it is for those who want to climb a more varied and challenging 8,000er testing your compete and climbing skills for aspiring Everest climbers.

Manaslu is not a very a technical mountain but there are a number of objective dangers one has to look out for; namely avalanche prone slopes above C1 and C2 and some hidden crevasses. The mountain experiences a lot of snowfall which makes the climb physically demanding as climbers keep having to break trail.

After a days drive from Kathmandu, it takes a comfortable ten days to arrive at Manaslu base camp (BC) at 4400m. The location of Camp 1 will be at 5,700m. The route from Base to C1 will include rock scrambles on moraine and sections of glacier travel of varying terrain.

Climbing from C1 to C2 will include longer sections of steep snow and ice, with some short vertical ice steps. The route will be fixed with rope in any exposed or vertical sections in order to maximize our safety. The Camp 2 is located at 6,400m and most climbers can climb their first time to C2 in 3-6 hours.

A climb of roughly 5-7 hours takes us to the flat saddle of Camp 3 at 6,900m. The route is less steep and weaves in and out of short ice steps.

During summit push, we will climb from this location another 5-7 hours to our Camp 4 location. Here we will rest, eat, drink, and prepare for the summit bid. The climb to the summit, while not technical, is demanding given the altitude. The route is set by climbing Sherpas with a fixed line mostly from Camp 1 higher.