As climbers witnessed back-to-back disasters in the mountains and prospects of no weather improvement, expedition agencies have canceled their expeditions.
Of late, three climbers including famed mountain skier Hilaree Nelson died in the mountain last week.
Hilaree fell off the cliff just below Manaslu real summit while skiing down towards the fore summit. Guide Anup Rai was killed in an avalanche while heading towards camp IV from camp III in an avalanche just below where Nelson met with the accident.
The third climber died on Sunday evening. Dawa Sherpa, 33 of Taplejung died in an avalanche in the base camp. Just before that, a huge avalanche from high up the mountain destroyed more than 35 tents fixed at the base camp.
“We called off this year’s Manaslu expedition,” said Thaneshwor Guragain, manager of Seven Summit Treks, the largest expedition company in Nepal, “Massive snowfall is predicted from tomorrow onwards so almost all expedition agencies have canceled their Manaslu expeditions,” he added.
Seven Summit had obtained climbing permits for more than 100 climbers. The company’s chairman Mingma Sherpa and his brother Chhang Dawa Sherpa were also on a mission to reach the real summit of the mountain.
The brother duo and many others had returned to the mountains this season after the real summit was revealed and made famous by the ascent of Mingma G and team last year.
This year a record number of 404 climbing permits were issued for Manaslu. But the weather remained the biggest problem.
Another expedition, Elite Exped, has also abandoned the Manaslu expedition for this season. “Following multiple big avalanches & the loss of our dear friends on the mountain, as well as the current & future weather conditions – we have taken the decision to call off this year’s expedition,” the company’s head Nirmal Purja better known as Nimsdai wrote on Twitter, “Safety is our 1st priority.”
British climber Adriana Brownlee, who is on a mission to become the youngest female mountaineer to climb 14 eight-thousand-meter peaks of the world, has also descended to the mountain’s base camp without reaching the summit.
“Back to basecamp and reflecting on what was the most difficult experience so far,” she wrote on Facebook adding, “We reached camp 3 a couple of days ago but snowfall was constant day through night meaning new avalanche risk, no ropes and the saddening news of another avalanche at camp 2. I’m just feeling blessed to be safe at Basecamp.”
For her, this season’s Manaslu’s expedition taught her how dangerous this mountaineering world really is. “Pro mountaineers and sherpa have passed away this season on a mountain many of us came to thinking it would be a nice climb. It’s been unimaginable,” she wrote.
Bigyan Koirala, an official at the the Department of Tourism, said almost all expeditions were cancelled. “An expedition team from Himalaya Ascent is waiting to go up in the mountain tomorrow. Rest all have cancelled their expeditions,” said Koirala.
