So far, a record 391 climbers have obtained permits for Manaslu, officials at the Department of Tourism reported. “Permits could cross 400,” said Bigyan Koirala at the Department.

Some of the prominent climbers who are climbing the mountain for record include Norwegian Kristin Harilla, who wants to set a record of fastest climb of 14 peaks, and British Adriana Brownlee, who wants to be the youngest climber to summit all 14 peaks. 

Kristin has summited 11 of the 8000ers in 106 days. She is on track to beat Nirmal Purja aka Nimsdai’s record of 14 peaks summit in 6 months and 6 days. 

The furor surrounding its true summit last year has helped to increase the buzz about the eighth highest mountain in the world.

Mingma Gyalje Sherpa aka Mingma G of Imagine Nepal Treks led a team to the true summit of Manaslu last year, which brought much discussion about the mountain’s true versus fore summit. For years, what is now considered the foresummit, was considered as the summit of Manaslu with a Nepali flag and Tibetan Prayer flags marking it. The fixed rope also ended at this point. The true summit that Mingma G and team climbed is only a few meters away horizontally from the foresummit but the distance is tricky to traverse due to a corniced ridge separating the two points. An Iranian and Japanese joint expedition in 1976 had made it to the real summit of Manaslu.

After this, the Himalayan Database, the de facto authority on mountaineering ascents in the Himalayas,  affirmed that from now onward, the foresummit will no longer be recognized as a true ascent of the mountain. But they also decided that previous ascents to the fore-summit of the mountain would also still be considered as true summits.

Nepal Government meanwhile hasn’t released any official statement. Both of these authorities in Nepali mountains accepted and recognized the foresummit ascent of Manaslu as official summit.

Four of 5 Nepali 14 peak summitters are currently in Manaslu base camp, all of who want to climb the now recognized true summit. 

Mingma Sherpa, is the first 14 peak record holder from South Asia. He had completed the 14 peak feat in 2011. Now, he runs Nepal’s biggest outfitter Seven Summit Treks, and no longer climbs peaks. Eleven years after his achievement, Mingma is considering an  attempt to summit Manaslu again.

“I’m considering climbing Manaslu again this year, which I had already scaled in 2000,” Mingma told Everest Chronicle. “When I climbed Manaslu, reaching what we believed was the true summit at that time was a great achievement,” he recalls of his days. “It took some climbers seven or eight attempts to climb it. Since people are now talking about a real summit I want to reach this real summit for self-satisfaction,” he added.

Mingma David Sherpa, world’s youngest climber to summit 14 peaks above 8,000m, also just reached the base camp to climb Manaslu with his client.

Nima Gyalzen Sherpa, who completed ascent of all 14 peaks this summer, will also climb Manaslu this autumn. He will be leading Taiwanese climber Tseng Ko-Erh aka Grace Tseng to the summit of Manaslu, according to Dawa Sherpa, Managing Director of Dolma Outdoor Expedition. Grace had summited the peak in 2019.

Sanu Sherpa, who set a record of double ascent of all 14 peaks above 8,000m this summer, left for Manaslu on Monday to rescale the peak. He has already climbed Manaslu three times (2010, 2011, 2016). 

“I did not know about the real summit before. So, I am going to make an attempt to reach the real summit this time,” he told Everest Chronicle. However, he is not sure if he will summit the peak twice this season.

While it is easier for Nepali mountaineers to attempt Manaslu once again as most of them will be leading their clients for summit anyway, some foreigners are also re-scaling Manaslu, according to outfitters. “The dramatic increase in the number of Manaslu hopefuls is due to newly found real summit and some record holders returning to re-climb the mountain,” said Pemba Sherpa, founder of 8K Expedition. 

Further furor about the true summit of Manaslu was created in July of this year when German Eberhard Jurgalski’s team released their report about 14 peaks. This report claims that only three climbers have really summited all 14 peaks above 8,000m —American Edmund Viesturs, Gustafsson from Finland, and Nirmal Purja 'Nimsdai' from Nepal.