Tamara (l.) and Simone on Island Peak

Manaslu, next attempt! The South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger and the Italian Simone Mono flew back by helicopter to the base camp at the foot of the eight highest mountain in the world. In early March, the two climbers had fled Manaslu due to heavy snowfalls and extremely high avalanche danger. It looks as if our camp was quite destroyed”, Tamara wrote in her blog.

“But we bounce back, and we are sure that we can achieve with our positive attitude the best possible results.”

The images that helicopter pilot Steven Bruce Bokan has published on Facebook confirm Tamara’s impression: They show a deeply snow-covered campground. The duo from Italy is planning not only to climb the 8167-meter high main summit of Manaslu, but also in one push the 7992-meter-high Pinnacle East. Initially it was scheduled as a winter ascent, now it has become an early spring project.

Twice on Island Peak

In the meantime, the 28-year-old Tamara and the 47-year-old Simone kept themselves fit in the Khumbu region for the past three weeks. By their own account, they climbed 6189-meter-high Island Peak twice within 48 hours: first on the normal route, as the first team this season, then on a new route to the East Summit. They are well acclimatized now. That should be no reason to stop them on Manaslu. But will the “Mountain of the Spirit” be more gracious with them this time?