Manaslu, “Mountain of the Spirit”

The 8,136-meter-high Manaslu is probably the only mountain in Nepal, where currently almost everything is as usual in fall. “We have about 15 expeditions here, many of them small teams”, Dominik Mueller tells me by satellite phone from the about 4,800-meter-high Manaslu Base Camp in western Nepal. “All in all we have probably 120 to 130 summit aspirants.” Dominik is leading an expedition of his German operator Amical alpin, along with the mountain guide Rainer Pircher. The other members are ten clients, three Climbing Sherpas, a cook and four kitchen helpers. The Base Camp is not too crowded, says Dominik. “We have found a very nice place for our tents.” On Wednesday, the puja will be held, the traditional Buddhist ceremony to get the gods’ blessings for the climbers. Some expeditions – such as the group of Himalayan Experience that is led by the New Zealander Russell Brice – have been on the mountain for a while already.

Neither better nor worse

Dominik Mueller

“The route is already secured with fixed ropes as far as up to the plateau (on about 7,400 meters) “, says Dominik. “There was a long period of fine weather. Accordingly, there is very little snow.” Three steep steps in the icefall above Camp 1, which are ten to 15 meters high each, could become the key points of the route. Yesterday there were 30 centimeters of fresh snow. “The conditions on Manaslu are neither better nor worse than in previous years”, the 44-year-old resumes. Before reaching the Base Camp, Mueller had been hiking with his group first on the Annapurna side, had crossed the Larkya La, a 5,135-meter high mountain pass, and reached Samagaon, a village located at an altitude of 3,500 meters at the foot of Manaslu.

Even closer together

“On our way, we have seen virtually no earthquake damage”, says Dominik, “only one or two minor rockfalls, but it was not clear whether they were triggered by the earthquake or the monsoon.” Heavier damage was reported from the other side of Samagaon, in the region below the village. “The residents have already begun to rebuild. I have the feeling that the earthquake has brought them even closer together.”

Up to 70 percent fewer tourists

During the trek to Manaslu

Neither in the capital Kathmandu nor during the trek, he and his teammates felt aftershocks, says Dominik: “I feel absolutely safe. There was a very peaceful and positive atmosphere everywhere. We were extremely well received. The Nepalese people are happy about every trekking tourist and expedition climber who comes to Nepal.” The tourism market has obviously slumped much more than officially announced. “The government estimates that the number of tourists has declined by 50 percent. But the representatives of the Nepalese agencies who I met, spoke of up to 70 percent”, says the head of Amical alpin. “When we were hiking on the Manaslu Circuit, we met only seven other trekking tourists. This is as good as nothing, compared with previous years.”

Carlos Soria

If someone is a “best ager“ in mountaineering, then Carlos Soria. The Spaniard really got cracking beyond 50. At the age of 51 Carlos summited Nanga Parbat, his first eight-thousander. He is now 76 (!) years old and has scaled eleven of the world’s 14 highest mountains. This senior is simply unstoppable. If everything happens as he imagines, not later than in spring 2016 Soria could complete his collection and thus – then aged 77 – become the oldest mountaineer who stood on all 14 eight-thousanders. So far, this “record” is held by Polish climber Piotr Pustelnik, who scaled his last eight-thousander in 2010 at the age of 58. This spring, Carlos Soria set out to climb two huge mountains in Nepal: the 8091-meter-high Annapurna and, not far away, the 8167-meter-high Dhaulagiri. If he is able to summit both, only the 8027-meter-high Shishapangma in Tibet would be missing in his collection. Carlos is already in Nepal.

Go to see Simone and Tamara?

Tamara (l.) and Simone in Manaslu base camp

He wants to take enough time to acclimatize, first in Khumbu, the area around Mount Everest. Then Soria will also visit the village Samagaon, where he has been supporting a school project for years. Actually, he could do a short trip to nearby Manaslu base camp at 4,800 meters. Italian Simone Moro and the South Tyrolean Tamara Lunger arrived there to climb the eighth highest mountain on earth in winter, with the detour via the upstream Pinnacle East. “When we arrived and I saw the beauty of this mountain, I felt not that ‘in love’ like on K2, but I felt that this soul is also really friendly to us”, Tamara wrote on Facebook. Manaslu means “Mountain of the spirit”. Carlos Soria summited it at the age of 71 years. The Spaniard is holding the age record there as well as on Kanchenjunga (75 years), Lhotse (72), Gasherbrum I (70), Makalu (69), Broad Peak (68) and K 2 (65).

With or without bottled oxygen

Carlos on top of Kangchenjunga (in 2014)

Carlos Soria tries to scale Annapurna for the second time since 2012. “That time around the Annapurna was merciless”, Carlos said. “I am in great physical shape despite growing a year older and I’m ready to take on this amazing challenge.” If he and his team really turn to Dhaulagiri afterwards, which is about 25 km away as the crow flies, it would already be his fifth attempt there. “The Dhaula is a spectacular mountain”, Carlos said about the seventh-highest eight-thousander. Soria decides case-by-case whether to use bottled oxygen or not. He did e.g. on Kangchenjunga in 2014 and on Lhotse in 2011, and did not e.g. on Gasherbrum I in 2009 and during his solo ascent on Makalu in 2008.
Carlos has been climbing mountains since he was young. In 1975, he belonged to the first successful Spanish expedition team on an eight-thousander, when Jeronimo Lopez and Gerardo Blazquez reached the summit of Manaslu. It took Soria 15 more years to reach his first 8000-meter-peak. A late bloomer, but then all the more intense. Just a real “best ager”.