Manaslu Cybercasts

Hello Everyone,

We have decided to leave the mountain and are heading back to Kathmandu.  Unfortunately with a lot of snow on the way it doesn’t seem like we would have the ability to climb safely higher on the mountain.  It’s been a great expedition with a great team.  We are flying back to Kathmandu this morning and will be returning home safe with great memories.  Thanks for following along on our expedition!

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday we returned to Basecamp from Camp 2 after an unexpected heavy snowfall throughout the mountain.  We are all safe and happy back at Basecamp now.  With this most recent snowfall and with a Cyclone on the way towards the mountain in several days we are leaning towards leaving the mountain because of possible unsafe conditions to climb higher on the mountain.  We are talking through some options but will make a safe conservative decision with our climbers and staff here and will soon decide.  The mountain will always be here and we have had a really fun expedition so far reaching 22,000ft on Manaslu but this may not be a year where we are able to safely reach the summit.  We are all ok with this and will always made decisions based on safety first!  I will report back here with what we decide but we are pretty positive we will be packing up here and heading back to Kathmandu soon.

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

Today we moved up from Camp 1 (18,800ft) to Camp 2 (20,700ft).  The section between these two camps is the most technical on Manaslu and it was a busy day of groups moving up and a lot moving down.  We had great weather though and it all worked out just fine.  The team is doing great and acclimatizing very well here.  We will rest most of the day tomorrow but hike just a couple hours to touch camp 3 and return to camp 2 for a second night.  After that we will make a decision to continue up to C3 and C4 and the summit if the group is still feeling good and if the weather is good.  I will keep you posted here when we decide.

Thanks for following along,

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

Today we spent most of the day resting at Camp 1 but then went for a couple hour hike through a little icefall section heading towards camp 2.  This is great for our acclimatization and will help us sleep much better tonight.  Tomorrow morning we will head up to Camp 2 at 20,700ft.  The weather has been pretty good up here and looking forward to more days of drier weather.  The team is doing great!

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

We have finally left Basecamp to start climbing the mountain today! We had several great days in Basecamp but feels good to start climbing. We left BC after lunch and climbed to Camp 1 in 4 hours and ending at an elevation of ~18,800ft. We left in a little misty rain but by the time we arrived to Camp 1 the rain and snow stopped and it’s a nice quiet evening in camp 1. We just finished up dinner and are heading off to a long sleep. Tomorrow we will head up towards Camp 2 but return to Camp 1 and sleep for a second night here.

I will check back in tomorrow. The team is doing great!

Ben Jones

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday we had our Puja (blessing) ceremony in Basecamp with our team.  The purpose of this is to ask for safe passage on the mountain and although serious it’s always a fun day with our whole team together.  It was raining just a little at the beginning but towards the end of the Puja the clouds broke and it was very nice weather for several hours.  We took that as a great sign of the Puja!

Today we are getting all of our gear organized and ready to head up to Camp 1 (18,800ft) tomorrow.  We will spend a couple nights at C1 and then move up to C2 (20,700ft) for a couple nights.  From there we will see how the team is doing, the weather, and see if the fixed lines to the summit are in, and we may continue on up the mountain for the summit.  But if we need to take a little rest or the weather isn’t looking good then we will return to Basecamp for a couple days before heading back up the mountain for the summit push.  I will update you here

Ben Jones