AVALANCHES IN MANASLU CAUSE A THIRD DEATH AND THE DEPARTURE OF EXPEDITIONS

Avalanches continue to occur in Manaslu. Several have devastated the base camp, while another avalanche has caused the death of a Sherpa, Dawa Chhiring. Despite the pressure from clients who want to reach the summit of Manaslu, the agencies pack up.

Manaslu’s reputation as one of Nepal’s most affordable 8000m peaks has not been justified this season, to say the least. With her twelfth of fourteen 8000m+ peaks in her pocket, Kristin Harila herself wrote that it was her most difficult peak. The true summit of Manaslu, 8167m, was long ignored by many summiters who preferred to stop at the antecima, until last year when photos and then a brave Sherpa, Mingma G, “revealed” that he had climbed the true summit.

This did not stop more than 400 aspirants from reaching the base camp in September. Unfortunately, the powerful monsoon of this year 2022 will remain in the memories, causing avalanches up to the base camp, then, alas, a new death, that of Dawa Chhiring, on October 2. Dawa Chhiring was guiding a commercial group from Seven Summit Treks down from Camp 2 to Camp 1 when an avalanche swept the climbers away. His body was not found until yesterday, October 3. This happened on the same day as an avalanche that devastated the base camp itself, which was supposed to be safe: about 30 tents were damaged or destroyed.

Two tragedies