Speedfly – 8000

19th October

We’re on the walk out - we left SamaGoan a few days ago and are now about to head over the Lharka Lha.

We should be back in Kathmandu bu the 24th or the 25th of October - maybe in time for the RWC final - go the All Blacks

We’ve been joined by a good mate of mine’s girlfriend - Monica and her Brother. we met them at Samagoan on the 16th and they had a acclimatization day on the 17th.

The weather is fine - if a tad cold and we’re all dreaming of different food on kathmandu!

CIAO

The Speedfly8000 Team

Mal, Ben and Sophie (+ Monica and Urus)

12th - 13th October. Things start to stack up.

It’s amazing just how quickly things can go pear shaped. At C4 we had made a plan for Ben and Phemba to descend to C2 and Sidi Mama and I would remain at C3 where we would pack up the gear and then I’d try to make a flight off the mountain from near 7000m

The wind had been blowing hard down the mountain all night and spindrift had been blasting the tent ever since midnight ... this was actually the least of my problems.

The afternoon before Ben and I were standing at C3, just under a set of seracs. Ben was keen to keep going down and I was keen to get a tent set up and to crawl into my sleeping bag. Ben set off into the late afternoon light but Phemba and Sidi were nowhere to be seen - which was a bit perplexing but I just thought that they were packing up their gear at the tent that they had been borrowing from some of Phemba’s friends the night before.

An hour later I was still wondering where they were.

Sidi finally dropped down to me to tell me the news that Phemba had changed his mind about descending and would instead go down lower tomoro ... hmmmm Not such good news. Sidi told me that there was another stove in our tents at C2 so Ben should be able melt water and get some fluid and food into him - we just weren’t sure if he had anyway to light the stove!

I turned on the radio to try and call Ben to see where he was - I stil hadn’t seen him walking into C2 yet but I could have missed him. It was getting dark and I was already exhausted - Ben had been walking on for a while after me and would be even more tired ...

"Ben - you there? copy Ben?"

"Hi Mal - when is Phemba coming down? I’m a bit off the track and in some pretty deep snow ..."

"Um .... it appears that Phemba is not coming down tonight bro ... Can you manage your way back to the track and come back up?"

"%^**($%^^% - I’ll try ...."

After that I didn’t have any radio contact with Ben. I had horrible visions of him wandering into a deep crevasse - or simply being too tired to make it back up to C3. Sidi and I had a chat for a while and we made the choice to send him down to look for Ben and continue on down to C2.

for about the next hour I had no radio contact with either Ben or Sidi and I could only see 1 headlamp, slowly making it’s way to the area of C2. I was starting to get quite worried and got geared up again to drop down into the dark to possibly help Sidi when the radio finally crackled into life.

"Mal Dai this is Sidi - Ben Dai and I are now are C2"

whew ......

Ben and Sidi were to share a pretty cold night under 1 sleeping bag and sharing two mattresses in one of our tents at C2. I could finally crawl into my bag for the evening and hope for a lessening of the winds in the morning.

8am - 13th October

I was outside the tent, gearing up to try and make a speedriding descent down the mountain. My pack was pretty heavy - the heaviest I’d ever carried when trying to make a flight.

The wind was reduced but still blowing down the mountain.

Phemba was still somewhere above me and I could see Sidi Mama making his way back up towards C3 - very very very slowly. Sophie had left Basecamp at 4:30 am and was now at the bottom of the mountain waiting to film my landing. Both Ben and Sophie were reporting that the air was still at both 5300m and 6400m.

Where I was it was definitely down the hill ... I was exhausted, tired and very very nervous. What would normally take about 5-10 minutes to get ready now took me about an hour. I had to climb back up above my C3 to find a good site for launching that gave me a good ski run with a good run out. I had to carry my wing and ski’s up in one go - dig out a platform for the wing to rest on and then sit my ski’s. Then I had to go back down to get my pack and then come back up.

As I came back up to my chosen launch site Phemba came into view. He was wondering where everybody was and why Sidi hadn’t come back up. I was wondering why he’d changed plans. As my Nepali was not very good and his English wasn’t very good it wasn’t a very fruitful discussion.

I pointed down to Sidi slowly coming back up and to my wing laid out on the snow, Phemba seemed to finally get the idea that I was going try and fly. He kept on going down and eventually got to Sidi Mama, they split the loads and continued on down the mountain. I was sitting waiting for the wind to drop ...

Eventually the wind seemed to ease, I was all hooked in and ready to go. I gave a call down to both Ben and Sophie that I was going to launch. Took a deep breath, pointed my ski’s downhill and gave it a go.

The first 2 seconds felt fine. I felt the canopy start to inflate, grab the air and then start to rush up over my head - then nothing, no pressure on my lines, no pressure on my brakes. I could see the shadow of my canopy, looking all mangled above and slight behind me to my right.

ABORT

The snow wasn’t nice soft powder but variable hard crusts that then gave way to deep powder below. There was also a crevasse below C3 that I didn’t really want to ski into. I got my ski’s sideways underneath me and in a flurry of snow I eventually came to a stop. My wing slammed down in front me fully inflated and with a strong wind blowing hard on the back of my neck.

Just as I’d launched a strong gust must have come rolling down over the col and caught my wing. I was breathing hard, a bit caught up in my lines but happy to have stopped. I called down to Sophie and Ben that I’d had to abort but that I was going to try again.

The next 1.5 hours were spent breaking a trail back to near C3 and carrying all my gear back up to the launch site. By the time I’d got there the wind was slightly stronger down the hill, I was even more exhausted, I was the last person on the mountain above C2, the day was getting older and I was even more nervous ....

Time to call it quits - I simply couldn’t risk having another go. I loaded up all my gear, put my ski’s on my pack (too heavy a pack and too tired to ski down to C2 in the variable snow etc) and started down to C2.

The boys and Ben had packed C2 and after putting more gear onto our back we began our last trip down through the icefall and back to C1. The route was getting pretty bad with crevasses that had been mere step overs the week before now almost 1.5 - 2m wide. We crossed the ladder above the hourglass and looked back at it - it was now almost free from the lower side of the crevasse it was spanning by about 1m. Russell Brice had asked if we (being the last group on the mountain) could take the ladder out behind us. Neither Phemba or Sidi looked all that keen to try and take it out - the ropes were as taut as guitar strings. We were also standing on a very precarious serac, it almost looked like the ladder and ropes here might be holding the whole thing up ... Phemba and I had a chat for a bit but he indicated that he thought it was too dangerous to remove and I couldn’t really insist ...

From C1 we packed up a series of loads that could be dragged lower and retrieved the next day. I managed to lighten my load enough to get a final ski in from C1 to within 15 minutes walk of basecamp.

Ben, Sidi, Phemba and Norbu (our kitchen boy who’d come up to C1 to help with loads) were about 40 minutes behind. Walking back into Basecamp was pretty emotional - It was great to be able to give Sophie a huge hug, Deb was on hand with hot lemon tea and it was awesome to take off my boots and, for the last time a drop my pack ...

Ben wasn’t far behind and got the same lemon tea treatment as did the rest of the boys.

We were all off the mountain - 14 days after stepping onto it for the first time. Over the next few days we got BC packed up and stashed away into barrels.

The weather wasn’t quite finished with us though - we’d arrived in a snow storm and on our final day we woke to 10cm of new snow and wind - we were leaving in a snowstorm!

2 am - 12th October

Ben wakes me from my hypoxic daze .... "Mal - I’ve run out of oxygen .... What do I do?"

I look at him a bit confused, "You’ll just need to deal with it bro, sit up, try to relax, don’t panic. You’ll be ok. We’ll be starting to get ready to go in a few hours." I lie back down and try to relax myself. It’s very cramped in the tent and I’m pressed up against the door and it’s cold. Very cold. The inside of the tent is covered in frost, any movement sends tiny snow showers down on us. My sleeping bag is frozen on the outside and a quick glance at my watch shows a temperature of -28 degrees.

3:30am

Time to rouse myself and start getting more water ready, fill my water bottles with so called boiling water and stuff them into my boot shells, get my feet warm and try to eat some food. It’s still windy outside and the tent is shaking. Every 15 minutes or so I put my oxygen mask to my face and draw on a flow of 2 liters a minute for a while - it clears the fog from my mind and makes me feel warm. In the glow of my headlamp I can see Sidi Mama, Phemba and Ben all curled up and trying to stay warm and to doze.

My MSR reactor is now charging along, sending out a warm glow and slowly melting water in the deep freezer that is C4. We’re sitting at 7450m - it’s still windy - it’s damn cold but we’re all keen to go for the summit.

4:45 am

There is suddenly a sound of somebody outside the tent. It’s the first of the 3 Sherpa’s bringing up the Bangladashi climber - they’d started from camp 3 at 10pm the night before - it must have been a very cold and windy climb at that time in the morning. We’re all now moving around - getting into our boots getting our packs ready, drinking fluid and trying to cram food into our mouths - it’s hard to eat. The wind is still strong but there are no clouds to be seen anywhere - we make the choice to wait a bit longer to for the early morning sun and to see if the winds drop.

6:00 am

Outside - the air is bitingly cold and it tears at the back of my throat. We’ve climbed into our harnesses, put on our crampons and are just about to head off. A quick check of our packs, and turning on our oxygen systems and we’re ready to go. Sidi Mama is climbing without using oxygen, Phemba is on a flow rate of 1.5 liters a minute and Ben and I are using 4 litres a minute - it’s still hard work.

6:20 am

We’re off - slowly walking away from C4. I’m out the front walking through some very nasty breakable crusty snow - at times almost up to my knee. My feet are already cold and very painful - so long as they stay painful I can keep going - if they go numb I might have to turn around. The horizon is getting slowly brighter but we’re walking in the shadow of the summit ridge. We all look longingly towards patches of sun ...

The summit ridge of Manaslu rises in 3 separate plateau’s before coming to the final summit ridge crest. We come across the Bangladash team on the second plateau. They are moving pretty slowly and seem to almost be about to turn around. We give them a silent nod as we walk past them, moving up a short slope of pretty hard slab and finally into the sun. My feet almost start to feel merely cold - they still hurt. Ben is about 10m behind me and Phemba about 15 behind him. Sidi is sitting down in the sun and waves us on. He’s moving slowly without using oxygen but I’ve worked with him a few times - I trust him to make the right choice for himself and to not push himself beyond his limits.

I’ve been breaking trail now for almost 2 hours and I can finally see the remains of the old track that the previous summiters had made. We start to make our way towards it and Ben takes over the lead for while - it’s a relief to be walking in somebody else’s track. Ben and I occasionally exchange glances - we’re both looking pretty haggard but give each other the thumbs up - we’re still good to go.

We’re not measuring time via our watches but instead by the amount of pressure we have left in our oxygen bottles. We’re more that 1/2 way to the summit and we’ve still got more than 1/2 of our first bottle of gas left. The sun is now out - and we sit down for the first time to have a rest, drink more fluid and cram some chocolate into our mouths. We’re sitting at the final steep slope that leads up to the summit and we estimate about 2 hours to go.

The Bangladashi sherpa team want to turn back - we can see their client gesturing towards the summit and they shout up to us to find out what we are planning - we point up!

Ben has this look to him - it’s almost like he can’t believe where he is. What looks to be the summit is about 150m above us - I keep on comparing it to the hill behind my house in Wanaka, Mt Iron. It’s only as high as that - we can keep going.

The wind is quite variable and the snow is covered in sestrugi and wind slab - I keep looking around to evaluate if I could have made an attempt to fly. The wind is all wrong, the snow looks horrible to ski, I put my questions and regrets out of mind and keep on plodding.

We’re now at the base of the what looks like the summit - I know that it’s actually a false summit and that beyond it there are a series of small sharp crest and cols before the final 30m high knife blade ridge that reaches the true summit. Most people only reach the final col but this year the Himex team had fixed lines all the way to the top - it’s a very exposed final 15-20m. But there are still obstacles to overcome. The winds had again buried the fixed line - I spend some time trying to clear it before giving up - I look down at Ben, shrug and then continue to go up. His footwork is good enough for this and Phemba is right behind him. Sidi can be seen below us - he’ll take about another hour.

We’re now sitting on the final ridge, at the Col that is normally regarded as the summit as the final ridge isn’t normally fixed. Ben is happy to sit here and call this his summit - Phemba and I keep going. It’s very very airy and from this final short climb you can look out to the west, down on almost 8000m of air to the plains far below.

11:20am

The very final push to the top is a short, narrow steep series of steps and the summit itself has just enough room for two people to stand. Phemba and I exchange a handshake - we call the news that we’re on the summit back down to basecamp and it’s great to be able to talk to Sophie on the radio. We take off our masks and take pictures of each other. The view is simply amazing. The wind is still quite variable but it seems to have calmed down. It’s time to start making our way back down off the steep, exposed summit ridge and back to the relative safety of the Col where Ben is.

Ben and I exchange handshakes - but we have to start getting down. Oxygen bottles changed and were moving down the hill - it’s so much easier than going up but in many ways far more dangerous. We pass the Bangladashi team and Sidi Mama. I stop for a bit to ask him how he is and he’s got a smile on his face - he’s still keen to keep on going. A quick handshake with him and then we’re off again.

Down back through the old hard tracks and then back into our foot prints and broken snow from hours before. Back down over the short drops until we’re finally back at C4.

12:45

Back at C4, 6 1/2 hours after we had left it. Time to again get some more fluid into ourselves and try to eat, pack our gear and get ready to descend to C3. What is probably the most dangerous part of the whole day lies just in front of us. The hard blue/green ice of the start of the ramp. A small error here and you could easily be back at C3 a bit faster than you’d like. The wind is still blowing across and down the hill. Sidi arrives at C4 just before Ben and I leave. He’s got a huge grin on his face! He also made the summit.

1:45pm

As I lead off down onto the ramp Ben reaches down to clip the first of the fixed lines - he manages to knock out the anchor! It wouldn’t have held a thing. He tells me this AFTER we had reached basecamp...... The descent back to C3 takes about 1.5 hours - all the way down the fixed lines and finally back down to a flat ledge. The air here is thicker and it’s slightly warmer but the wind is still down the hill - totally in the wrong direction to make a flight attempt.

3:20pm

Ben is choosing to drop down even further to C2 as he feels that he really needs to get lower. I’ve spoken with Sophie and whilst the forecast for the next day has lighter winds they’ll still be blowing the wrong way to be totally comfortable to launch my speed wing. I settle into my tent - totally shattered but hopeful for the opportunity to make a speedriding descent the next day .....

Setting up for the summit. 3 days of hard work.

It had been essential that Ben and I had made the effort to reach camp 3 on our first cycle on the mountain. The first summit window had come and gone over the period 4th - 6th October and the winds on the upper mountain were expected to increase over the next few weeks. Our forced climb to C3 had put us in a good position to make a summit push when the next window appeared but we were both pretty damn exhausted.

Initially we had planned to rest for 2-3 days and make a bid for the summit on the 10th of October but the winds were not going to be low enough and Ben was also pretty tired. An extra 2 days rest, and good food at basecamp allowed us to recover our strength and motivation for what was going to be a pretty hard final 4-5 days on the mountain.

We had left all our essential equipment at Camp 2, as we planned to go from basecamp to Camp 2 in one very long day. My ski’s, ski boots and wing were also stashed at Camp 2 although I was doubtful of the winds being low enough for me to make an attempt to fly from the summit.

On the 7th our forecast showed that there was a substantial lowering of the winds from midday on the 11th at the height of camp 4 and that the 12th would have winds on the summit between 15 - 25km. The 13th also looked promising but with a forecast of higher cloud and higher humidity.

We set our sights on the 12th with a possible backup day on the 13th.

9th October

In the early hours of the morning Ben and I got up at 2 am, forced ourselves to eat a big breakfast and left basecamp at 3:30am. It was bitterly cold on the lower mountain as dawn approached and, as the upper mountain came into view, a long plume of snow was clearly visible blasting off the summit ridge. We arrived at C1 by 7 am - a pretty fast 3 1/2 hour trip, and we then settled down to get warm, use our C1 stove to get warm water and food into us and to wait for the day to heat up so we could then make our way up to C2.

After a 2 1/2 hour rest, (Ben was pretty shattered - he’d not been able to sleep the night before or eat much food for our alpine start breakfast) we began our last trip up through the icefall and the "hourglass" towards C2.

The hourglass is a 150m high snow slope that has fixed lines on it - it’s moderately steep and is cut by a number of crevasses. It is also avalanche prone and tends to funnel snow down steep runnels. We’d not had any snow now for 3-4 days and conditions were good. There were also a number of other teams making final bids on the mountain and our Sherpa team of Phemba and Sidi Mama were right behind us. It was impressive to see just how much the mountain was moving, crevasses that only 5 days ago had been easy step overs now required a fair bit of thought and determination to cross - the route was definitely beginning to fall out of condition. Once above the hourglass there was still about 250m of height to gain before reaching C2.

We spent the rest of the afternoon organizing gear, resting and drinking water before getting a much needed early night and a good nights sleep at 6400m. It would be our last good sleep for a few days ....

10th October

The journey from C2 to C3 is quite a short climb - only 400m to the col, but the 400m gain is significant in that you are then going to be sleeping at 6800m on a windy col. Almost 700m above us is C4 and the wind is quite strong. The temperature is now getting seriously cold - during the evening the temperature in our tent was -19 degree’s ... Not so inspiring. Phemba and Sidi had made plans to try and carry a load of gear to C4 that afternoon, but strong winds and cold temperatures put that plan to rest. I had got a forecast from Sophie that evening and the outlook for an attempt to speedride off the summit looked bleak.

I had carried all my personal equipment plus my ski’s, wing, flying harness AND my climbing boots from C2 whilst wearing my touring boots. The forecast for the next few days was for dropping winds but summit day still hada forecast of up to 25km on the summit and 18km at C4 - it was also blowing a westerly which was exactly the wrong direction for me to make a launch .... I had to make a hard choice. I would need to carry my ski’s on my pack on the way to C4 and I didn’t much like the idea of them acting like sails in the winds that were raking the face leading to C4. I went to sleep that night hoping for a radical change in the forecast ...... Sleep didn’t come easy for me at C3 and I was highly jealous of Ben’s consistent easy breathing as he fell asleep that night

11th October

Ben and I were up early to ensure our boots were thawed and we had had enough food and water for the day’s climb ahead. Phemba and Sidi had been unable to make the load carry to C4 the previous day and they had significantly heavy loads. The winds were still very strong and spindrift was blasting the tent, I made the choice to forgo my attempt at a flight from above 8000m and instead would hope for lower winds on our descent.

From 7000m Ben and I used oxygen which greatly assisted our climb to C4. The previous 6 days winds had covered the fixed lines with snow and it was going to be hard going to clear them. The morning had been bitterly cold and we felt that a slightly later start would be warmer as the wind was also forecast to drop slightly. I lead off with Ben behind me and Phemba and Sidi coming up behind us. There were sections of up to 100m of buried fixed line that needed to be cleared and in addition the snow was a hard breakable crust that needed to be stomped through. The actual climb went up through a series of seracs and eventually onto the ramp, a 400m+ long sloping snow field that ends in hard blue ice as it leads onto the summit plateau and C4 at 7,450m. C4 is a very cold, exposed wind swept place. Remnants of the previous summit window showed old bamboo wands, some broken tents and food scraps. It is a pretty desolate place....

We got our one tent up and the 4 of us (Ben, Phemba, Sidi and I) crowded into it - it was a pretty cramped situation and with the thin air it didn’t look like it was going to be a very fun night’s sleep. The order of the evening was to melt water, drink and try to eat and stay warm. I’d gotten another forecast from Sophie at basecamp and there was still no significant drop in the wind levels for summit day. As the sun set and the temperature dropped we were all feeling a bit apprehensive. The tent was shaking and buckling in the wind, the temperature was already sitting at -25 degree’s as we all tried to settle into comfortable positions for the long night ahead and to wait for the early dawn light when we would be getting ready to make our way towards the summit, another 716m and at least 5 hours above us ....

13th October

We’ll we’re all back at basecamp - we were the very last team to leave the mountain this year. Pretty exhausted so this is a very short update.

Essentially I didn’t get to fly from the mountain - I tried but had issues with the wind and made a number of abortive attempts before calling it a day. That and I was the last person on the hill above Camp 3 - everybody else was at Camp 2 by this stage .....

Ok - so here are a number of images from the summit day - Ben and I will put together something a bit more substantial when we’re not quite so tired.

Contemplating the wind from camp 3

Ben - walking into the welcome Sun on summit plateau

Mal - on the top at 11:20 am

Ben - just chilling out at 8156m ....

Summit cake - back at basecamp

12th October 2011

Today at 11:40am Mal, Ben, Siddhi Mama and Phemba Sherpa made it to the top of Mt Manaslu at 8,164 metres. It was an amazingly gorgeous sunny day but unfortunately the winds were too strong for Mal to fly from 8,000 metres, However it’s looking good for an early morning flight tomorrow from around 7,.000 metres back to Camp 1.

They are all doing well, completely exhausted but still prettty chuffed they made it to the top.

Party tomorrow night at BC! I have a few cheeky hip flasks of rum and a couple of beers and I’m pretty sure there will be summit cake too.

The last of the bigger groups packed up and left BC today. Tonight it’s just me and our 2 cooks and another couple of sherpas from another small group at base camp.

Stay tuned for awesome summit photos and stories tomorrow

Sophie at Base Camp (aka ghost town)

11th October - Manaslu Base Camp

Right now Mal and Ben are slowly making their way to Camp 4 at 7,400 metres in readiness for their push to the summit tomorrow morning 12th October. The sherpas went up yesterday to pitch the tent and set up camp.

The winds have died down a little but unfortunately not enough for Mal to consider flying from below the summit. So he will leave his skis and wing behind and is currently looking at waiting at Camp 3 till the 13th to try and fly then when the winds are forecast to drop again.

Tonight Mal, Ben, Siddhi Mama and Phemba Rinji will be huddled in their tent at camp 4 eating and drinking as much as they can and trying to stay warm. Mal and Ben will be resting on oxygen and they will start their climb at around 5am hoping to reach the summit by 9am.

The forecast is for clear skis and moderate winds and a full moon tonight.

In the meantime base camp is getting pretty quiet with just 4 expeditions left, all of whom are going for the summit tonight or tomorrow.

Wishing them all the best for a successful summit and more importantly a safe return to BC.

11th October - Manaslu Base Camp

Right now Mal and Ben are slowly making their way to Camp 4 at 7,400 metres in readiness for their push to the summit tomorrow morning 12th October. The sherpas went up yesterday to pitch the tent and set up camp.

The winds have died down a little but unfortunately not enough for Mal to consider flying from below the summit. So he will leave his skis and wing behind and is currently looking at waiting at Camp 3 till the 13th to try and fly then when the winds are forecast to drop again.

Tonight Mal, Ben, Siddhi Mama and Phemba Rinji will be huddled in their tent at camp 4 eating and drinking as much as they can and trying to stay warm. Mal and Ben will be resting on oxygen and they will start their climb at around 5am hoping to reach the summit by 9am.

The forecast is for clear skis and moderate winds and a full moon tonight.

In the meantime base camp is getting pretty quiet with just 4 expeditions left, all of whom are going for the summit tonight or tomorrow.

Wishing them all the best for a successful summit and more importantly a safe return to BC.

Sophie at Base Camp

8th October

We’ve been resting and waiting at basecamp for the last 4 days, looking for a possible weather window to make our summit bit. It looks like it is finally arriving. Right now we’re banking on a summit attempt on the 12th of October. We’ll actually be leaving basecamp in the very early hours of the 9th of October to do up to camp 1 to drink some warm fluids and eat before continuing up to camp 2 where all of our equipment is stashed. It should take us between 7-8 hours in total with lite packs.

By far the best summit window of the season was between the 3rd and 5th of October but Ben and I were still acclimatizing (as were a number of other groups) and could take advantage of the fine , calm weather. It also meant that we missed the long lines of people on the fixed lines and the hordes on the summit, over two days we think that over 100 people summited. Himex alone put more than 40 people on the summit (including sherpa’s)

So now there will be about 3-4 groups on the hill overt the next few days, with a total of about 20 people trying to make a summit bid. Some groups have opted for an early window, not choosing to believe the wind forecast and choosing instead to trade of totally clear skies for low temperatures and wind chill. we’re planning on the lowest wind day to hopefully allow me to make a summit flight with my speed wing. Right now I’m estimating my chances of even thinking of making a flight attempt at about 50% due to the wind.

We’ll just have to wait and see if the forecast is is better than expected. If I can’t fly from the summit I expect to mask an attempt from around 7500m or just below main summit ridge line at about 7200m where I should be protected from the prevailing winds.

Sophie will keep the blog updated over the coming days and if the wind seems to drop a bit later on we’ll delay our summit attempt in favor of lower wind levels.

CIAO

Mal

4th October

Ben and I are back down at basecamp after 6 days of hard work and effort on the lower mountain. Originally the plan was that we would only be on the mountain for 3 days, spending either 1 or 2 nights at camp 1 and climbing to touch camp 2.

Instead, after reaching and establishing ourselves at camp 1 we both felt that we would be better served by making an attempt to reach and "touch" camp3. This would then put us in a position to make a summit attempt on our second rotation.

Before leaving basecamp we had arranged food for camps 1 and 2 so we would be ok in that regard for our plan change! Our radio system is also working well - allowing us to communicate with Sophie back in basecamp - the higher we go the better the reception.

The actual route on the mountain varies radically from camp to camp. Basecamp to camp1 is a long slow climb crossing a number of crevasses that are easily negotiated - the sting in the tail is the final 180m or so climb up to Camp 1 at 5700m. Camp 1 to Camp 2 is through the icefall and has numerous steep sections (all using fixed lines) as well as one ladder to cross. Camp 2 is located just above all the seracs on the first really flat section at 6400m. Our first time up there was pretty hard and both of us were breathing fairly heavily and really feeling the altitude. Camp 2 to camp 3 is a pretty easy day (easy is a relative term above 6400m) and gradually climbs up the final headwall to the col. The col is a pretty windy place and many teams have placed their camps just below the col - protected from the wind but also in a position where they can be covered in snow. Right now we have a number of loads of gear buried at the Col awaiting our return.

Our original, optimistic plan was to sleep at C1, touch C2 and then climb the next day to C2 and sleep. After our first touch of C2 we were both totally exhausted so instead we planned a "rest" day at C1. It was a rest day for Ben - but for me it was a day of climbing up above C1 and finding launch sites to make a number of flights to my chosen landing area below C1. The flying was great - the canopy was a little bit slow to inflate and I dropped much more than I would normally flying at lower altitudes but once I was actually in the air the normal glide ratio of the canopy was the same (about 1:3.5). Swooping in above other climbers was great fun - skinning back up to C1 and above was not so much fun!

Speedriding on Manaslu

I had planned to make a flight from Camp 3 but heavy cloud, occasional snow showers and minute weather windows made making a flight attempt just too risky. Instead, I skied down from C3 to C2. It’s not easy to ski at that altitude with a heavy pack and in flat light. About 1/2 way down the cloud cleared just below C2 to the summit and it made the final few hundred meters of skiing just simply glorious.

There was a weather clearance from C2 to below C1 which would have made a a flight possible but it was getting pretty late and Ben wasn’t the only one who was tired! Sidi MaMa, Ben and I quickly packed up C2, stored all our gear and made it waterproof and started to make our way down the fixed lines to C1 and then continued down baseamp. It was great to Sophie when we got down and it was also great to have a shower (in our new flash shower tent) after 6 days of alternatively sweating, freezing and then sleeping in the same clothes.

Right now we are enjoying one of the finest days that basecamp has seen all season, Ben has been eating, sleeping, reading and then sleeping some more. Soph took the opportunity to drop below basecamp to actually see the view for the fisrt time (it’s always been in cloud) and I went to catch up with Russel and co at the Himex tent to see how the team was getting on with their summit bid.

So now our waiting game for a summit window starts. The wind is forecast to increase from the 7th and doesn’t look like dropping until after the 10th of October so we’ll have the time to rest and recover here in basecamp for a bit.

All the best to ya all

Mal

Mal and Ben, are well and truly into their acclimatisation on the mountain. They tagged Camp 2 the day before yesterday and Mal went up again to Camp 2 yesterday to fly back down to Camp 1, just for fun. They’ll be sleeping at Camp 2 tonight and then heading back to base for a couple of days rest before heading back up to tag Camp 3. Meanwhile Sidi Mama (aka the machine who smiles) and Pemba Rinji have been ferrying ridiculous loads and setting up the camps ahead of them.

Most of the other expedition teams are on their way up in preparation for their push to the summit, making the most of the good weather window. For the last 2 days there has been a pretty constant stream of thermal clad, millet boot wearing, heavy breathing, slow moving climbers rolling past our camp on their way to Camp 1 and beyond.

Meanwhile back at the ranch some exciting base camp news! Today the shower tent was erected and I am now all shiny and new. It comes complete with a solar shower kit so if the sun ever comes out at BC that will be handy. Whilst the weather on the mountain has been mostly clear base camp has an omnipresent layer of plog surrounding it. Makes me want to climb the mountain, until I start walking up a hill....

Hope there are blue skies wherever you are

Soph

Speedfly8000

speedfly8000@gmail.com (for text only emails)

28th September! - It’s Sophie’s Birthday

The weather gods finally caved in - it must have been Sophie’s birthday present - we woke up this morning to SUN beaming into the front door of our tent and an amazing view of the east pinnacle of Manaslu as well as a totally clear view all the way down the valley. For us walking in we’ve been plauged by high cloud and rain each day - for those here at basecamp it’s been heavy grey cloud, rain and snow for at least the last 10 days or more. But now the weather seems to have turned - we’re all hoping it means the end of the monsoon and more days of clear sky’s.

So this morning we got up to enjoy the sun and to busy ourselves for our first full trip up to C1. Sophie was still in bed for a bit and our staff took turns coming up to our tent to wish her a happy birthday, we even had a visit from friends at Himex to wish her happy birthday. (and yes KAZ the package was delivered and caused huge amounts of laughter)

Sidi and Pemba

So, the morning quickly turned into a packing frenzy as Ben and I got ready for our first full day on the mountain and our two climbing sherpa’s stuffed their packs full of gear for a carry to C1. These guys are simply great fun to be with and work incredibly hard. This trip we have with us Phemba Ringi Sherpa and Sidi Mama Tamang. It’s the first time I’ve worked with Pemba but he’s just great - I’ve done a number of trips with Sidi and, as usual, he’s full of smiles and laughter. The boys took great pains to make sure that Ben and I would leave after them and NOT try to catch up to them - as if we could!

Just on 10am we all started up the hill slowly - this would also be Sophie’s first trip above basecamp and she came up past the crampon point, the point where the rock end and the ice begins - which is now irrelevant as the whole valley is loaded with snow. I’d left my ski’s there the day before when Ben and I had gone for a small wander - I’d tried to ski down in REALLY flat light and today I could see my tracks .... Not pretty. The route from there is a slow, gradual rise up to 5500m where it steepens up for the last 200m or so to the "high" C1. Soph had come with us to about 5150m before waving us goodbyew and heading down to cups of tea and Dal Bhat in the kitchen. Ben and I made our way very slowly up the valley - it was like walking in a furnace at times as the sun was simply baking - the order of the day was a very stylish themal attire on the lower body with harnesses and then glacier shirts on top - and loads of sunscreen.

The trip from 4800m to 5700m took us the best part of 4 1/2 hours and the amount of new snow was remarkable. Over 1.5m had fallen between 5500m-5700m in the last 4-5 days and we were thankful of the deep trench to walk in - well Ben was - I was ski touring my way up. It was pretty damn hard going at times.

Anyway we got to C1 just slightly before the sun left our part of the hill and the temp plummeted, all of a sudden the thermal pants option just didn’t seem so good - a quick stash of our gear - a boot change for me (back into the Millets) and we were going DOWN. It took less than 1 1/2 hours for us to come down!

So the plan for the next 3 days is for us to head up to C1, go to C2, I’ll be looking for good launch and landing sites (we’ve already spotted a few) and then come back down for a rest before going back up again to head to C3 ....

Blue Skies! Mal.

Basecamp

Currently we are at our base-camp at 4900mtrs organizing equipment, setting up the solar chargers and feathering the nest for what will be our home for the next month or so. Our acclimitization walk from Samagoan went very smoothly with Mal, Soph and myself slowly walking up to 4100 meters quite comfortably before returning to our hostel to read and relax. Our planned move to basecamp the following day was thwarted by steady rain, rain in which we could not expect our sandal wearing porters (30 of them each carrying approx 30kgs) to work. The day instead was spent reading and chatting to climbers who had descended from Manaslu base to take a break from the weather. The climbers bought with them tales of diabolical crevasses, avalanches and constant rain/snow. We could not wait to see for ourselves. Early the next morning the hotel courtyard was full of porters strapping loads to their backs. I nearly busted myself on the way up, I decided to see if a relatively fit, goretek clad thirty something male in sturdy boots could keep up with a young lady carrying 30kgs in skirt and thongs. I gave up after only a few gasping hours. Five hours later we arrived at our basecamp all feeling strong and ready to launch into the task of digging out platforms for our sleeping, eating and the kitchen tents.

On the way to our base Mal and I made as short detour to chat with Russel and Dave Mckinley, aka ’Dgnarly’ who are with the massive Himex expedition. We paid Russel $100US each for use of his fixed lines and got the latest news of the mountain.Russ and D’Gnarly (aka Dave Mckinley) reported a few easily navigable crevasses between base and camp one and a high Avalanche risk above two which will abate with the expected good weather coming. That afternoon and this morning have been spent organizing our base. We now have two tarpaulin clad sleeping tents, a foam floored dining/relaxing tent with solar power, a dry, level kitchen tent and a poo-barrel tent positioned some distance away! We had planned a chill out after setting everything up but as Mal and I feel so good we are going to take a wander up towards camp one to begin our acclimatization. Sophie is planning to spent the day resting up for her birthday celebration extravaganza tomorrow which will include Dhal Baht, some chocolate, a birthday cake and snow cones (not yellow!)

Ben West

It never rains but it pours.

The monsoon is still making it’s presence felt. Since we arrived at Samagoan the heavens have been open and the pani (water) has been falling. In the last 2 1/2 days there has been over 200mm of rain. There has been a steady stream of Sherpa’s coming down from basecamp to visit friends and family or to just simply hang out. From what we have been able d to find out it seems that all the other expeditions are still in basecamp and there has been about 1m new snow.

Weather 25th September

Camp 1 is most likely a tad buried .... All last night it was simply belting down and the dawn was grey, murky and rainy. After a chat about the porters we felt it better to wait one more day here for the better weather that is forecast for tomorrow. It wouldn’t be good to have one of them slip and injure themselves OR to drop any of our gear + the deep snow into basecamp would also prove to be a problem for them wearing only lite shoes and or walking boots.

A small overhang to shelter from the rain

Yesterday however we did get out on an acclimatization walk in the afternoon when the rain had eased. We climbed up the basecamp track to about 4150m and sat in wee cave to watch the clouds come and go - giving us some glimpses of the glacier across from us and the lake far below.

Just this morning we arranged to have a Puja (blessings from the Lama) here in Samagoan as the local Lama was heading down to a lower village for a few days and would not be able to come up to basecamp. We had our boots, axes and my canopy blessed - all done under cover out of the rain in a local prayer room.

Puja in Samagoan

So now we are simply waiting for the promised good weather to come again.

23rd September

We’re now at the not so small village of Samagoan, which is at the base of Manaslu, one day and another 1000m from basecamp. We’ll be spending tomoro here resting and doing a small acclimatization walk before moving up onto the mountain. With any luck I’ll be able to up high enough on some of the surrounding slopes to do a quick run down on the speedwing!

We left Kathmandu on the morning of the 16th of September and after 1 very long jeep ride, a gnarly river crossing, multiple days of exhausting heat, monsoonal thunderstorms, muddy trails, wet tents, dank tea houses and 7 days of walking - we saw our first view of Manaslu this morning! It didn’t last all that long as the ever-present cloud buildup quickly obscured it, but the quick view we did have got us all pretty excited!

Manaslu - early morning from Lho

Just after we had posted our last update at Khorlabeshi, we were sitting down drinking a cup o chai when everything started to shake! We quickly realized that it wasn’t a heavy footed Sherpa but instead a earthquake. It was quite strong for about 30 seconds and then still noticeable for about 2 minutes afterwards. About 10 minutes later the creek that we had crossed to get to Khorlabeshi turned into a huge raging torrent - filled with boulders crashing their way down the stream - it was probably the result of the earthquake shaking loose a dammed lake higher up on the mountain. The roaring jet like torrent lasted for hours and had made the river rise at least 5 meters! There was a small bridge that Sophie and Ben had crossed a few hours before that was now nowhere to be seen. News slowly filtered into our group about the earthquake which was about a 6.3 and centered near ?Kathmandu. All our staff were able to contact their families which are all ok although we’ve again heard unsubstantiated rumors of large scale damage in various areas of Kathmandu.

Before the Earthquake

After the Earthquake

Right now our equipment if being transported up to basecamp and we’ll be following along behind soon. A number of teams have already been to camp 3 and are now waiting for the right weather window for their first summit attempt. All going according to plan we’ll be at camp 1 on the 29th of September for our first cycle on the mountain, with as summit date now set for near the 17th or 18th of October.

The Monsoon certainly isn’t over!

Hi guys, Ben here with my first team update, I apologize in advance to any mountain climbers reading this as I might explain the seemingly obvious for those non-mountain climbers reading.

Ben and Mal taking every opportunity!

The morning after our brutal, almost catastrophic, commute we hit the trail. My only experience of Nepal is the Khumbu Valley area in pre-monsoon so being as hot and sticky as we currently are is a massive change. The upside of this is that Mal and I have been stripping off and jumping into almost every waterfall or decent sized pool we cross. Mal’s Soph watches in envy on as we cool off and have free waterfall massages.

Last night’s camp was at a small village called Soti Cola. We arrived mid afternoon after a short four hour trek and set about spending the afternoon lounging under a small shelter reading books, Soduko-ing or in my case staring down the valley and being thoroughly stoked to be in such a beautiful area.The night bought with it rain, rain and more rain. So much rain fell that most of us spent the night adjusting the extra plastic sheeting over our tents with varying success.

We all floated out of our respective tents early in the morning thoroughly wet. Soph and Mal had the most rugged night moisture-wise. While I got away with only wet shorts and a wet Tshirt, Mal and Soph suffered a comprehensive drenching of their kit. Sophs Down Jacket was soaked as was Mal’s entire wardrobe. None the less we wrung out our gear, packed up our kit, smeared sunscreen on every exposed bit and hit the trail to tackle our slightly more taxing day two trek.

We spent the day following the Buddhi Gandaki Nadi uphill (I am unsure if this if the name of the valley or the river but felt the need to throw in a name) The effects of recent monsoonal rains is clearly evident with beautiful waterfalls across the valley, lush green padis of rice and massive sections of track completely washed out. One area of track had a fifteen meter section missing over a particularly exposed (big drop if you fall) section. The freshly uncovered, rich brown dirt looked like the side of a cut chocolate cake, a cake sitting over a swollen glacial river. We all gingerly picked our way through the pass and realized that there was no way the donkeys could make it. Pembaour lead sherpa stayed back with some helpers and worked to dig a crossing for the donkeys. Somehow they built a suitable track for the donkeys and managed to pass the town we had lunch in only minutes after we left. A couple of waterfalls (and two glorious hours following the river upward) we arrived at Khorla Beshi where we are going to spend the night. Tomorrow, not surprisingly we are going up, hopefully the monsoonal track is more gentle on our donkeys from here on.

Leaving Kathmandu -Enroute to Arughat

Now that Ben and Sophie #2 have joined us we were keen to get on the road. Ben landed yesterday and, after the fastest shopping quest in the history of mountaineering, he was kitted out with millet 8000 metre boots, down suit, 2 new sleeping bags, crampons, harness, soft shell pants, new sock, down booties and a few other bits and bobs. Sophie found out at 6pm that we were leaving the next day so she sorted her gear quickly.

So, with barrels loaded and duffel bags stuffed full, we bundled into an old landcruiser at 7:30 am. Less than an hour later we were pulled over on the side of the road with the bonnet up and the tools out. Hydraulic issue with the clutch - luckily our driver had spare parts on hand. Truck all fixed and away we went towards Gorkha. After a while we headed off up a side road and stopped to buy some batteries. Back in the trusty cruiser - oops won’t start! So we all got behind and gave him a push and away we went again, No one really knew how long the trip was going to take to get to Arughat, the end of the road. Somewhere between 8 and 10 hours....

The road quickly turned to rugged 4wd terrain interspersed with some pretty gnarly deep slipping mud ruts. We got stuck a couple of times but the trusty (???) landcruiser made it through until...

A particularly deep and slipping section with a nasty wash out and steep drop into a ravine was the final straw for our driver. He rolled his t-shirt up over his belly and said that’s enough, no further for him. Hmm what now? Sidi Mama (yes that is really his name) got on the phone and announced that they would send another jeep from Aragat to pick us up. "Jeep coming 1/2 an hour - you can walk a little"

We left all our gear in the cruiser and wandered down the road expecting to see a jeep coming our way...1/2 hr walking and another hour sitting by the side of the road and still no jeep. Jeep coming? A couple of phone calls in nepali that we couldn’t understand. No..Truck coming, 1/2 an hour. OK sounds good...another half an hour and no truck. Truck coming? No..Tractor coming and jeep is here to take you to Arughat. OK great.

We loaded ourselves into a super sturdy jeep/truck and headed off down the bumpy road, We passed the tractor which was headed up to get all our gear from where the landcruiser stopped. Despite a few pretty hairy sections on the road we were getting there and could see the lights of Arughat in the distance. Then we got to the river.

Mal - "wow look at the river"

Sophie #1 - are we crossing it?

Sophie # 2 - do you think we’ll make it?

Driver - "look at the truck!" (downstream a little way a truck sideways in the river)

Answer to Sophie # 1 question "yes"

Sophie # 2 question "No, we are not going to make it"

As we started the crossing water started coming up under our feet then over the bonnet and then into the engine and then it all came to a pretty quick halt. Fast flowing river outside - truck rolled over down stream...#$%^E#^ now what? Safety Mal jumped out, discovered it was fast but only knee deep so we all linked up and got the hell out of the river.

20 minute later a big tractor arrived and they hooked up big wire cables and pulled it out..

How long to Arughat? 13 and a 1/2 hours today...time for bed

The team is all here - the gear is all packed - the trucks are loaded and we're off!

 

the last few days have been fairly hectic and kaotic with lots of last minute shopping, getting electronic repair kits made, sorting out pelican cases - meetings with the Ministry of Tourism - avoiding street hawkers and basically getting into the swing of life in Kathmandu.

 

Today we'll be driving for about 10 hours to the town of Arughat.  From there we will be walking in for about 8 days to Basecamp.  It's super exciting!

 

Till the next post.

 

Blue Skys - Mal

Day 3

Testing and sorting gear. Before heading out for dinner last night Mal decided to test the satellite phone with the laptop to make sure everything is working properly. Good thing he did cause it did not work. The laptop was not recognising the phone and the sat phone appeared to have lost it’s sense of sound, no reassuring tones and no dial tone. Hmm what now? Mal spent half the night reconfiguring and trying everything but no joy.. He was not a happy camper this morning :(

Anyway long story short we made a trip to Constellation Technology and the very helpful crew there helped us to work out that the data cable was kaput along with the sat phone speakers. Lots of money later happiness returned with a working sat phone system - handsfree speaker kit, new data cable and extra battery.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at our agent Nima’s, meeting the crew and checking the rest of the expedition gear including a shiny new solar panel with a thousand wires and cables that I think I might need to learn how to connect up.

So tonight we are relaxing and tomorrow we go to Bhat Ba Thani (Nepali mega department store) to buy all our mountain food. Yay - I love foreign supermarkets!

Well - Sophie and I are sitting in Kathmandu! Currently at the Mandap Garden restaurant enjoying a Everest beer, a Nepali green salad and BLT.

Our flight from Auckland to Seoul Yesterday was ... bumpy, very very bumpy. And as a PG pilot I’m totally comforable with turbulence, not. Actually I find that flying on large planes in turbulence quite discomforting, not quite sure why However the flight from Seoul to Kathmandu was really really nice - lots of HUGE cumulus clouds everywhere on the flight over and as we landed

The next few days will be pretty busy with sorting gear, buying gear and packing gear. We’ll be using Zupka’s (cross between yaks and cows)_ as well as donkeys to get to basecamp. So lots of packing to ensure that gear doesn’t get smashed!

Packing ....

 

We're down to less than 24 hours before we leave ... so that mean only one thing!  Lots of packing / weighing equipment / checking that you had just packed what you thought you had ... and then checking it again!

 

We've got quite the weight restriction as we are with Korean Air in stead of Thai this time, but with most of my equipment already stored in Kathmandu we should just squeak under the limit!

 

As always you end up taking more stuff than you think you would, and last minute omissions mean quick trips to town ... on this afternoons list is new socks!

Expedition Sat Phone Number.

+8821621277789

Simply type in the number to the text box below, enter your text and hit SEND SMS

Nepal is a land of mystery, excitement, amazing mountains - and mountains for red tape and last minute hassles!

About a week ago I was informed that the Ministry of Tourism and the Nepal Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had revoked my permits for "flying" from Manaslu .... As you might imagine this caused me some concern!

The issue arose from an ilegal flight attempt from Everest by a Paraglider and the proximity to the Chinese Border. There was another (legal) flight from Everest this season been - a Tandem PG flew from the summit to Namche - My friend Babau then went on to mountain bike back to Kathmandu - an epic achievment!

However, with the increased amount of attention on using canopy’s in the Himalaya and the word "flying" being used in my application meant that there were going to be problems issuing my permit.

My good friend, Nima, spent 3 days at the Ministry of Tourism, often waiting up to 4-5 hours at a time to get meetings with the Minister. His hard work has paid off, after a week of discussions, phone calls, and emails the Ministry has, once again, allowed my permit to be processed!

So now we actually have 3 permits!

• 1 for climbing
• 1 for skiing
• 1 for "gliding" or "canopy skiing"

A huge thanks to Nima for all his ahrd work and the Minister of Tourism for allowing us to make this attempt.