원정 개요

French-Danish Manaslu - Autumn 2006 - 1 Nov 2006

Team's goal was to make a pure alpine-style ascent of Manaslu and their preferred route was the South Ridge direct. Other teams had climbed the South Ridge but had not stayed on the ridge all the way, as this party intended to do.

The team made their base camp southeast of the mountain in the Pungyen Valley at 4250m on about 26 Sept. They first did some acclimatization climbing on the East Ridge and normal route (NE Face): Norrselet and Graziani went to the East Ridge, slept two nights at 6200m, so they went no higher. At the same time the other three members, Trommsdorff, Wagnon and De Choudens, acclimatized to 6800m, stayed there one night and down to normal route's base camp, where they were reunited with Norrselet and Graziani on 10th October. On the 11th the whole team ascended the normal route to 6800m, on the 12th to 7500m, then back to their original base camp where all their things were.

Now they were ready to make their pure alpine-style ascent of the South Ridge despite the fact that access to the ridge was exposed to avalanching. For this climb they needed good weather, but on about the 20th there was "a big dump of snow." They decided on the 23rd to abandon the South Ridge and make their summit bid via the normal NE Face route. They dismantled their base camp and moved it to the normal base camp site.

On the 23rd they were in Samagaon village, on the 24th they went direct to C1 at 5700m, and on the 25th they went to 6400m. Here they were stopped by deep snow and risk from slab avalanches (they triggered one such avalanche themselves). They descended to base camp the same day; the climb finished.

The South Ridge direct is a "nice" route. To gain the ridge at all, the climber has to overcome a heavily corniced section, and the ridge itself has difficult rock at 7400-7500m. It is a "very committed route" from which they would have descended by the normal route.