원정 개요

The 30 member expedition assisted by 23 Sherpas above BC sent 23 members and 21 Sherpas to Manaslu's summit on 2 days, but first they ahd aborted attempts by two groups of members: they had been split into two parties because the expedition was so large. They were aborted because of heavy snowfall which triggered serious avalanche danger.

The first party to abort their attempt left BC on 22 Sept, got to C3 the next day and stayed there for two nights. Bad weather sent them back to BC on the 25th. They were Atkinson, Ballinger, Barranov, Gwilt, Hawkins, Hewitt, Hinett, Rai, Sauls, Van Gass, Warren and Wiseman.

The second party left BC on the 23rd and reached C1 that day, but went back to BC the next day. They were Bierling, Fujikawa, Godof, Hellmuth, Hiraoka, Kravcova, Kudo, McKinley, Saito, Sakai, Spruzs and Wallace.

The successful climbers reached the top on 4 and 5 October, as follows:

Member Sherpa with this member Summit time

(none) Dorje Sonam 9:24 am
(none) Galgen Dorje 9:24 am
(none) Ngima Chhiring 9:24 am
Hellmuth Lhakpa Nuru (old) 9:44 am
Avila Urken 9:49 am
Spruzs Dawa Tenzing 9:49 am
Kravcova 9:49 am
McKinley 9:49 am
Saito Rita Dorje 10:23 am
Kudo Nima Sona 10:23 am
Hiraoka Nima Tenzing 11:04 am
Fujikawa Nawang Tenzing 11:04 am
Sakai 11:04 am
Godof Son Dorje 11:38 am
Bierling Pasang Kami 1:55 pm

5 October

Warren Pasang Nima 8:41 am
Hinett 8:41 am
Rai Ang Nuru 8:45 am
Sauls Phura Namgel 8:52 am
Atkinson Tashing Tshering 8:56 am
Van Gass Ang Pinjo 8:58 am
Ballinger 9:01 am
Wiseman Lhakpa Nuru (young) 9:01 am
Barannov Phurba Tashi 9:09 am
Hewitt Sonam Tashi 9:09 am
Hawkins Tashi Chhiring 10:25 am

In their descent from the summit on 5 October, Ballinger and Baranov skied down from the big rock about 10 meters below the very top to C2. They had already skied down from C2 to 500m above BC, where the snow cover stopped, on 10 September.

A contingent of 9 soldiers from the British army were sent to the expedition, all of them disabled to varying, degrees. They were no longer serving in combat units but were posted in offices or elsewhere in the army and were living in army barracks. Seven of them reached the summit of Manaslu.

Non-summiting members:

Brice considered the best spot from which to manage such a large team was from C1, so he went no farther.

Chambers reached 6400m on 2nd October during the first summit attempt. He had not been feeling well all morning and continuously vomited during the ascent. He returned to C2 and descended to BC the following day. He stayed at BC for the remainder of the expedition.

Chambers got to C2, but no higher; he didn't acclimatize well.

Chaplin reached C4, but he was too slow climbing from C3 to C4 to try to go on to the summit.

Craven hadn't acclimatized by 10 September and, like all other non-summiters, spent the rest of the team's climbing period in BC (leaving a Manaslu expedition early is not easy and is quite expensive).

Gwilt got a lung infection after reaching C3.

Howard reached C2 on 16th September.

None of them (other than Howard) left the expedition early because it would have been difficult or expensive to leave Manaslu BC separately.

Two members, Bierling and Godof, used no oxygen at all. Bierling was slow without the oxygen and almost didn't get to the top. All other members used it on their push to the summit from C3 to their high points down to about C3. All Sherpas used it from C4 to their high points to about C3.

All members descended to base camp after the summit.

Ballinger and Baranov skied down from the summit (rock tower underneath the cornice) and skied all the way to C4. From there they skied to C3 and from C3 to C2 they only skied intermittently (I will get the exact distances later).

Majid reached 6000m during the first acclimatization rotation on 16th September. He was feeling the effects of altitude and turned back. He descended to BC the same day and stayed there for the remainder of the expedition.

Howard reached C2 on 16th September. He did not join the rests of the group to "tag" C3 on 18th of September as he was not feeling well. He had problems all the way through the expedition as he was feeling the effects of altitude. He returned to BC on 19th September and left BC on 26th September by helicopter from Samagaon.

Chambers reached 6400m on 2nd October during the first summit attempt. He had not been feeling well all morning and continuously vomited during the ascent. He returned to C2 and descended to BC the following day. He stayed at BC for the remainder of the expedition.

Craven reached 6900m on 3rd October during the first summit attempt. He felt very weak and turned back after having climbed for about five hours. He stayed the night at C2 and returned to BC the following day.

Chaplin reached C4 on 4 October. He had taken more than eight hours from C3 to C4 and Brice decided that he was too slow to make it to the summit. He returned to BC on 5 October with the rest of the group after their summit success.

Brice reached C1 on 6th September during the first acclimatization rotation. He stayed at BC for the rest of the expedition.

Sherpas:
Ang Nuru, 19/1/64, Khumjung [biodata in error]
Dawa Tenzing, 22/7/70, Phortse, Everest X8, Manaslu X1
Dorje Sonam Gyalzen, 24/5/81, Phortse, Everest X11
Gyalzen Dorji, 17/2/88, Phortse, Everest X1, Lhotse X2, Manaslu X1
Lakpa Nuru, 1962, Phortse, Everest X5, Manaslu X3
Lhakpa Nuru, 18/6/80, Phortse, Everest X7, Manaslu X1
Nawang Tenzing, 20/11/93, Phortse, Everest X1
Ngima Chhiri/Tshering, 22/4/72, Phortse, Everest X4
Nima Sona, 18/9/70, Phortse, Everest X2
Nima Tenzing, 26/4/91, Phortse, Everest X3
Pasang Kami, 26/7/79, Phortse, Everest X4
Pasang Nima, 1/10/92, Phortse, Everest X3
Phura Namgya, 13/8/87, Khumjung
Phurba Tashi, 24/5/71, Khumjung, Everest X19
Rita Dorji, 24/10/77, Phortse, Everest X8, Manaslu X1
Son Dorje, 22/5/63, Phortse, Everest X10
Sonam Finjo/Ang Pinzo, 3/10/85, Khunde, Everest X3
Sonam Tashi, 4/11/90, Phortse
Tashi Chhiring/Tashi Tshering, 8/5/90, Khumjung, Everest X2, Manaslu X1
Tashi Tshering, 26/4/77, Khumjung, Everest X2, Lhotse X2
Urkien Lendu/Urgen Tenzing, 10/2/93, Phortse, Everest X1, Manaslu X1

Additional info on ski descent"

On 18 September 2011, Sergey and Adrian skied from C2 (6250m) to Crampon Point (5000m). This day was combined with some other skiing days as high as C3 (6650m) and repeated descents below 6000 meters. They took their skis off for one 2-meter ladder, but had them on for the entirety of C2-Crampon Point other than the ladder.

Summit day:

Ballinger skied alone from the true summit (the highest rock point from where the route steps onto the summit cornice) down to the summit plateau (false summit where, to my understanding, all ski attempts have in the past begun from). Sergey joined Ballinger at the plateau. From there they skied continuously to approx 6100m, just below C2. Due to high avalanche danger (Ballinger caused a big slide onto clients and climbers below before deciding to stop skiing) and the fact that they had already skied this dangerous section, they took off their skis and descended by foot from 6100m to 5800m (below the hour glass) where they put their skis back on. They then skied from there to the rock step below Crampon Point (4900m) where the snow ended. From there they walked to BC.