Russian roulette on the eighth highest mountain in the world

Sophie Lavaud has done it again. On Saturday, the Genevan reached the summit of the 8163 meter high Manaslu. After 2017 for the second time. This time, however, the 54-year-old stood on the “True Summit”, the actual highest point of the mountain. Like the research of a group of chroniclers around Eberhard Jurgalski von 8000ers.com uncovered last year, many mountaineers on Manaslu turned back too early.

It was a stroke of luck that Sophie Lavaud reached the summit and returned safely to the base camp. On the mountain she had to deal with difficult conditions and bad weather, she shared on social media. But everything went well. This is not a matter of course on high mountains – and especially not in Manaslu these days.

Almost as many permits were issued for Manaslu as for Mount Everest

At first glance, it looked like Manaslu, after all the eighth highest mountain in the world, would experience a record-breaking season this fall. The Ministry of Tourism in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu issued 404 permits. For comparison: On Mount Everest this spring, there were only a little more at 408. Last year, 191 permits were issued for Manaslu.

Sophie Lavaud wasn’t the only mountaineer who wanted to climb the mountain again this year and this time climb the right peak. Among them is the exceptional German mountaineer Ralf Dujmovits. But that alone did not lead to the record numbers. High-altitude mountaineering is trendy. Not least since films like the one about the Nepalese mountaineer and expedition operator Nirmal Purja (Netflix) have presented the highest peaks in the world as being accessible to everyone. There doesn’t seem to be any mountaineering demands.

But Manaslu showed a different side this year than is commonly portrayed in social media posts by many scantily clad models and adventure seekers. The teams initially postponed their attempts because of the avalanche danger. Anyone who deals with the Manaslu knows about the avalanches that discharge on its slopes. In September 2012, an avalanche buried more than two dozen climbers, eleven of whom died.

The unstable weather, the heavy rainfall and the wind – the best conditions for the formation of avalanches – have made climbing Manaslu more than just a test of courage over the past few days. The expeditions played Russian roulette.

Kristin Harila was among the first to climb to the summit this fall despite the adverse conditions. The Norwegian had set her mind on climbing the 14 eight-thousanders in record time this year. But a few days after she had stood on the summit, an avalanche between camps 3 and 4 on Monday last week showed how dangerous the situation really was. More than a dozen Sherpas and customers were caught in the snow. A Sherpa died.

After reaching the summit, drama ensues

But that’s not all. At about the same time, the American high-altitude and ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson and her partner Jim Morrison started skiing after they had reached the summit. Morrison made the first turns. Nelson followed him. According to Morrison, she triggered a small avalanche. The moving snow pulled Nelson’s skis away. She slid down a gully on the south side of the mountain. Her body was found two days later.

Nelson, who wanted to switch to Dhaulagiri (8167 meters) after Manaslu, caused a sensation together with Morrison in 2018 with the historic ski descent from Lhotse (8516 meters) on the so-called Dream Line – from the summit through the narrow Lhotse, which is up to 50 degrees steep -Couloir down to Camp 2 in Western Qwm at 6400 meters.

Caution was therefore required at Manaslu. And the Furtenbach Adventures expedition was particularly cautious. “It was not foreseeable that a summit window would be possible with conditions that our guides could reconcile with our safety standards. For someone with avalanche training, it was crystal clear that it was too dangerous. That’s why our team called off the expedition the day before the first avalanche and went home. Just like most other Western organizers, »said the expedition organizer Lukas Furtenbach from Innsbruck. He had also canceled his Mount Everest expedition in 2021 due to the corona situation in the base camp, while other expeditions continued to climb the mountain.

This fall, Manaslu made it abundantly clear that expeditions to the highest mountains in the world are a major organizational challenge and that safety standards are often not met. Even a dead Sherpa and customers caught in avalanches couldn’t stop vendors from continuing their expeditions. They also let customers who were hiking a mountain for the first time climb the slopes completely unsuspecting.

«I have never experienced so much callousness in Nepal. The Nepalese agencies happily continued their self-promotion on Instagram while their employees died on the mountain or were seriously injured,” says one who has been observing the expedition for many years but does not want to be named.

How correct the decision was to break off the expedition on Manaslu after the first deaths and in view of the continued snowfall that was forecast became obvious last Sunday. “Avalanche in Manaslu Base Camp this morning,” read the breaking news from Nepal. The base camp was set up in a place that is considered safe from avalanches. There were also two avalanches on the mountain. In one, a local guide descending from Camp 2 to Camp 1 died.

“I pray that I never have to experience an expedition like this again in the future”

It will be interesting to see how Sophie Lavaud assesses the events after her return. Adriana Bownlee, a 21-year-old British mountaineer who claims to have become the youngest woman to climb K2 this summer, wrote on Instagram on Monday: “This expedition has taught me how dangerous this mountaineering world really is. Pro mountaineers and Sherpas have died this season on a mountain many of us thought would be a nice climb. It was unimaginable. I feel blessed to be safely back at base camp. I pray that I never have to experience an expedition like this again in the future.”