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» 2010-05-24
2 members + 4 sherpas reached on Summit of Mt. Eve...
» 2010-05-24
Chhiring Dorje Sherpa, 4 members and 1 Climbing Sh...
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Mount Manaslu was first climbed in 1956 by a Japanese expedition. Its name comes from the Sanskrit word, manias, meaning "intellect" or "soul". It is the same root word as that for Manasarover, the holy lake near Mount Kailash in Tibet. Just as the British considered Everest their mountain, Manaslu has always been regarded as a “Japanese mountain” by the Japanese; because it was a Japanese expedition that first summited Manaslu. H.W. Tillman and Jimmy Roberts photographed Manaslu during a trek in 1950 but the first real survey of the peak was made by a Japanese expedition in 1952.
A Japanese team made the first serious attempt on the peak from the Buri Gandaki valley in 1953. When another team followed in 1954, the villagers of Samagaon told them the first team had been responsible for an avalanche that destroyed a monastery and refused to let the 1954 expedition climb. The expedition set off to climb Ganesh Himalayan instead.
Despite a large donation for the rebuilding of the monastery, subsequent Japanese expeditions, including the one that made the first ascent in 1956, took place in an atmosphere of animosity and mistrust. The second successful Japanese expedition was in 1971. There was a South Korean attempt in 1971, and in April 1972 an avalanche killed five climbers and 10 Sherpas ending the fourth ascent of mount Manaslu.
Due to its remote location, the difficulties involved in approaching the mountain and the hazards of its ascent, it does not see the high traffic that is attributed to some of the other Himalayan 8000m peaks.
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