Alex Txikon and his team have reached Camp 3 at around 6,500m, according to his tracker.
They set off from Camp 1 early this morning and progressed at a good pace. In fact, at 2 pm local time, Txikon’s tracker located him at 6,700m, then it seemed to retreat some 200m back to the spot where they had previously cached their tents and gear. They might have pushed forward a little to break trail or scout the route to the summit before returning to camp.
Further updates are expected today from Txikon and also from Simone Moro, who declined to join the current summit push and is n Base Camp. The two climbers’ opinions diverged concerning tomorrow’s brief summit window. Moro has considered it too short and has also noted loads of fresh snow on the mountain. Avalanche danger thwarted the Italian climber’s two previous winter attempts on Manaslu.
Meanwhile, Alex Txikon chose to climb as high as possible today, then assess the situation again before deciding whether to try to summit tomorrow or turn around. He faces long odds to the summit since there is no trail, no fixed route from slightly over 7,000m, and a long trudge to the top. They also have that picky technical arete to surmount before attaining the true summit. Commercial groups stop at a slightly lower sub-summit.
Zoom out of Alex Txikon’s track at 5 pm Nepal time, showing his progress today and the (long) way to the summit. Illustration: Alex Txikon/Racetracker.es
Joining Txikon are Chhepal Sherpa and Iñaki Alvarez, who also shared his tent in Camp 1, and Gelung Sherpa and Namja Sherpa, who bivouacked 200m above C1 in order to take the first shift breaking trail today. We’ll update as we hear more, and in the meantime, you can follow Txikon’s location here.
