As the fall Manaslu climbing season begins, let’s consider the history of climbs on this Mountain of Spirits.
The five-member British West Nepal Expedition, led by the legendary Bill Tilman, made the first reconnaissance of the mountain in 1950. Its main objective, however, was Annapurna.
From the Kathmandu Valley, they trekked for six days and then established their base camp at Manang. They then started to explore the region of the Annapurna massif. From the upper section of Dudh Khola, they could see Manaslu from Bumtang.
Three months later, Tilman and J.O.M. Roberts hiked to the Larkya La Col, from which they again saw Manaslu, as well as its plateau. They concluded that a direct route to the summit from the north was possible, although they did not try it at the time.
First ascent
A few years later, a party of Japanese alpinists attempted Manaslu. Other Japanese teams later returned to the mountain until finally, on May 9, 1956, Toshio Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu made its first ascent.
Until the end of 2023, 775 teams have gone to Manaslu, including 568 in autumn, 182 in spring, and 24 in winter. According to The Himalayan Database, no parties went there during the summer monsoon, except the 1950 reconnaissance of Bill Tilman and his partners.
There continue to be more fall than spring expeditions to Manaslu, and the gap between them widens every year. The main reason for this is that nowadays, more high-altitude tourists come to Nepal, and in spring, the outfitters focus on bringing them up Everest, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, and Makalu.
The total number of ascents depends on whether you count the many climbs that stopped at a foresummit. Although the first Japanese summiters did succeed in reaching the top, many of those who followed did not. Until recently, those foresummits have counted. Thus, until the end of 2023, Manaslu has had 3,317 summiters. Less than one-third of them (about 843) did so without bottled oxygen.
While 2,983 people summited in autumn, only 312 have done so in spring, and a mere 22 succeeded in winter.
Spring and fall have roughly the same number of fatalities. A total of 90 climbers have died on Manaslu, including 46 in spring, 42 in autumn, and 2 in winter.
In recent years, Manaslu has become very popular, even for beginners, as well as for 8,000m peak collectors.
