The fall season in Nepal has begun, and Manaslu is the most popular ascent.
The Expedition Operators’ Association of Nepal (EOA) has formed a team of Sherpa climbers to fix the ropes. The seven-member team, led by Chhiring Bhote, will depart to the base of the mountain tomorrow. Lopsang Bhote, Ngima Sherpa, Pam Dorjee Sherpa, Furi Sherpa, Pasang Gyaljen Sherpa, and Karma Sarki Sherpa will fix the ropes to the summit and plant a Nepal flag on top.
Meanwhile, commercial expedition companies are rushing to set up the huge base camp and will soon start building Camp 1 on a large snowy plain.
Some images of staff setting up Base Camp on Manaslu. Photo: Satori Adventures
An essential task
These days, professional Sherpa teams fix the normal routes on Nepal’s 8,000’ers from bottom to top, and then everyone else on the mountain follows. Therefore, the rope-fixing work marks progress on the mountains. There are rare exceptions, odd teams of self-sufficient climbers who climb in off-season. On Manaslu, all commercial expeditions climb in September and October.
Alex Moroz of Ukraine and Mark Ablovacky of Russia climbed Manaslu in spring this year, and had the mountain all to themselves. This marked a rare alpine approach with no supplementary oxygen or support.
Climbers go up fixed ropes on Manaslu in 2022. Photo: World Sherpas/Furtemba Sherpa
With modern commercial methods, expedition duration is cut in half. Last year, the rope-fixers achieved the first summits of the season on September 21. By October 2, the mountain had closed with over 600 summits. That left enough time for local guides and support staff, as well as some climbers, to move to other mountains.
Slightly fewer permits expected
According to data from Nepal’s Department of Tourism (DoT), the final summit tally for Manaslu in 2025 was 659, including both foreigners and locals. It is worth noting that some Sherpa guides reached the summit more than once. For the upcoming season, sources at the DoT estimate they will grant around 300 permits to international climbers. If their estimate is reasonably accurate, that means a decrease from 2025, when they granted 381 permits.
The huge 2024 Manaslu Base Camp. Photo: Seven Summit Treks
Things may change in the next few weeks. Manaslu could attract some of the climbers who had planned to climb Cho Oyu or Shisha Pangma, after the China-Tibet Mountaineering Association confirmed they will ban foreign expeditions on the two Tibetan 8,000’ers.
Pakistan vs. Nepal
There might also be some last-minute additions from climbers who attempted 8,000’ers in Pakistan. The Pakistan summer season has seen few summits because of bad weather. The season ended abruptly when an avalanche killed ten climbers on Broad Peak on July 30. It is the first time since the COVID pandemic in 2020 that no one has summited K2. The few teams on the mountain aborted their summit push after the terrible news from neighboring Broad Peak.
Lukas Supergan of Poland was one of the first climbers to announce their plans for Manaslu. He will attempt the mountain without using supplemental oxygen or Sherpa support.
Supergan had been pondering whether to climb in Nepal or Pakistan this year. In 2025, he was the last climber to retreat from Broad Peak because of bad conditions on the route. This year, he feared finding the same problems on Broad Peak and eventually chose to climb Manaslu in September. “The events of this summer showed that giving up on Pakistan was the right decision,” Supergan wrote on social media.
Lukas Supergan of Poland. Photo: Lukas Supergan/Facebook
