American athlete Tyler Andrews set off from Manaslu Base Camp today at 6:00 pm local time, in an attempt to set a new FKT (fastest known time) on the mountain, without the use of supplementary O2.
You can track his progress here.
“This is a huge step for me and I cannot wait to see how my body reacts moving quickly over intense terrain at such extreme altitude,” Andrews posted earlier today from Base Camp.
Cazzanelli’s starting point
After arriving at Manaslu two weeks ago, Andrews asked ExplorersWeb for advice about the exact starting point for the ascent. The huge Base Camp covers 150 vertical meters from the lowest tents to the highest. We asked the current record holder, Francois Cazzanelli, who went from Base Camp to summit in 13 hours.
“Yes, I remember the exact place,” Cazzanelli texted. “I started where there is a big rock marking the tombstone of a Japanese climber.”
We are waiting for Andrews’ team to confirm if he has chosen Cazzanelli’s starting point.
Conditions on Manaslu have been excellent this season, prompting an extraordinarily huge summit wave that started on September 18. These summits continue. Some crowding occurred on the two first days, but climbers generally have had enough time to distribute themselves evenly.
Andrews set FKTs on Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua earlier this year. He climbed Kilimanjaro in 4h 32′ from Base Camp to the summit (and 6h 37′ for the round trip back to BC). He summited Aconcagua in 7h 21′.
