GASHERBRUM

Gasherbrum

Gasherbrum is a remote group of peaks located at the northeastern end of the Baltimore Glacier in the Karakoram range of the Himalaya on the border of the Chinese-

administered Shaksgam Valley and the Gilgit-Baltistan territory controlled by Pakistan, both of which are disputed according to the UN. The massif contains three of 

the world's 8,000 metre peaks (if one includes Broad Peak). Gasherbrum is often claimed to mean "Shining Wall", presumably a reference to the highly visible face of 

Gasherbrum IV; but in fact it comes from "rgasha" (beautiful) + "brum" (mountain) in Balti, hence it actually means "beautiful mountain".

Peak metres feet Latitude (N) Longitude (E) Prominence (m)
Gasherbrum I 8,080 26,509 35°43′27″ 76°41′48″ 2,155
Broad Peak 8,047 26,400 35°48′35″ 76°34′06″ 1,701
Gasherbrum II 8,035 26,360 35°45′27″ 76°39′15″ 1,523
Gasherbrum III 7,952 26,089 35°45′34″ 76°38′31″ 355
Gasherbrum IV 7,925 26,001 35°45′39″ 76°37′00″ 725
Gasherbrum V 7,147 23,448 35°43′45″ 76°36′48″ 654
Gasherbrum VI 6,979 22,897 35°42′30″ 76°37′54″ 520
In 1856, Thomas George Montgomerie, a British Royal Engineers lieutenant and a member of the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, sighted a group of high peaks in the 

Karakoram from more than 200 km away. He named five of these peaks and  where the K denotes Karakoram. Today,is known as Masherbrum,as Broad 

Peak, as Gasherbrum II and as Gasherbrum I. Only the second highest mountain in the world, has kept Montgomerie's name.


History of conquest



Mountain altitude first ascent
Gasherbrum I 8068 m 1958 by P. K. Schoeing, A. J. Kauffman (USA)
Broad Peak (if included in group) 8047 m 1957 by M. Schmuck, F. Wintersteller, K. Diemberger and H. Buhl (Austria)
Gasherbrum II 8035 m 1956 by F. Moravec, S. Larch, H. Willenpart (Austria)
Gasherbrum III 7952 m 1975 by W. Rutkiewicz, A. Chadwick-Onyszkiewicz, J. Onyszkiewicz and K. Zdzitowiecki (Poland)
Gasherbrum IV 7925 m 1958 by W. Bonatti and C. Mauri (Italy)
Gasherbrum V 7147 m Unclimbed
Gasherbrum VI 7001 m Unclimbed, attempted 1998 by French group (2 dead) and by Danish group (Bo Belvedere Christensen, Mads Granlien and Jan Mathorne reaching 6200 

m)
On March 9, 2012 two Polish mountaineers made the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum I. The climbers - Adam Bielecki (aged 28) and Janusz Gołąb (aged 43) - summited the 

peak without supplementary oxygen.


See also

Concordia, Pakistan
Eight-thou sander
List of highest mountains
List of mountains in Pakistan


Sources

H. Adams Carter, "Balti Place Names in the Karakoram", American Alpine Journal 49 (1975), p. 53.
Mount Qogori (K2) {scale 1:100,000}; edited and mapped by Mi Desheng (Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology), the Xi´an Cartographic Publishing House.
Dreams 

SHISHAPANGMA

Shishapangma

Shishapangma also called Gosainthān, is the fourteenth-highest mountain in the world and, at 8,013 m (26,289 ft),

the lowest of the eight-thou sanders. It was the last 8,000 metre peak to be climbed, due to its location entirely within

Tibet and the restrictions on visits by foreigners to the region imposed by national Chinese and regional Tibetan

authorities.

Name

There are several different theories about the meaning of the mountain's name. Geologist Toni Hagen explained the name as

meaning a "grassy plain" or "meadow" (pangma) above a "comb" or a "range" (shisha or chisa) in the local Tibetan dialect,

thereby signifying the "crest above the grassy plains"On the other hand, Tibetologist Guntram Hazod records a

local story that explains the mountain's name in terms of its literal meaning in the Standard Tibetan language: shisha,

which means "meat of an animal that died of natural causes"; and sbangma which means "malt dregs left over from brewing

beer". According to the story, one year a heavy snowfall killed most of the animals at pasture, and all that the people

living near the mountain had to eat was the meat of the dead animals and the malt dregs left over from brewing beer, and

so the mountain was named Shisha Pangma (shisha sbangma), signifiying "meat of dead animals and malty dregs". The

Sanskrit name of the mountain, Gosainthan, means "place of the saint" or "Abode of God".


Geography


Shishapangma is located in south-central Tibet, five kilometres from the border with Nepal. It is the only eight-

thou sander entirely within Chinese territory. It is also the highest peak in the Jugal Himal which is contiguous with and

often considered part of Lang tang HimalThe Jugal/Lang tang Himal straddles the Tibet/Nepal border. Since Shishapangma

is on the dry north side of the Himalayan crest and further from the lower terrain of Nepal, it has less dramatic vertical

relief than most major Himalayan peaks.


Ascents and attempts


Up to 2009, 24 people have died climbing Shishapangma, including Alex Lowe and Dave Bridges (both USA) in 1999, and

veteran Portuguese climber Bruno Carnival. Nevertheless, Shishapangma is one of the easier eight-thou sanders to climb. The

standard route ascends via the northwest face and northeast ridge and face ("Northern Route"), and boasts relatively easy

access, with vehicle travel possible to base camp at 5,000 m (16,400 ft). Routes on the steeper southwest face are more

technically demanding and involve 2,200 metres (7,220 ft) of ascent on a 50-degree slope.


Bibliography


A Photographic record of the Mount Shisha Pangma Scientific Expedition. Science Press Peking 1966.
Scott, Doug; MacIntyre, Alex (2000) [1984]. Shisha Pangma: The Alpine Style First Ascent of the South-West Face. Seattle,

WA, USA: The Mountaineers Books. ISBN 0-89886-723-1.
Venables, Stephen; Fanshawe, Andy (1996). Himalaya Alpine-Style: The Most Challenging Routes on the Highest Peaks.

Seattle, WA, USA: Mountaineers Books. ISBN 0-89886-456-9.
Sale, Richard, Cleare, John: On top of the world (Climbing the world's 14 highest mountains), lists of ascents,

HarperCollins Publ., 2000, ISBN 978-0-00-220176-6.

BROAD PEAK

Broad Peak


Broad Peak (Urdu:; Chinese; pinyin:  also known as , is the 12th highest mountain on Earth, with an elevation of 8,051 metres (26,414 

ft). The literal translation of "Broad Peak" to Falchan Kangri is not accepted among the Balti people.

Geography

Broad Peak is part of the Gasherbrum massif in Baltistan on the border of Pakistan and ChinaIt is located in the Karakoram mountain range about 8 kilometres (5.0 

mi) from K2. It has a summit over 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) long, thus "Broad Peak".

Climbing history

The first ascent of Broad Peak was made on June 9, 1957 by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl of an Austrian expedition led by 

Marcus Schmuck. A first attempt by the team was made on May 29 where Fritz Wintersteller and Kurt Diemberger reached the forepeak (8,030 m). This was also accomplished 

without the aid of supplemental oxygen, high altitude porters nor base camp support

On the same expedition, Marcus Schmuck and Fritz Wintersteller made a flash first ascent of Skil Brum peak (7,360 m) on June 19, 1957 in pure Alpine style in 53 hour

Hermann Buhl fell to his death when he and Diemberger attempted to climb nearby Chogolisa peak (7,654 m) on June 27, 1957

In July 2007 an Austrian mountaineering team climbed Broad Peak and retrieved the corpse of Markus Kronthaler, who had died on the mountain one year before, from over 

8,000 metres.
In the winter and summer of 2009 there were no summits. There was one winter expedition by a Polish-Canadian team. In the summer there was one fatality, Cristina 

Castagna

In summer 2012, five members of "Koroška 8000" - Slovenian team (led by Gregor Lačen) summitted the mountain (without supplementary oxygen and without high altitude 

porters). They tracked the way in deep snow from camp 4 to the summit and opened the summit to 7 more individuals from other expeditions. They all summitted on July 

31, 2012.[citation needed]

On March 5, 2013 Maciej Berbeka, Adam Bielecki, Tomasz Kowalski and Artur Małek made the first winter ascent. Broad Peak was 12th Eight-thou sander summited in winter 

time and 10th Eight-thou sander first summitted in winter by Polish climbers.[8] During the descent, Maciej Berbeka and Tomasz Kowalski did not reach Camp 4 (at 7400 m) 

and were pronounced missing. On March 7, the head of the expedition Korzybski Licking said there are "no chances at all" of finding alive 58-year-old Maciej Berbeka 

and 27-year-old Tomasz Kowalsk On March 8 both climbers were declared dead and the expedition was ended

In July 2013, a group of five Iranian climbers attempted to ascend through a new route from the southwestern face. Three of them Aidin Bozorgi, Pouya Keivan, and 

Mojtaba Jarahi, ascended successfully but during descent all three of them were lost and declared dead







Further reading

Richard Sale, Broad Peak, 2004. English published by Carreg Ltd in the UK. ISBN 0-9538631-1-5
Marcus Schmuck, Broad Peak 8047m Meine Ehrenberg nit Hermann Buhl, 1958. German published by Verlag "Das Bergland-buch" in Salzburg/Stuttgart.
Kurt Diemberger, Spirits of the Air, 1994. Mountaineers Books, ISBN 0-89886-408-9
Hermann Buhl, Achttausand: Druber und Drunter, 1955, Munchen. Afterward by Kurt Diemberger describes the Broad Peak expedition.
Rejuvenate notion (Starry Nights) by Duran Javelin, ISBN / EAN: 961-6387-75-8
Anna Wickerwork Broad Peak'83 Tylenol dwie (Broad Peak'83 only two) "Sport i Turkestan", Warsaw 1989, ISBN 83-217-2658-5

ANNAPURNA

Annapurna


Annapurna (Sanskrit, Nepali, Nepal Bahasa:  is a section of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal that includes 8,091 m (26,545 ft) Annapurna I, thirteen additional peaks over 7,000 m (22,970 ft) and 16 more over 6,000 m (19,690 ft). This section is a 55 km-long (34 mi-long) massif bounded by the Kali Gandaki Gorge on the west, the Marshyangdi River on the north and east, and Pokhara Valley on the south. Annapurna I is tenth among Earth's fourteen eight-thousanders. 8167 metre Dhaulagiri I rises 34 km to the west across the Kali Gandaki Gorge, considered Earth's deepest canyon.

Annapurna is a Sanskrit name which literally means "full of food" (feminine form), but is normally translated as Goddess of the Harvests. In Hinduism, Annapurna is "... the universal and timeless kitchen-goddess ... the mother who feeds. Without her there is starvation, a universal fear: This makes Annapurna a universal goddess ... Her most popular shrine is located in Kashi, on the banks of the river Ganga." Her association with the giving of food (wealth) led her in time to be transformed into Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth


Climbing expeditions


Annapurna I was the first 8,000-metre (26,200 ft) peak to be climbed Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, of a French expedition led by Maurice Herzog (including Lionel Terray, Gaston Rébuffat, Marcel Ichac, Jean Couzy, Marcel Schatz, Jacques Oudot, Francis de Noyelle), reached the summit on 3 June 1950.[8] (See the documentary of the expedition "Victoire sur l'Annapurna" by Marcel Ichac). Its summit was the highest summit attained on Earth for three years, until the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. (However, higher non-summit points—at least 8,500 metres (27,900 ft)—had already been attained on Everest in the 1920s.)

The south face of Annapurna was first climbed in 1970 by Don Whillans and Dougal Haston, members of a British expedition led by Chris Bonington which included the alpinist Ian Clough, who was killed by a falling serac during the descent. They were, however, beaten to the second ascent of Annapurna by a matter of days by a British Army expedition led by Henry Day.


Annapurna II

Annapurna II, the eastern anchor of the range, was first climbed in 1960 by a British/Indian/Nepalese team led by J. O. M. Roberts via the West Ridge, approached from the north. The summit party comprised Richard Grant, Chris Bonington, and Sherpa Ang Nyima. In terms of elevation, isolation (distance to a higher summit, namely Annapurna I, 30.5 km or 19.0 mi) and prominence (2,437 m or 7,995 ft), Annapurna II does not rank far behind Annapurna I. It is a fully independent peak, despite the close association with Annapurna I which its name seems to imply.

Yugoslavians from Slovenia repeated this ascent in 1969, also climbing Annapurna IV. Kazmir Draslar and Majija Malezic reached the summit. In 1973 Japanese shortcut the route by climbing directly up the north face between IV and V before continuing along the west ridge. Katsuyuki Kondo reached the top in a remarkable solo performance.

In 1983, Tim Macartney-Snape planned and participated in an expedition to Annapurna II (7,937 m or 26,040 ft) successfully reaching the summit via the first ascent of the south spur. The descent was delayed by a blizzard and the expedition ran out of food during the last five days. They were reported missing and when the expedition eventually returned they received significant publicity

Annapurna III


Annapurna III was first climbed in 1961 by an Indian expedition led by Capt. Mohan Singh Kohli via the Northeast Face. The summit party comprised Mohan Kohli, Sonam Gyatso, and Sonam Girmi.


Annapurna IV

Annapurna IV, near Annapurna II, was first climbed in 1955 by a German expedition led by Heinz Steinmetz via the North Face and Northwest Ridge. The summit party comprised Steinmetz, Harald Biller, and Jürgen Wellenkamp.

Trekking

The Annapurna Conservation Area is a well known trekking region.

There are three major trekking routes in the Annapurna region: the Jonson Trek to Joomla and Multinational (increasingly disturbed by a road-building project; the Annapurna Sanctuary route to Annapurna base camp; and the Annapurna Circuit, which circles the Annapurna Himal itself and includes the Joomla route The town of Pokhara usually serves as a starting point for these treks, and is also a good starting place for other short treks of one to four days, such as routes to Ghorepani or Ghandruk

NANGA PARBAT

Nanga Parbat

Nanga Parbat literally, Naked Mountain Urdu   is the ninth highest mountain in the world. It is the western anchor of the Himalayas around which the Indus river skirts before it debouches into the plains of Pakistan. It is located in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, and is locally known as 'Deo Mir' ' meaning 'mountain'

Nanga Parbat is one of the eight-thou sanders, with a summit elevation of 8,126 metres 26,660 ft. An immense, dramatic peak rising far above its surrounding terrain, Nanga Parbat is also a notoriously difficult climb. Numerous mountaineering deaths in the mid and early 20th century lent it the nickname "killer mountain". Along with K2, it has never been climbed in winter


Location


Nanga Parbat forms the western anchor of the Himalayan Range and is the westernmost eight-thou sander. It lies just south of the Indus River in the Diamer District of Gilgit–Baltistan in Pakistan. Not far to the north is the western end of the Karakoram range.


Notable features

Nanga Parbat has tremendous vertical relief over local terrain in all directions.

To the south, Nanga Parbat boasts what is often referred to as the highest mountain face in the world: the Rupal Face rises 4,600 m 15,090 ft above its base. To the north, the complex, somewhat more gently sloped Rakhiot Flank rises 7,000 m 22,966 ft from the Indus River valley to the summit in just 25 km 16 mi, one of the 10 greatest elevation gains in so short a distance on Earth
Nanga Parbat is one of only two peaks on Earth that rank in the top twenty of both the highest mountains in the world, and the most prominent peaks in the world, ranking ninth and fourteenth respectively. The other is Mount Everest, which is first on both lists

Layout of the mountain


The core of Nanga Parbat is a long ridge trending southwest–northeast. The ridge is an enormous bulk of ice and rock. It has three faces, Diamir face, Rakhiot and Rupal. The southwestern portion of this main ridge is known as the Mazeno Wall, and has a number of subsidiary peaks. In the other direction, the main ridge arcs northeast at Rakhiot Peak 7,070 m / 23,196 ft. The south/southeast side of the mountain is dominated by the massive Rupal Face, noted above. The north/northwest side of the mountain, leading to the Indus, is more complex. It is split into the Diamir (west face and the Rakhiot (north) face by a long ridge. There are a number of subsidiary summits, including North Peak (7,816 m / 25,643 ft) some 3 km north of the main summit. Near the base of the Rupal Face is a beautiful glacial lake called Latbo, above a seasonal shepherds' village of the same name.


References in popular culture

Books[edit]
In the first chapter of Mistress of Mistresses, by E.R. Eddison, the narrator compares his now deceased compatriot, Lessingham, to Nanga Parbat in a descriptive passage:

"I remember, years later, his describing to me the effect of the sudden view you get of Nanga Parbat from one of those Kashmir valleys; you have been riding for hours among quiet richly wooded scenery, winding up along the side of some kind of gorge, with nothing very big to look at, just lush, leafy, pussy-cat country of steep hillsides and waterfalls; then suddenly you come round a corner where the view opens up the valley, and you are almost struck senseless by the blinding splendour of that vast face of ice-hung precipices and soaring ridges, sixteen thousand feet from top to toe, filling a whole quarter of the heavens at a distance of, I suppose, only a dozen miles. And now, whenever I call to mind my first sight of Lessingham in that little daleside church so many years ago, I think of Nanga Parbat." (Mistress of Mistresses, 1935, p.2-3)
Movies[edit]
Nanga Parbat is a movie by Joseph Vilsmaier about the 1970 expedition of brothers Günther Messner and Reinhold Messner

Donald Shebib's 1986 film The Climb covers the story of Hermann Buhl making the first ascent.


See also

Highest Mountains of the World
Rupal Valley
Astore Valley

First ascent

Nanga Parbat was first climbed, via the Rakhiot Flank (East Ridge), on July 3, 1953 by Austrian climber Hermann Buhl,[13] a member of a German-Austrian team. The expedition was organized by the half-brother of Willy Merkl, Karl Herrligkoffer from Munich, while the expedition leader was Peter Aschenbrenner from Innsbruck, who had participated in the 1932 and 1934 attempts. By the time of this expedition, 31 people had already died on the mountain.[14] The final push for the summit was dramatic: Buhl continued alone, after his companions had turned back, and arrived at 7 p.m.; the climbing being harder and more time consuming than he had anticipated. His descent was slowed when he lost a crampon. Caught by darkness, he was forced to bivouac standing upright on a narrow ledge, holding a small handhold with one hand. Exhausted, he dozed occasionally, but managed to maintain his balance. He was also very fortunate to have a calm night, so he was not subjected to wind chill. He finally reached his high camp at 7 p.m. the next day, 40 hours after setting out.[15] The ascent was made without oxygen, and Buhl is the only man to have made the first ascent of an 8000 m peak alone.

DHAULAGIRI

The Dhaulagiri massif in Nepal extends 120 km (70 mi) from the Kaligandaki River west to the Bheri. This massif is enclosed on the north and southwest by tributaries of the Bheri and on the southeast by Myagdi Khola. Dhaulagiri I at 8,167 metres (26,795 ft) ranks seventh among Earth's fourteen peaks over eight thousand metres. It was first climbed on May 13, 1960 by a Swiss/Austrian/Nepali expedition.

The mountain's name is  (dhaulāgirī) in Nepali. This comes from Sanskrit where  (dhawala) means dazzling, white, beautiful]and means mountain. Dhaulagiri I is also the highest point of the Gandaki river basin.

Annapurna I (8,091m/26,545 ft) is only 34 km. east of Dhaulagiri I. The Kali Gandaki River flows between through its notable gorge, said to be the world's deepest. The town of Pokhara is south of the Annapurnas, an important regional center and the gateway for climbers and trekkers visiting both ranges as well as a tourist destination in its own right.

Geography

Looking north from the plains of India, most 8,000-metre peaks are obscured by nearer mountains, but in clear weather Dhaulagiri I is conspicuous from northern Bihar and as far south as Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. In 1808 A.D. survey computations showed it to be the highest mountain yet surveyed. This lasted until 1838 when Kangchenjunga took its place, followed by Mount Everest in 1858.

Dhaulagiri I's sudden rise from lower terrain is almost unequaled. It rises 7,000 m (22,970 ft) from the Kali Gandaki River 30 km to the southeast. The south and west faces rise precipitously over 4,000 m (13,120 ft). The south face of Gurja Himal in the same massif is also notably immense.

Partial timeline

1950 – Dhaulagiri I reconnoitered by a French expedition led by Maurice Herzog. They do not see a feasible route and switch to Annapurna, where they make the first ascent of an 8000 m peak.

1953–1958 – Five expeditions attempt the north face, or "Pear Buttress", route.

1959 – Austrian expedition led by Fritz Moravec makes the first attempt on the northeast ridge.

1960 – Swiss-Austrian expedition led by Max Eiselin, successful ascent by Kurt Diemberger, P. Diener, E. Forrer, A. Schelbert, Nyima Dorje Sherpa, Nawang Dorje Sherpa on May 13. First Himalayan climb supported by a fixed-wing aircraft, which eventually crashed in Hidden Valley north of the mountain during takeoff and was abandoned.

1969 – American team led by Boyd Everett attempt southeast ridge; seven team members, including Everett, are killed in an avalanche.

1970 – second ascent, via the northeast ridge by a Japanese expedition led by Tokufu Ohta and Shoji Imanari. Tetsuji Kawada and Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa reach the summit.

1973 – American team led by James Morrissey makes third ascent via the northeast ridge. Summit team: John Roskelley, Louis Reichardt, Nawang Samden Sherpa.

1984 – Three members of the Czechoslovakian expedition (J. Simon, K. Jakes, J. Stejskal) climb the west face to the summit. J. Simon died during the descent.

1985 – Polish expedition including Jerzy Kukuczka climbs the normal route in winter, reaching the summit on January 21.

1986 – A mostly Polish expedition puts up a second south face route, on the left side of the face connecting with the southwest ridge route. They go above 7,500 m but do not reach the summit.

1988 – Y. Moiseev and K. Valiev, in cooperation with a Slovak, Z. Demjan, succeed in climbing the southwest buttress. This 3,000-metre ascent, with difficult technical climbing at 6,800–7,300 m, was acknowledged as the year's best achievement at the UIAA Expedition Commission Conference.[citation needed]

1990 – Dhaulagiri becomes the first mountain higher than 8,000 m to be climbed by a Lithuanian. Dainius Makauskas disappears on the descent.

1993 – Russian-British team puts up the direct north face route.

1998 – French climber Chantal Mauduit dies in an avalanche. On May 1 the Greek climber Nikolaos Papandreou is killed falling in a gorge. On October 2, the Greek Babis Tsoupras reaches the summit but does not return. The bodies of the Greek climbers were not found.

1999 – On October 24, British climber Ginette Harrison dies in an avalanche on Dhaulagiri. Days later, Slovenian Tomaz Humar climbs the south face solo but does not reach the summit. His ascent ended at 7,300 m due to a 300 m band of rotten rock. Humar traverses to the dangerous southeast ridge, re-enters the face briefly and exits c. 8000 m for a descent on the northeast ridge. Dhaulagiri's south face remains unclimbed, remaining one of the greatest remaining challenges in alpinism.

MANASLU

Manaslu

Manaslu Nepali: , also known as Kutang is the eighth highest mountain in the world, and is located in the Mansiri Himal, part of the Nepalese Himalayas, in the west-central part of Nepal. Its name, which means "Mountain of the Spirit", comes from the Sanskrit word Manasa, meaning "intellect" or "soul". Manaslu was first climbed on May 9, 1956 by Toshio Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu, members of a Japanese expedition. It is said that "just as the British consider Everest their mountain, Manaslu has always been a Japanese mountain

Manaslu at 8,156 metres 26,759 ft above mean sea level is the highest peak in the Lamjung District and is located about forty miles east of Annapurna. The mountain's long ridges and valley glaciers offer feasible approaches from all directions, and culminate in a peak that towers steeply above its surrounding landscape, and is a dominant feature when viewed from afar

The Manaslu region offers a variety of trekking options. The popular Manaslu trekking route of 177 kilometres 110 mi, skirts the Manaslu massif over the pass down to Annapurna. The Nepalese Government only permitted trekking of this circuit in 1991. The trekking trail follows an ancient salt-trading route along the Budhi Gandaki river. En route, 10 peaks over 6,500 metres 21,300 ft are visible, including a few over 7,000 metres 23,000 ft. The highest point reached along the trek route is the Larkya La at an elevation of 5,106 metres 16,752 ft. As of May 2008, the mountain has been climbed 297 times with 53 fatalities

Manaslu Conservation Area has been established with the primary objective of achieving conservation and sustainable management of the delimited area, which includes Manaslu.

General

Set in the northern Himalayan range in the Gorkha District of Nepal, Manaslu is a serrated "wall of snow and ice hanging in the sky"citation needed The three sides of the mountain fall in steps to terraces down below, which are sparsely inhabited with agricultural operations practiced on the land. Apart from climbing Manaslu, trekking is popular in this mountain region, as part of the Manaslu Circuit, a notable path by trekkers in Nepal.

The Manaslu Conservation Area, declared as such in December 1998 under the National Parks and Wild Life Conservation Act, subsumes Manaslu within it. The area covered under the conservation zone is 1,663 square kilometres 642 sq mi and is managed by the National Trust for Nature Conservation NTNCof Nepal. The status of "conservation area" applied to the Manaslu area or region was with the basic objective "To conserve and sustainable management of the natural resources and rich cultural heritage and to promote ecotourism to improve livelihood of the local people in the MCA region

Manaslu Himal, as it is popularly known among trekkers, provides views of the snow-covered mountains of the Himalayas and allows close interaction with the different ethnic groups who live in hill villages scattered along the trek route

The trekking route is through mountainous terrain prone to the consequences of monsoon rainfall, landslides and land falls. Encounters with passing yaks, and hypothermia and altitude sickness, are common. Trekking to Manaslu is thus a test of endurance

History

In 1950, H. W. Tilman was the first European to lead an expedition to the Annapurna Range with a small party of five compatriots. They walked on foot from the Kathmandu valley (six days of trekking from the valley), and using Manang as their base camp they started exploring the mountain ranges, peaks and valleys of the Annapurna massif. During this exploration, while making a reconnaissance of the higher reaches of the Dudh Khola, they clearly saw Manaslu from Bumtang. Three months later, after their aborted trip to Annapurna IV, Tilman, accompanied by Major J. O. M. Roberts who later became popular as "the father of Himalayan trekking, citation neededtrekked to Larkya La pass and from there saw Manaslu and its plateau and concluded that there was a direct route to the summit, although they did not make an attempt on it

After the reconnaissance visit by Tilman, there were four Japanese expeditions between 1950 and 1955 that explored the possibility of climbing Manaslu by the north and east faces.

Trekking in the Manaslu region

The Manaslu region offers a variety of trekking options. The Manaslu Circuit Trek now usually starts in Arughat Bazaar and ends two to three weeks later in Besisahar, the starting point of the Annapurna Circuit Trek. Until recently the trek required camping, but building of tea-houses means the trek can be completed using local accommodation. The trek requires a Restricted Area Permit of $50 per week and that trekkers travel in a group of two with a registered guide. The trek lies on the newly developed Great Himalaya Trail.

The trek follows an ancient salt–trading route along the steep sided Budhi Gandaki River. From Deng, the slopes of ravines ease and views of snow peaks start appearing from Ligaon. Further from Lhogaon, an impressive view of Manaslu, with its double peak, appears described as "a soaring monarch with a double-edged summit towering above fields of barley.