Base Camp, en route to the summit!

Samagon (3500m) is the last village at the Tibetan border which we have reached before the steep but beautiful ascent till base camp at 4750meters. The way till there was a succession of discoveries, charm and authenticity of the Nepalese life,from the lower lands with its heat, rice fields, lust forests, mysterious canyon, gargantuan peaks and with its buddhist culture, magnificent chorten (stupa), stone crafted prayers along with their strong yaks.

The organization of the material transportation from Samagon to the base camp was like a fish market, when the men are coming back from the sea with their fish collection. The supervision is made by the chief of the Tibetan community of Samagon, who is taking care that each family is represented among the porters by one of its member, woman or man, each carrying 30kg, no more, no less. Thousand of kilos of material are transported up to the base camp by humans, yaks and horses for the several expedition teams which are present. The base camp is situated on a beautiful plateau above Samagon and its green valley, surrounded by some impressive peaks, at the foot of the Manaslu (8163m), the true gem of the Himalayas. Its name was first given in sanskrit and is also called the mountain of spirit or Kutang by the local population. The first gift we received from the Manaslu was a beautiful sunrise while we spent a night in Samagon before coming up to the base camp. Upon arrival at base camp, the whole team was busy with setting up the camp, between the kitchen, dining, toilet, shower and personal tents everybody had something to do, the Sherpas being much more effective :-) On the second day we had the traditional Puja, the Boudhist ceremony without which no Sherpa is climbing the mountain. It was once more a moment full of emotion just at the bottom of the impressive North-East face of Manaslu. After the amazing heat of the lower lands, our bodies have now to get used again to the strict variations of temperature, wearing a simple shirt the minute before putting on the down jacket, is a real exercise of coordination and adaptation! The weather is changing like in Patagonia, on one day all seasons might be present. Accordingly, we catch the sunny moments to make some laundry, have a warm shower and prepare some of the climbing material.

For our first acclimatization round we went for 2nights to camp 1, which is situated at 5600m. The way from base camp to camp 1 starts with a rocky part to finish slaloming between numerous crevasses covered with less snow. While Gilles was recovering from his first night at this altitude, Norbu and me went up the next day for a hike till camp 2 at 6200m to get the first impressions. The way till camp 2 is ascending between lots of threatening seracs, huge crevasses, some of which must be passed on ladders, and steep narrow ice couloirs, which renders the whole very impressive but beautiful.

Last but not least, I will give you a short presentation of the Wild Yak Expeditions'team: - Norbu, my partner and our strong Sirdar (chief of expedition), organizer and photograph who has already summitted 6times the Mount Everest (8848m), and stood 14times on the top of an eight thousand peak (twice on Manaslu); - Gilles, a very close friend and amazing skier; - Tensing of his nickname "Hillary", our second strong climbing Sherpa; - Karma, our cook who has worked in the heart of the Khumbu valley (Namche Bazar) as a baker for almost 10years and prepares us delicious meals to give us full of energy for our ascents on the mountain; - Mingma our base camp "manager". Namasté! Andrea