Autumn 2021 Himalayan Season: Preparing for the Summit

Manaslu

With teams well acclimatized on Manaslu, Dhaulagiri, and Kangchenjunga, they are now in weather watch mode for a suitable weather window. Some are expecting September 27/28 on Manaslu. Here’s an overview of the action.

Big Picture

The Autumn seasons started off wet and soggy with the monsoon refusing to leave on time (I hate it when it behaves this way! 🙂  ) but now the season has settled into crisp days, cold nights, and clear skies, what Autumn usually brings in the Himalaya.

Manaslu has the highest number of climbers this Autumn with 171 permits issued to foreigners combined with an equal number of support climbers totaling 342 people climbing the mountain. The next highest is Dhaualagri with 80 total climbers. Overall there are around 460 climbers spread over 25 teams on six peaks in Nepal. China has closed to foreigners again this autumn and there are few to none currently climbing in Pakistan.

Manaslu – Weather Watch

Considered one of the most “achievable” peaks, Manalsu has become a very popular objective, especially for first-time big mountain aspirants. Standing at 8,163-metres/26,781-feet, it’s the eighth highest peak on the planet. There are many reports of deep snow high on the peak, but not causing significant issues thus far.

8K Expeditions‘s Pemba Sherpa reports:

8K international Manaslu expedition 2021 team have completely done their acclimatisation up to C3. Now it’s time for the good food, shower and rest well. We will keep you updated more in upcoming days

And Tendi Sherpa leading the Climbing the Seven Summits team adds:

After two great rotations at high camps we are safely back down to Base camp today. Weather have been so nice the last couple of days and we were able to enjoy and climb to camp 3 for our final rotation and spent two great nights at camp two. Lots of pictures that I took during the climb and hopefully you will enjoy them! We will wait for the good weather and route setup above camp 3 and hoping for summit push soon
Visit his Facebook page for 25 great photos of Manaslu this season. And Austrian operator, Furtenbach Adventure is ready for the push:
Sun, snow, wind and rain on Manaslu. Digging out high camp tents is one if the less popular tasks😬. Sherpapower makes it look eassy. But it’s not. Classic team went down to Samagaun for recovery after their final rotation, while the Flash team is on their final rotation right now. After that waiting for the summit push

Dhaulagiri – Rope to C3 at 7100-meters

There are four teams with 40 foreign permited climbers on the 8167-meter/26,795-foot peak including 83-year-old Carlos Soria Fontán which is his 12th attempt. He shared this information to Desnivel on his latest attempt:

“Everything is going quite well for us although the weather is not being very good, it is raining and snowing, we hope it will improve. We have made acclimatization trips around the base camp. The atmosphere at base camp is better than last spring, there is no doubt. In a few days, when the mountaineers from Manaslu come up, more people will come here, but at the moment we are quite well, the atmosphere is very good and there is a very strong team to install fixed ropes. We also go up to try to spend, if we can, three or four nights although the weather forecast is bad.

Desnivel: On the precautions that are being taken in the base camp regarding Covid in the base camp, Carlos Soria explains:

“The stores are more separated and we have several dining rooms. All Sherpas have come with both shots, most people too. Everyone has done the PCR before going to base camp.

Desnivel: Regarding whether spring or autumn is the best season to try the Dhaulagiri:

«I have not seen worse weather and more loaded the mountain than last spring. One thing is clear: in spring you go from cold to hot. And in hot autumn it was cold, but the weather can do what it wants, as we all know.

Desnivel: On the state of the mountain at the moment:

“The upper part is very heavy with snow. In general I feel quite well considering that I am 82 years old. One of my biggest problems, due to the lack of flexibility I have with my knee replacement, is urinating. My feelings are good. The important thing now is that the mountain is in good condition and that the weather improves. It is what we need. If we manage to stay between camp 1 and 2 for at least 3 nights, we will no longer go up to acclimatize. We would wait at the base camp, making excursions so as not to lose our shape, for the mountain to be in good condition. We want to try Dhaulagiri until good weather or bad weather drives us out of here because winter is coming. We don’t have a return date. We only have a one-way ticket, the return ticket is open.”

Also, skier, Luke Smithwick is there planning a full ski descent from the summit. He posted:

We’re at 5840m on the Northeast Col of Dhaulagiri. Will camp here the next two nights and climb the ridge you’ve seen in photos to acclimatize. Spectacular weather.

Luke has a project he calls the Himalayan 500 where he is skiing what he considers the most “interesting” lines across the Himalayas from Nepal, India, Bhutan, China’s Tibet, and Pakistan.

Pioneer Adventures gave this update:

The rope fixing team lead by our lead Guide Mr. Sanu Sherpa have successfully fixed the route till Camp 3. Our team member slowing proceeding with the acclimatization. If the weather is favourable soon the route till the summit of Dhaulagiri will be opened successfully. We wish the entire team good luck and good weather!
Manaslu Camp 1 in Autumn 2021 courtesy of Pioneer Adventures on
Manaslu Camp in Autumn 2021 courtesy of Pioneer Adventures

Kangchenjunga – Progress

Over on Kangchunga, the Alpenglow team reports in with good progress:

Kanchenjunga update! The team is pushing up the mountain making an acclimatization rotation and aiming to finish fixing the rope to Camp 4, the highest camp on the mountain. The team climbed to Camp 2 today and will push to Camp 3 tomorrow. With all of our Himalayan expeditions, we rely on the best weather forecasting available to give our teams the best chance of success in the given weather windows and keep our teams safe. The weather on Kangchenjunga is notoriously difficult, but so far the weather has been good and the route conditions solid.⁣ ⁣

Pictured here [on IG] is the team climbing above base camp, and Alpenglow’s Chief Guide, Logan, looking at the weather forecast and relaying info the team while they rest in Camp 2 and plan out the next few days. ⁣⁣ The team is stoked and excited to get the ropes fixed to high camp. Follow along for more updates!⁣⁣

Best of luck to all on all the peaks this autumn.

Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything

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One thought on “Autumn 2021 Himalayan Season: Preparing for the Summit

  1. Hi Alan,
    One correction to your text.
    Manaslu is the eighth-highest mountain in the world 🙂

    Cheers,
    Sebnem

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