UPDATE FEBRUARY 9th
It’s time to finish my winter Manaslu Expedition. The first days of February were really hard. On 4th during the night we had the biggest snowfall so far. For several hours we limited our action to shovelling in Base Camp and keeping it safe. Every break would mean we had to start from zero. After February 5th we had two days of better weather, but it turned out that there is more snow on the way. And on the days of good weather, we couldn’t do much above Camp I due to the jet stream, which seems to have permanently established itself in the Himalayas. Therefore, I made the decision to end my expedition.
UPDATE JANUARY 31st
Today went light and fast to Camp 1. Met there 4 Sherpas (Lama, Nurbu, Thinly i Gyalu), that were already working hard recovering our deposit in strong wind. The conditions were actually really severe, with strong wind hitting C1. My elektronic devices would go off in a while. And of course tried to help a little. After some time it was possible to recover the deposit, secure it again and return safely back to Base Camp. Good thing is the snow has a better structure now. And I’m quite happy, because finally I was able to see real winter. PS. Today it’s exactly 7 weeks since I flew from Poland. Looks like my longest expedition. But patience.
UPDATE JANUARY 29th
Finally back in Base Camp. I spent the last 11 days in Samagaun. Bad weather conditions left me no choice. I could only watch more and more snow falling down. And this couldn’t mean anything else than another break in the expedition. So I worked on my “waiting abilities”. Today it was finally possible to go up to BC. I feel like I lost all acclimatization and I’m starting from zero, but winter expeditions taught me patience. Now my main plan is to recover, since I got a cold while in Samagaun. And of course to observe the mountain and wait for the opportunity to get back in action.
UPDATE JANUARY 15th
On Thursday Jan 13th I went up from Base Camp with the Belgian team. Together with Stef we opened trail until 5300m and returned to BC. Today we went up in a bigger group. It was quite hard to open trail above 5300m, but we managed it together up to 5500m. At this altitude I decided snow conditions weren’t too comfortable for me, so I took some pictures with my drone and returned safely to BC.
UPDATE JANUARY 12th
I’m back in Base Camp. Since January 6th all our efforts focused on maintaining our BC and keeping it secure from the heavy snowfall. On the 7th we decided to go down to Samagaun (3650m), and wait a couple of days for better weather to come. On January 10th we received news about an avalanche that hit BC and damaged some tents. Fortunately nothing happened to our Staff, that was on site. I waited for better weather and returned to Base Camp. It looks safe, the avalanche slightly damaged two tents, and for the last four days there has been aprox. 30 cm of snow. I hope that on the next days I will be able to start again my climbing activity.
UPDATE JANUARY 5th
On Tuesday January 4th I went to Camp 1. Reached it quite fast and smoothly, so I decided to go higher. I took equipment for two nights (mainly a tent, sleeping bag, gas, stove, food and of course my camera) and joined a team of 3 Sherpas (Pasang Nurbu, Pemba Tashi and Tenzinz Lama). Unfortunately the route above C1 turned out to be a nightmare: crevasses, but mainly unbelievable amounts of snow. After 3 hours of really tough work did mainly by the guys, we made 200m vertical, reaching 6000m a.s.l. and had to return. Today we were woken up by worse weather and had to face quite bad forecast for the upcoming days. That’s why we decided to return to Base Camp.
UPDATE JANUARY 3rd
Today it was finally possible to open trail to Camp 1. The first one on site was a team of 3 Sherpas. I managed to reach it some time after them. It wasn’t easy, since there has been a lot of cold wind with snow on the way. The most important thing is that it was possible to find our deposit from Dec 26th. I’m also glad with the fact that it took me 3:20h to make it to C1 from Base Camp. Acclimatization is going well. Now time to rest at BC.
UPDATE DECEMBER 30th
Since our return from Camp 1, our activities were limited to fight against incredible amounts of snow. It’s hard to calculate how much could it fell, but definitely it was more than a meter in Base Camp. We had to clean tents and passages between themselves a couple of times per day. Last night Sherpas worked super hard until late night to keep the Base Camp out of snow. Thank you. On the next days we will focus on opening trail again. It will be a tough task since snow is actually at a higher level than an adult person. We have to be very careful also because of enormous avalanche risk. But with a couple of days of good weather, we hope to get soon back to work higher than Camp 1.
UPDATE DECEMBER 26th
It was a thought night at Camp1 (5750m). The day woke me up with snow and wind that covered the trail to and from C1. Decided to go down to Base Camp together with the Sherpas that already fixed ropes to Camp 2. We deposited tents and some personal gear at C1, and now have to wait for some better weather.
UPDATE DECEMBER 25th
After two days of quite tough work opening trail in direction of C1, today I went up to Camp 1. I was quite loaded and took around 6kg of rope, but made it to 5750 m without any problems in 4,5h. Spent the time up here building a platform for tent and boiling. It was nice weather until 3:00pm, but then it got colder and a little windy.
On the next day, after landing in Samagaun (altitude 3650 m above sea level), I went up to 4020 meters. December 20th, I went higher, and reached 4,414 m. On the first day of winter I went without load, at a rather fast pace, to Base Camp (4,850 m). I wanted to gain more altitude and make sure I was feeling good after jumping 1,200 meters vertically. Today I feel good, I will probably spend the next days organizing myself a bit in the Base Camp, and then it’s time for some climbing.
UPDATE DECEMBER 18th
Woke up quite early, had a short breakfast and started the next day of the trip. This time, it were a little more than 2 hours by off-road car until we reached our „helipad”. The helicopter took us all the way to Samagaun (altitude 3600 m above sea level), so it’s a fairly high difference in altitude compared to the previous night. The most important thing is that I saw Manaslu for the first time. It looks beautiful.
UPDATE DECEMBER 17th
We left Kathmandu at 9:00 AM local time. The first stage of our trekking were 125 km done by bus and the last part by an off-road car. The trip took us around eight hours, and we reached our destination around 5:00 PM. Aarughat is a beautiful place with amazing people, and I was lucky to find myself in the middle of a ceremony, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the wedding of a local couple.
UPDATE DECEMBER 16th
On December 13th I flew from Chopin Airport in Warsaw in the direction of Nepal. On the next day in the afternoon I landed in Kathmandu. The plan for the first two days here is to organize everything and continue my journey on Friday. The duration of the trekking and its course will depend on weather conditions, but I hope everything will go well and on the first day of Winter I will be able to start my climbing and filming action.