Nicholas Rice: Manaslu Dispatch

2009 Solo Manaslu Expedition

Dispatch Two: March 25th, 2009

Day Two: Birthday in stormy KTM, Meeting with Elizabeth Hawley

Today, after a much needed night’s sleep, I woke up quite early, had a quick breakfast, and headed upstairs for my meeting with Parajuli and the rest of the climbers on my permit. To my surprise I found that Mario Panzeri and Mario Merelli were among the Italians that shared the permit. Both had climbed on Gasherbrum II at the same time as me and Panzeri climbed on Broad Peak and made frequent visits to K2 Base Camp last year. The group discussed with Parajuli what we needed from his side with regard to porters to base camp, fuel, bamboo sticks, etc.. After the meeting, the Italians headed to the office to retrieve their cargo and I headed out into town to run errands. After this, I met with Elizabeth Hawley and then headed up to my room to repack my duffels for the porters. Jetlag still withstanding, I decided to make it an early night and went to bed around 9pm.