Nicholas Rice: Manaslu Dispatch

2009 Solo Manaslu Expedition

Dispatch Forty-four: May 6th, 2009

Day Forty-four: Summit Push Planned with Mario and Carlos Pauner

Today, we received a somewhat discouraging forecast that called for bad weather on the 10^th of May, the day that we had previously planned as our summit day. There was a glimmer of hope, however, in the forecast; the ninth was forecast to have low winds around 30km/hr at 8000 meters and relatively good weather. Mario and I sat down to breakfast, frustrated by the news. The Andalucíans stopped by before heading up to Camp I to tell us that their forecast had changed completely, calling for bad weather in all of the following days. After breakfast, Mario and I prepared our food for summit day and charged up our tech equipment as the clouds rolled in and the now daily snow storm began. Mario headed down to Carlos Pauner’s camp to discuss the forecast and see what his plans were. He returned to say that Carlos would call his contact in Portugal to see if he could get more details about the coming days. I finished preparing my backpack, then Mario and I headed down to figure out our plans. We decided, since we were all acclimated, the three of us would head up tomorrow, despite the bad weather, directly to Camp II; the next day to Camp III, and as long as the winds weren’t too intense, make a summit attempt on the ninth (despite the fact that there could be some precipitation on the 10^th, there are forecast to be low winds on the 9^th). It’s a tiny summit window, but worth a try.