Nicholas Rice: Manaslu Dispatch

2009 Solo Manaslu Expedition

Dispatch Fifty-two: May 14th, 2009

Day Fifty-two: Summit Push Planned Around the 18th of May

Today, after a cheerful breakfast thanks to yesterday’s news, Mario and I did laundry and prepared our things again to go up. We will again go directly from Base Camp to Camp II, then head up to Camp III and attempt to summit from there. We hope that there are other expeditions around to help open the route from Camp III to the summit. Lina’s group is heading up tomorrow to Camp I so should be at Camp IV when we start from Camp III for the summit so at least the route from Camp III to Camp IV will be opened; finding the fixed lines in the dead of the night under snow and ice will prove very challenging otherwise. Lina and I watched a movie in the mess tent in the afternoon to kill the time and ease the boredom of base camp life. Afterwards, I tended to my laundry and finished charging up all my tech equipment. I spent the remainder of the afternoon resting in my tent. Mario and I will need as much energy as possible to summit, as there are few climbers left on the mountain to open the route and the camps are all buried under at least a meter of snow.