Nicholas Rice: Manaslu Dispatch

2009 Solo Manaslu Expedition

Dispatch Seven: March 30th, 2009

Day Seven: Trek Day 4: Jagat to Deng

Today, after our usual morning routine, we started toward the village Deng. The storm, thankfully had broken just before we got up and the morning was clear and cool. We strolled through Salleri and continued through Sirdibas; this is where the sign indicated that we begin up the steep hill to the left. Unfortunately, we were only meant to go up a few seconds then turn; instead, I continued up maybe 300 vertical meters in what was now a hot afternoon. I finally realized that I had made a wrong turn, as the village, Ghatte Khola was supposed to be only ten minutes from the sign. I began down the hill toward the lower trail and, in the end, lost all the altitude that I had gained. 20 minutes later, I was in Philim. As I continued, I wandered why I didn’t see any of the others on my permit, so I asked a boy in Skle Bhatti if he had seen anyone else go by. He said no, so I assumed that the others were in Philim, but I decided to wait anyway. Forty-five minutes later, Kipa arrived and told me in broken English that the others had missed the bridge to Philim, instead continuing on the other side of the gorge. He asked that I wait and we did for at least an hour, but at that point, we decided to continue slowly, Kipa looking over his shoulder every couple of minutes. We took a break at an unnamed campsite and I chatted with a Polish trekking group for a bit. The others caught up and we quickly walked the last hour to Deng, arriving around 1:00pm. We waited in the building that was to be our “dining room” until the porters with our equipment arrived (I was worried as three of the bridges we crossed had been severely broken, and a mule with an unbalanced load might fall into the river). They finally did arrive just in time as it began raining again. We hurriedly set up the tents and settled in, had dinner, and went to bed.