Simone and Denis will be left alone in winter Nepal. It’s over on Manaslu and Kwande Lho.

Winter Manaslu: It’s over

 
Image courtesy of the Czech Manaslu website

"We spent four days trying to find a safe route through the icefall between C1 and C2 – to no avail," the Czech tream reported. "All the possible routes we figured out finished at huge crevasses – and we didn?t have ladders to cross them. In addition, we progressed on dangerous terrain: avalanche-prone ramps with one-meter thick layer of soft snow (which has covered all traces from previous expeditions’ trails), and unstable seracs."

"After several attempts, we had to assume that, this current winter, it is impossible to reach C2 on Manaslu’s normal Japanese route. We managed to reach "only" 5850 meter above sea level before calling it quits, retrieving our C1 and returning to BC."

The climbers celebrated New Year’s Eve in Lapubesi, on the trek back to civilization.

Kwande Lho: Ines and Cory back in BC

"We are back and safe in BC," Cory reported earlier today. "We’re wasted but otherwise healthy. However, there is so much to say about the climb, that we rather split the report in several updates."

According to the climbers’ shared report, Ines and Cory reached the base of the face on January 8th, and climbed all the following day on difficult terrain and thin ice.

"Ines took the first block…a traversing ledge into three short but hard pitches of detached neve […]," Cory recalled. "The last pitch in her block kicked back to 85 degrees and the neve disappeared. I watched as she hammered in a Pecker, inched up over steep slabby granite, and finally found a blind cam placement. Carefully, she moved up a crack with her hands and tried to paste her crampons on a blank slate. They skated, she pulled, and then she hollered as her tool reconnected with something like ice."

"I took over and lead us through considerably less serious terrain," Cory added. "Some thin ice, some snow and mixed, and stopped one pitch shy of the most uncomfortable bivi ever…"