Manaslu | 2008 NE Face

A Germany expedition to Manaslu in 2008 via NE Face, led by Thomas Merkel. Summit reached on 24th April 2008. 9 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 6081
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID MANA08101
Peak ID MANA
Year 2008
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 NE Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Germany
Leaders Thomas Merkel
Sponsor Amical Alpin Manaslu Expedition 2008
Success 1 False
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach Helicopter KTM to Samagaon
Basecamp Date 2008-04-11
Summit Date 2008-04-24
Summit Time -
Summit Days 13
Total Days 22
Termination Date 2008-05-03
Termination Reason 5
Termination Notes Abandoned at 6200m by members & 6400m by Sherpas due to difficult and dangerous snow conditions
High Point (m) 6400
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 7
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 2
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used False
O2 None True
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken True
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(11/04,4850m),C1(19/04,5680m),C2(24/04,6400m),xxx.Mbrs(25/04,6200m),xxx.Sherpas(24/04,6400m)
Route Notes C2 occupied by Sherpas only. Amical Manaslu Expedition, led by Thomas Merkel - 15 May 2008 The expedition reached the mountain "much too early -- a minimum of ten days too early" said Merkel. For the first ten days they were at BC there was heavy snowfall every day making the snow on the mountain side two meters deep. They had to make four attempts to reach C1. There was serious avalanches danger: there was one big snow slab above C1: another slab fell early one morning; and pieces of ice frequently fell. None of these avalanches hit the expedition, but "it was really dangerous." The Manaslu area had its own kind of weather. Merkel was receiving detailed weather forecasts from Switzerland, but 80% of the time they were incorrect about snowfall. The area is very humid, there are thunderstorms, and Merkel has heard that the glaciers are actually increasing in size, not decreasing asa they are elsewhere, because, he believes, of the constant heavy snowfall. Manaslu is not a good mountain for inexperienced climbers who sign up for commercial expeditions. Amical does not normally take clients to it, but since Cho Oyu from Tibet was closed this spring because of the Olympic torch team on Everest and Tibetans demonstrating in various places, Manaslu was offered as a substitute. There was just one client on this expedition, Gritsch, who was a strong climber. Since the team was the first to arrive at BC, they were alone and lost much time trying to make and remake the route alone in deep snow. They wore snowshoes, but even with them on, their legs were thigh deep in the snow. After about two weeks, two big teams and some small ones arrived. Merkel called a meeting of other team leaders when they turned up, and they agreed that a total of seven of their Sherpas would work together to open the route, but that didn't work out because Sherpas from different expeditions couldn't work together, and when they started route-making, they left camp too late. During the 24 days the Amical's team was at or above BC, snow fell on 21 days, often from late morning to early afternoon, so when Sherpas started to work on the route, snow soon started to fall. At no time while the Amical team was on Manaslu did any other team move ahead of them, so all the work to make the route was left them. When Sherpas finally did pitch C2, they decided to put it at 6400m, but this was not a safe place for the camp: there was a snow slab close to it. The safe site for the camp would have been a col at 6600-6700m. The team tried unsuccessfully three times to reach and occupy C1. The first attempt was on 14 April; the second was on the next day, when they did arrive at the camp's site at 5680m and left supplies there but could not sleep there; and the third one was on the 18th, when avalanching prevented their return to the site. finally on the 19th they succeeded in occupying C1. At this time other teams arrived at BC and moved up to C1 one or two days later with no problems -- much to the Amical teams's bemusement. On 20 April, Merkel, Gritsch and their two Sherpas tried to go on up to C2 but got no higher than 6000m. The next day they tried again but reached only 6150m and retreated to BC. On the 24th the team returned to C1. Next day their Sherpas started up from C1 much too late in the morning, snow soon started falling, and the team's five remaining climbers again went to BC while two Sherpas went up and pitched C3 at 6400m, much too low, in Merkel's opinion, and spent the night in C2. On the 25th, the five members, Baudrexl, Gritsch, Lang, Lange and Merkel went directly from BC to their high point of 6200m, but turned back from there and went to BC the same day. The Sherpas went down to BC on the 26th. The same five members intended to go to 6200m on 28 April. But they had been heavy snowfall all the preceding night, so they remained in BC instead. Two days later, the same members and their Sherpas got to 6200m. Again it was snowing, foggy and windy. The members did not want to continued the climb; it was decided then, on hte 30th, to abandon it. The expedition left BC on 3 May with extra time before they had to be back in Kathmandu. They got a permit to climb Larkya Peak, the 6010m "trekking peak" not far from Samagaon, but the bad weather continued, and they did not attempt it. This team fixed 450-500m of rope on Manaslu below and above C1. The only health problem amongst the team was the high altitude sickness that Baudrexl developed. On 13 April, he left BC to descend to Samagaon to recover. He returned to BC on the 15th and was perfectly fit after that. Members who left team early: Rinnerberger left on 19 April; he was not fit enough and somewhat overweight, making him sink deep into the snow covering the mountain. Pfeiffer left 25 April; he was too slow and also overweight. Sherpas: Dawa Sangmu Bhote, 6/9/77 (21/5/2034), Hatiya-3, Sankhuwasabha Pemba Dorje, 1/8/70 (17/4/2027), Kharikhola, Everest X1, Cho Oyu X1
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Thamserku Trekking
Commercial Route True
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2457624
Year 2008
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) ne face

Members

9 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Alois Baudrexl M 1978 Germany Climber Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany Carpenter Details Other expeditions
Andreas Gritsch M 1973 Germany Climber Birgitz, Tirol, Austria Clerk Details Other expeditions
Walter Franz Xavier Lang M 1939 Germany Climber Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany Retired math teacher Details Other expeditions
Fred Lange M 1958 Germany Climber Werdohl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Technical manager of public utilities (gas & water) enterprise Details Other expeditions
Thomas Karl Merkel M 1964 Germany Leader Erfweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Armin Pfeiffer M 1959 Germany Climber Scheer, Baden-Wuerttemburg, Germany Police officer Details Other expeditions
Ernst Rinnerberger M 1956 Germany Climber Schlierbach, Upper Austria, Austria Clerk Details Other expeditions
Dawa Sangmu Bhote M 1977 Nepal H-A Worker Hatiya-3, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Pemba Dorje (Junje Pemba) Sherpa M 1970 Nepal H-A Worker Kharikhola, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.