Manaslu | 2011 NE Face

A New Zealand expedition to Manaslu in 2011 via NE Face, led by Russell Brice. Summit reached on 4th October 2011. 51 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 7214
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID MANA11311
Peak ID MANA
Year 2011
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 NE Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality New Zealand
Leaders Russell Brice
Sponsor Himalayan Experience (Himex) Manaslu Expedition 2011
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Ecuador, France, Germany, Japan, Ireland, Latvia, Nepal, Russia, UK, USA
Approach -
Basecamp Date 2011-09-03
Summit Date 2011-10-04
Summit Time -
Summit Days 31
Total Days 35
Termination Date 2011-10-08
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8163
Traverse False
Ski True
Paraglide False
Camps 4
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 30
Summit Members 23
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 23
Summit Hired 21
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb True
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep True
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(03/09,3665m),C1(08/09,5670m),C2(16/09,6250m),C3(18/09,6650m),C4(03/10,7400m),Smt(04-05/10)
Route Notes The 30 member expedition assisted by 23 Sherpas above BC sent 23 members and 21 Sherpas to Manaslu's summit on 2 days, but first they ahd aborted attempts by two groups of members: they had been split into two parties because the expedition was so large. They were aborted because of heavy snowfall which triggered serious avalanche danger. The first party to abort their attempt left BC on 22 Sept, got to C3 the next day and stayed there for two nights. Bad weather sent them back to BC on the 25th. They were Atkinson, Ballinger, Barranov, Gwilt, Hawkins, Hewitt, Hinett, Rai, Sauls, Van Gass, Warren and Wiseman. The second party left BC on the 23rd and reached C1 that day, but went back to BC the next day. They were Bierling, Fujikawa, Godof, Hellmuth, Hiraoka, Kravcova, Kudo, McKinley, Saito, Sakai, Spruzs and Wallace. The successful climbers reached the top on 4 and 5 October, as follows: Member Sherpa with this member Summit time (none) Dorje Sonam 9:24 am (none) Galgen Dorje 9:24 am (none) Ngima Chhiring 9:24 am Hellmuth Lhakpa Nuru (old) 9:44 am Avila Urken 9:49 am Spruzs Dawa Tenzing 9:49 am Kravcova 9:49 am McKinley 9:49 am Saito Rita Dorje 10:23 am Kudo Nima Sona 10:23 am Hiraoka Nima Tenzing 11:04 am Fujikawa Nawang Tenzing 11:04 am Sakai 11:04 am Godof Son Dorje 11:38 am Bierling Pasang Kami 1:55 pm 5 October Warren Pasang Nima 8:41 am Hinett 8:41 am Rai Ang Nuru 8:45 am Sauls Phura Namgel 8:52 am Atkinson Tashing Tshering 8:56 am Van Gass Ang Pinjo 8:58 am Ballinger 9:01 am Wiseman Lhakpa Nuru (young) 9:01 am Barannov Phurba Tashi 9:09 am Hewitt Sonam Tashi 9:09 am Hawkins Tashi Chhiring 10:25 am In their descent from the summit on 5 October, Ballinger and Baranov skied down from the big rock about 10 meters below the very top to C2. They had already skied down from C2 to 500m above BC, where the snow cover stopped, on 10 September. A contingent of 9 soldiers from the British army were sent to the expedition, all of them disabled to varying, degrees. They were no longer serving in combat units but were posted in offices or elsewhere in the army and were living in army barracks. Seven of them reached the summit of Manaslu. Non-summiting members: Brice considered the best spot from which to manage such a large team was from C1, so he went no farther. Chambers reached 6400m on 2nd October during the first summit attempt. He had not been feeling well all morning and continuously vomited during the ascent. He returned to C2 and descended to BC the following day. He stayed at BC for the remainder of the expedition. Chambers got to C2, but no higher; he didn't acclimatize well. Chaplin reached C4, but he was too slow climbing from C3 to C4 to try to go on to the summit. Craven hadn't acclimatized by 10 September and, like all other non-summiters, spent the rest of the team's climbing period in BC (leaving a Manaslu expedition early is not easy and is quite expensive). Gwilt got a lung infection after reaching C3. Howard reached C2 on 16th September. None of them (other than Howard) left the expedition early because it would have been difficult or expensive to leave Manaslu BC separately. Two members, Bierling and Godof, used no oxygen at all. Bierling was slow without the oxygen and almost didn't get to the top. All other members used it on their push to the summit from C3 to their high points down to about C3. All Sherpas used it from C4 to their high points to about C3. All members descended to base camp after the summit. Ballinger and Baranov skied down from the summit (rock tower underneath the cornice) and skied all the way to C4. From there they skied to C3 and from C3 to C2 they only skied intermittently (I will get the exact distances later). Majid reached 6000m during the first acclimatization rotation on 16th September. He was feeling the effects of altitude and turned back. He descended to BC the same day and stayed there for the remainder of the expedition. Howard reached C2 on 16th September. He did not join the rests of the group to "tag" C3 on 18th of September as he was not feeling well. He had problems all the way through the expedition as he was feeling the effects of altitude. He returned to BC on 19th September and left BC on 26th September by helicopter from Samagaon. Chambers reached 6400m on 2nd October during the first summit attempt. He had not been feeling well all morning and continuously vomited during the ascent. He returned to C2 and descended to BC the following day. He stayed at BC for the remainder of the expedition. Craven reached 6900m on 3rd October during the first summit attempt. He felt very weak and turned back after having climbed for about five hours. He stayed the night at C2 and returned to BC the following day. Chaplin reached C4 on 4 October. He had taken more than eight hours from C3 to C4 and Brice decided that he was too slow to make it to the summit. He returned to BC on 5 October with the rest of the group after their summit success. Brice reached C1 on 6th September during the first acclimatization rotation. He stayed at BC for the rest of the expedition. Sherpas: Ang Nuru, 19/1/64, Khumjung [biodata in error] Dawa Tenzing, 22/7/70, Phortse, Everest X8, Manaslu X1 Dorje Sonam Gyalzen, 24/5/81, Phortse, Everest X11 Gyalzen Dorji, 17/2/88, Phortse, Everest X1, Lhotse X2, Manaslu X1 Lakpa Nuru, 1962, Phortse, Everest X5, Manaslu X3 Lhakpa Nuru, 18/6/80, Phortse, Everest X7, Manaslu X1 Nawang Tenzing, 20/11/93, Phortse, Everest X1 Ngima Chhiri/Tshering, 22/4/72, Phortse, Everest X4 Nima Sona, 18/9/70, Phortse, Everest X2 Nima Tenzing, 26/4/91, Phortse, Everest X3 Pasang Kami, 26/7/79, Phortse, Everest X4 Pasang Nima, 1/10/92, Phortse, Everest X3 Phura Namgya, 13/8/87, Khumjung Phurba Tashi, 24/5/71, Khumjung, Everest X19 Rita Dorji, 24/10/77, Phortse, Everest X8, Manaslu X1 Son Dorje, 22/5/63, Phortse, Everest X10 Sonam Finjo/Ang Pinzo, 3/10/85, Khunde, Everest X3 Sonam Tashi, 4/11/90, Phortse Tashi Chhiring/Tashi Tshering, 8/5/90, Khumjung, Everest X2, Manaslu X1 Tashi Tshering, 26/4/77, Khumjung, Everest X2, Lhotse X2 Urkien Lendu/Urgen Tenzing, 10/2/93, Phortse, Everest X1, Manaslu X1 Additional info on ski descent" On 18 September 2011, Sergey and Adrian skied from C2 (6250m) to Crampon Point (5000m). This day was combined with some other skiing days as high as C3 (6650m) and repeated descents below 6000 meters. They took their skis off for one 2-meter ladder, but had them on for the entirety of C2-Crampon Point other than the ladder. Summit day: Ballinger skied alone from the true summit (the highest rock point from where the route steps onto the summit cornice) down to the summit plateau (false summit where, to my understanding, all ski attempts have in the past begun from). Sergey joined Ballinger at the plateau. From there they skied continuously to approx 6100m, just below C2. Due to high avalanche danger (Ballinger caused a big slide onto clients and climbers below before deciding to stop skiing) and the fact that they had already skied this dangerous section, they took off their skis and descended by foot from 6100m to 5800m (below the hour glass) where they put their skis back on. They then skied from there to the rock step below Crampon Point (4900m) where the snow ended. From there they walked to BC.
Accidents -
Achievement 1st Russian & British skiers from top 1st Latvian man and woman 1st German woman without supplementary oxygen
Agency Mountain Experience
Commercial Route True
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2458930
Year 2011
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) ne face

Members

51 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Christopher Gwilt M 1989 UK Climber Lincolnshire, England Soldier Details Other expeditions
Francis William Atkinson M 1981 UK Climber Ashley Grange, Gloucester, England Soldier Details Other expeditions
Jaime Enrique Avila Velez M 1966 Ecuador Deputy Leader Quito, Ecuador Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Adrian John Ballinger M 1976 UK Deputy Leader Carnelian Bay, California Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Sergei Baranov M 1969 Russia Climber Moscow, Russia Plastics manufacturer Details Other expeditions
Barbara Susanne (Billi) Bierling F 1967 Germany Climber Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany Journalist Details Other expeditions
Russell Reginald Brice M 1952 New Zealand Leader Argentiere, Haute-Savoie, France Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Wallace Leroy Chambers, Jr. M 1956 USA Climber Pinedale, Wyoming Retired from the US Air Force Details Other expeditions
Robert Henry Moffett Chaplin M 1963 UK Climber Edinburgh, Scotland Banker Details Other expeditions
David Craven M 1946 UK Climber London, England Accountant Details Other expeditions
Makoto Fujikawa M 1945 Japan Climber Yamaguchi, Japan Retired Details Other expeditions
Pierre Yves Marie Godof M 1972 France Climber Thirlmere, Northampton, England Engineer Details Other expeditions
Andrew Peter Hawkins M 1974 UK Climber Chigwell View, Essex, England Soldier Details Other expeditions
Herbert Diethelm Hellmuth M 1969 Germany Climber Regensberg, Bavaria, Germany Real estate sales manager Details Other expeditions
Martin Joseph Hewitt M 1980 UK Climber Mayfield Grove, Cheshire, England Soldier Details Other expeditions
Karl James Hinett M 1987 UK Climber Tipton, W Midlands, England Soldier Details Other expeditions
Ryuseki Hiraoka M 1968 Japan Deputy Leader Hokuto, Yamanashi, Japan Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Paul Joseph Howard M 1983 Ireland Climber Doubleview, WA, Australia Geologist Details Other expeditions
Kristine Kravcova F 1982 Latvia Climber Riga, Latvia Attorney Details Other expeditions
Noburu Kudo M 1955 Japan Climber Azamino, Kanagawa, Japan Tax inspector Details Other expeditions
Daniel James Majid M 1984 UK Climber Leeds, W Yorkshire, England Soldier Details Other expeditions
David McKinley M 1968 New Zealand Deputy Leader Twizel, New Zealand Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Manindra Rai M 1984 Nepal Climber N Yorkshire, England Soldier Details Other expeditions
Rumiko Saito F 1972 Japan Climber Kuotofu, Kita, Japan Secretary Details Other expeditions
Yoshiki Sakai M 1960 Japan Climber Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan Engineer Details Other expeditions
Kenneth Brian (Ken) Sauls M 1965 USA Climber Boulder, Colorado Cameraman Details Other expeditions
Voldemars Spruzs M 1958 Latvia Climber Riga, Latvia Real estate agent Details Other expeditions
Jaco-Albert Van Gass M 1986 UK/S Africa Climber London, England Soldier Details Other expeditions
Brian David Warren M 1981 USA Deputy Leader Jackson, Wyoming Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
David Michael Wiseman M 1982 UK Climber Catterick Garrison, N Yorkshire, England Soldier Details Other expeditions
Dorje Sonam Gyalzen Sherpa M 1981 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Gyalzen Dorje (Gyaljen Dorje) Sherpa M 1988 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Nima Tshering (Ngima Chhiri) Sherpa M 1972 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Lakpa Nuru Sherpa M 1962 Nepal H-A Worker Khumjung/Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Urken Lendu (Urgen Tenzing) Sherpa M 1993 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Dawa Tenzing (Da Tenzing) Sherpa M 1970 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Rita Dorje (Ang Rita Dorje) Sherpa M 1977 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Nima Tenzing (Ngima Tenjing) Sherpa M 1991 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Ngawang Tenjing (Nawang Tenzing) Sherpa M 1993 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Son Dorje Sherpa M 1963 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Pasang Kami (PK) Sherpa M 1979 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Pasang Nima Sherpa M 1992 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Ang Nuru Sherpa M 1989 Nepal H-A Worker Khumjung, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Phura Namgya Sherpa M 1987 Nepal H-A Worker Khumjung, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Tashi Tshering Sherpa M 1977 Nepal H-A Worker Khumjung, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Sonam Finjo (Ang Pinzo) Sherpa M 1985 Nepal H-A Worker Khunde, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Lhakpa Nuru Sherpa M 1980 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Phurba Tashi Sherpa M 1971 Nepal Sirdar Khumjung, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Sonam Tashi Sherpa M 1990 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Tashi Chhiring (Tashi Tshering) Sherpa M 1990 Nepal H-A Worker Khumjung, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions
Ngima Sona (Nima Sona) Sherpa M 1970 Nepal H-A Worker Phortse, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

1 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
MANA11311 - - http://himalayanexperience.com/newsletters/manaslu-2011 - - -