Manaslu | 2021 NE Face

A Nepal expedition to Manaslu in 2021 via NE Face, led by Chhepal Sherpa. Summit reached on 30th December 2021. 12 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 10735
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID MANA21402
Peak ID MANA
Year 2021
Season 4
Host Country 1
Route 1 NE Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Nepal
Leaders Chhepal Sherpa
Sponsor Seven Summit Treks (SST) Winter Manaslu Expedition 2021-2022
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 Belgium, Finland, Poland
Approach Samagaon by heli
Basecamp Date 2021-12-25
Summit Date 2021-12-30
Summit Time -
Summit Days 5
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 5
Termination Notes Abandoned at 6500m due to deep snow, avalanche danger, and predicted bad weather
High Point (m) 6500
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 1
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 10
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 False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(25/12,4800m),C1(01/05,5800m),xxx(12/30,6500m)
Route Notes Team was able to establish and occupy C1, but Sherpas unable to climb higher than 6500m towards C2 due to deep snow and avalanche danger. From Paula Strengell: Jan 2: 6 hr climb to BC, 4800m. Jan 3: Acclimatization climb to 5300m – Alex does an avalanche test, turns out to be grade 5 ... and everyone climbs higher the next day... Jan 4: climb to lower camp 1, 5700m. Jan 5: climb to higher camp 1, 5800m – depot – back to BC Jan 6: bad weather/snowfall. Jan 7: Bad weather/snowfall. Chhepal and Alex announce that everyone will descend to the village of Samagaon. A small Sherpa team stays in BC to protect the big tents from the snow, but the small tents are broken down. We are free to decide what to do, but there would be a shortage of gas and food. Since everyone will leave BC due to the bad weather, we decide to descend with them. This proved to be a dangerous undertaking when we see an avalanche passing through the freshly fallen snow next to us. Sherpa team along with Simone take the lead down, but Alex team with Chhepal do not follow. Jan 8: Inaki Alvarez and photographer Sendoa Elejalde descend on foot to Samagaon. Alex, Chhepal and Eneko take the helicopter from BC to Samagaon, pick up Simone and fly off to Kathmandu. Personally we don’t think it is a good strategy that “leaders” like Chhepal and Alex abandon their own team (and others). Simone, let us know from the start that he would follow his own trajectory (so no problems with that), while Alex and Chhepal indicated before (and during the expedition) that they wanted to work together as a team. Jan 9: Dawa Chhiri becomes the new temporary basecamp leader, but communication is very difficult due to a lack of telephony and internet problems in Samagaon. Jan 10: We are informed that a “powerful” avalanche has occurred in BC. The kitchen tent – supply tent and our tent are said to be damaged and the Sherpas are seriously impressed. Jan 11: The weather is nice and we’re going to see up to 4200m while we open the track back towards BC. To our great surprise, not much snow has fallen, a lot of snow has already melted and/or settled. We believe it may be possible to reach BC. We consult with the others who want to “try” while Alex, Simone, Chhepal are still comfortable in KTM, Pokhara or wherever. Apparently there are also some private groups that demand the necessary attention from Alex, just like his daily social media. Jan 12: We start very early and together with the Sherpa fixing team (without Pasang Rinzee) we manage to get back to the base camp! A tough climb where it is clear that most of the snow fell higher up and when we arrive BC turns out to be completely fine again. Jan 13: Since a longer period of good weather has arrived, we can’t resist opening the track to C1 again and going to look/feel the condition of the snow because in our opinion the added snow turns out to be much better than feared. Oswaldo and Stef lead the way and reopen the track to about 5300m and the snow conditions are not too bad. We inform the others about the conditions and ask to join us. Jan 14: The meteo is very windy (not so good to return to C1) and there is bad communication... again. The Gentlemen (Simone, Alex, Chhepal) flew over C1 with the helicopter and then landed in Samagaon. They believe the conditions are bad and will not come to BC. Chhepal will not be joining his team and our team and says they have enough time until February. So there is no rush (for them) and therefore none of the fixing Sherpas will climb higher. However, the weather is beautiful for the next few days. Weather forecast announced snow on the 18th, good weather on 19, but from the 20th it will be bad and uncertain for a longer period of time. Jan 15: We decide to go to C1 to see if we can get higher. Paula and Ming Temba lead the way and want to go along to get material from C1 because Paula no longer believes a positive sequel. Oswaldo takes his drone to film. Dawa C will join us at C1 as the fixing team remains in BC but thinks C2 is not feasible. At the traverse, the snow does not stick to the icy surface, which means that crampons are needed. This was not the case last time, forcing Oswaldo, Paula and Ming Temba to return. We (Stef, Dawa and myself) climb through what turned out to be a very tough undertaking because there is 1.50m of snow piled up until C1. We arrive around 4pm and need to dig out the depot to set-up the tents. Jan 16: We explore the icefall that makes us realize that we need more time and/or manpower and that a summit attempt is almost impossible in these circumstances. We return disappointed to C1 for the last night because on 20 Janaury a longer period of bad weather with lots of snow and wind starts. Oswaldo has come to C1 and is taking drone footage again. Jan 17: return to BC. Our return flight is initially planned for the 27th, but of the 10 days remaining, there are at least 7 days of snow. Also due to the lack of cooperation with the “leaders”/fixing team, who have time until Feb, a passage to C2 is not realistic. Jan 18: Return to Samagaon with Paula, Dawa Chhiri, Oswald and Simone. Here we say goodbye to everyone. Paula, Dawa and we flew on to Kathmandu afterwards.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Seven Summit Treks
Commercial Route True
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2464705
Year 2021
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) ne face

Members

12 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Chhepal Sherpa M 1982 Nepal Leader Patle-2, Okhaldhunga - Details Other expeditions
Sophie Lenaerts F 1975 Belgium Climber Bertem, Belgium Police officer Details Other expeditions
Steven (Stef) Maginelle M 1973 Belgium Climber Bertem, Belgium Physiotherapist Details Other expeditions
Oswald Szymon Rodrigo Pereira M 1984 Poland Climber Warsaw, Poland PR manager Details Other expeditions
Gyalu Sherpa M 1978 Nepal Climber Patle-2, Okhaldhunga - Details Other expeditions
Nawang Thinduk Sherpa M 1997 Nepal Climber Makalu-9, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Pasang Nurbu Sherpa M 1990 Nepal Climber Makalu-9, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Pemba Tashi Sherpa M 2000 Nepal Climber Makalu-9, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Tenzing (Tenzen) Sherpa M 1987 Nepal Climber Makalu-9, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Paula Birgitta Strengell F 1968 Finland Climber Helsinki, Finland Physician Details Other expeditions
Dawa Chhiring Sherpa M 1988 Nepal H-A Worker Lelep-8, Taplejung - Details Other expeditions
Ming Temba Sherpa M 1988 Nepal H-A Worker Makalu-9, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions

References

11 recorded references.