Manaslu (8163m) and Dhaulagiri (8167m)

Viesturs

Post-Climb Interview
Wednesday, June 2, 1999
When Ed Viesturs returned to the United States from what he calls his "most successful climbing trip ever," he sat down with MountainZone.com to fill us in on the details. Among the topics he covered: how it feels to have climbed 12 of the 14 8,000-meter peaks (without supplemental oxygen), what it's like to climb a Himalayan giant alpine style, his dangerous descent from Dhaulagiri, and his thoughts on the discovery of Mallory.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane...
Tuesday, May 11, 1999 — 9:46pm (PST)
"Things turned out wonderfully. We had two successful climbs, we're both healthy, no injuries, can report good news and having had a great adventure..."

In Kathmandu Two Days Early
Monday, May 10, 1999 — 3:53am (PST)
"Veikka and I are really happy about what we did and how we did it. It was an adventure for both of us, even though we've climbed mountains that have been climbed before by routes that have been climbed before, they were totally new routes and mountains for us...."

From Base Camp to Jomson
Saturday, May 8, 1999 — 7:38am (PST)
"Veikka and I hiked yesterday for nine hours from Base Camp to where we are now in the village of Marpha, which is at about 10,000 feet. The first four-and-a-half hours of our trek from Base Camp unfortunately were uphill..."

Troubles with Transmissions
Friday, May 7, 1999 — 8:11am (PST)
"As we were walking today, we were literally coughing all the way, every other step and, at one point, we crested a ridge, we stopped for one minute, both of us had coughing fits..."

On the Way to Kathmandu
Thursday, May 6, 1999 — 12:39am (PST)
"Veikka and I are planning on starting walking tomorrow, Friday morning. It's a two, long two, day walk to the village of Jomoson..."

Safe and Sound at Base Camp
Wednesday, May 5, 1999 — 3:11am (PST)
"We got up early this morning, began the descent, no major obstacles or major difficulties other than the snow conditions were a bit trying..."

Ed and Veikka Summit Dhaulagiri
Monday, May 3, 1999 — 11:11pm (PST)
"This morning at a quarter 'til eleven Veikka Gustafsson and I, we summited Dhaulagiri... "

Dhaulagiri Summit Attempt Underway
Monday, May 3, 1999 — 6:47am (PST)
"We plan to start the climb at two in the morning and, hopefully, in six to eight hours, with good conditions, good weather... "

At Dhaulagiri Base Camp
Sunday, May 2, 1999 — 2:13am (PST)
" It took us eight hours of climbing to get here. We left Base Camp at 4:30 this morning, we arrived here at 12:30 and it was a good day. The snow was perfect, the weather was great and we felt strong..."

At Dhaulagiri Base Camp
Saturday, May 1, 1999 — 3:45am (PST)
"It's Saturday May 1st and we spent the full day here at Base Camp at Dhaulagiri. Spent most part of the morning packing our gear, sorting through it trying to minimize the amount of weight we have to carry...."

At Dhaulagiri Base Camp
Friday, April 30, 1999 — 2:22am (PST)
"It's 3:00 in the afternoon and Veikka and myself and our cook Dorje are right now finally in Dhaulagiri Base Camp. Yahoo!... "

Pick Up Delayed
Tuesday, April 27, 1999 — 6:33pm (PST)
"Right now we had planned to be past the Dhaulagiri Base Camp, but things didn't work out quite the way we had planned... "

Leaving Manaslu Base Camp
Saturday, April 24, 1999 — 9:28pm (PST)
"On Tuesday we will be picked up by a helicopter, assuming the weather is favorable, and it will then fly us over to Dhaulagiri... "

One Down, One to Go
Friday, April 23, 1999 — 8:22am (PST)
"It's the evening of April 23rd and Veikka Gustafsson and myself are now back safe and sound at Base Camp. The climb is now over officially... "

All the Way Up...
Wednesday, April 21, 1999 — 11:40pm (PST)
"It was very, very windy this morning until about 7:00 or 8:00, we didn't know whether we could continue or not, but thankfully the wind died just enough to allow us to get to the summit... "

Resting up for Summit Bid
Wednesday, April 21, 1999 — 9:29am (PST)
"It's about 6:30 and our plan is to rest awhile and start climbing at 2:00 in the morning, hopefully reaching the summit in approximately six hours... "

Back up at Camp II
Tuesday, April 20, 1999 — 2:29am (PST)
"Then we spent a half an hour or so digging out our tent which had been drifted in and then we spent the rest of the afternoon melting snow to re-hydrate... "

Blasted by the Wind
Sunday, April 18, 1999 — 11:49pm (PST)
"We don't know whether a cold front has moved in, or the jet stream has shifted, but if we were to go up higher, we would have just been blasted by the wind... "

Sitting in the Middle of the Soup
Sunday, April 18, 1999 — 3:28am (PST)
"We just had Sunday brunch. We brought with us some chapatti, some boiled eggs, some tuna canned in tomato sauce and some cheese..."

Ready to go Back Up the Mountain
Saturday, April 17, 1999 — 6:52am (PST)
"The day after, according to the weather we will plan to then move to Camp III at 24,700 feet and hopefully if everything goes well and luck is with us, we'll be going for the summit on the morning of the 21st... "

Summit Attempt Set For April 21st
Friday, April 16, 1999 — 6:40am (PST)
"Our plan is to go back up on the mountain on the 18th. We are tentatively now planning to try to go to the summit on April 21st, that would be four days after leaving Base Camp... "

A Day of Rest at Base Camp
Thursday, April 15, 1999 — 4:56am (PST)
"Been quite nice, relaxing, reading, having three full square hot meals today, which is very nice. Something we were deprived of up higher on the mountain... "

High Winds Delay Camp III
Wednesday, April 14, 1999 — 6:20am (PST)
"It was a beautiful sunny day but it was very, very windy up high and our plan had been to carry a load up to Camp III and perhaps sleep up there. But with winds as they were we felt that we couldn't do that today... "

A New, Higher Camp II
Monday, April 12, 1999 — 4:54am (PST)
"It took us about four and half hours of climbing to get to this point and this is now going to be our permanent Camp II at 21,000 ft... "

Camp II Established
Sunday, April 11, 1999 — 5:52am (PST)
"We left Camp I this morning at 5:30 and climbed for seven hours to get to this point here. We can see the route above, it's very straightforward, no more maze of crevasses and ice towers to weave through... "

Progressing Toward Camp II
Saturday, April 10, 1999 — 4:59am (PST)
"We spent the most part of this morning climbing to about 18,400 ft. We spent quite a bit of time routefinding through the glacier, fixing ropes through some seracs... "

New Snow and the "Ed McMuffin"
Friday, April 9, 1999 — 2:18am (PST)
"We didn't go too far because there's a lot of new snow... we got back to camp around noon... and for lunch today we had what we call the "Ed McMuffin"... "

Waiting Out the Storm
Thursday, April 8, 1999 — 4:13am (PST)
"It's very typical of this part of Nepal in the afternoon that these clouds build up, so it's been snowing and 'graupelling' for the last three or four hours..."

Establishing Camps on Manaslu
Wednesday, April 7, 1999 — 6:08am (PST)
"Nobody had been up there since last autumn, so we were having a good time finding the route to Camp I..."

Snow Delays Push to Camp I
Monday, April 5, 1999 — 6:29am (PST)
"It's been snowing for about four hours off and on, lightly and heavily at times..."

Finally at Manaslu Base Camp
Sunday, April 4, 1999— 6:19am (PST)
"We've got some work to do tomorrow to batten down the hatches and organize gear..."

Double Summit Pyramid of Manaslu
Friday, April 2, 1999 — 6:56pm (PST)
"We can, for the first time, see the double summit pyramid of Manaslu..."

Closer to Manaslu Base Camp
Thursday, April 1, 1999 — 6:40pm (PST)
"We should be at base camp either tomorrow on Saturday..."

Hiking Deep in the Gorge
Tuesday, March 30, 1999 — 6:31pm (PST)
"We hiked all day yesterday for about four or five hours... we're in this very narrow, narrow river valley..."

An Uneventful MI-17 Ride
Monday, March 29, 1999 — 5:05am (PST)
"It was a quite unventful helicopter ride this morning, uneventful being the key word. We flew up in an old Russian MI-17..."

Leaving Tomorrow
Sunday, March 28, 1999 — 6:26am (PST)
"We're leaving tomorrow morning for Manaslu. We're going to be flying in a Soviet helicopter to a village called Philim and the altitude there is about 5,200 feet..."

Go With the Flow
Friday, March 26, 1999 — 10:37am (PST)
"We'll have to see what the conditions are in the mountains. I think it's going to be quite good for climbing; relatively safe as far as avalanche conditions are concerned, but probably quite dry and maybe a little bit icier..."

Avalanche Danger Minimal
Wednesday, March 25, 1999 — 8:57pm (PST)
"According to everybody here it's been a really dry winter, there's been no rain and so for climbing it will probably make it a little more technical, a lot of ice will be exposed..."