September 4, 2012

IMG leaders Mike Hamill and Peter Anderson report that the team made it to Sama Gaon, the village at the base of Manaslu.  Well done!  Today they took a well-deserved rest day, including a tour of the local monastery.  Tomorrow the plan is to head up to Base Camp, with the puja scheduled the following day (the 6th) which is an auspicious day for the sherpas (using the Tibetan calendar).  Up at Base Camp, the sherpas have been busy and they have the camp all set up and ready to go.

Eric Simonson

September 2, 2012

Descending from Base Camp to Sama Gaon, looking at the 6000m peaks to the north, which are near to the China/Tibet border (Robert Kay)

IMG guide Mike Hamill called this morning (evening in Nepal).  The team is in Namrung and all are fit, healthy, and doing well.  They are on schedule to reach Sama Gaon tomorrow.   He says the weather had been pretty good for them, with rain during the night but mostly dry during the day time for the trekking.  Trail has been a bit muddy in places and they have crossed several landslides, but no big issues.  Mike says it has been a strenuous trek, with plenty of ups and downs to get everyone toughened up for the climb ahead!

Up on the mountain Phunuru reports that the Base Camp construction is almost finished, and that he had hiked up to the crampon point to check the route and snow condition, which he said looked OK.    He says they have an excellent BC camp location with a clean water source.  Headcook Kaji has now moved up to BC from Sama Gaon and the porters with all the fresh food will go to BC tomorrow.  The plan is for the members to take a couple rest days in Sama Gaon, then move up to BC on Wednesday the 5th .

Eric Simonson