“For the safety of everyone on the mountain, we have made the decision to officially close the Manaslu 2026 season,” Chhang Dawa Sherpa, expedition leader for Seven Summit Treks, wrote on Instagram today. “It is never an easy decision, but every successful expedition begins and ends with one responsibility: bringing everyone home safely.”
Most other teams followed the decision by Nepal’s largest expedition operator to break camp on the world’s eighth-highest mountain. Following the persistent snowfall overnight into Tuesday, his team carefully assessed the situation on the route, informed Lakpa Sherpa, founder of 8K Expeditions: “The latest assessment indicates a significant avalanche risk, with unstable snow making further movement unsafe at this time.”
Some teams plan to wait for a new weather window
Mingma Gyalje Sherpa shares a similar assessment of the current situation on Manaslu. “Climbers are descending from Camp 3. For most of the teams, the expedition ends here, while some teams still want to wait for another weather window,” writes the head of the operator Imagine Nepal on Instagram. “However, given the amount of snow the weather reports are showing, there appears to be no hope for this year.
Experienced Italian mountaineer Simone Moro was one of the first to leave Manaslu Base Camp. He explained that he had assessed the situation for himself at Camp 3 at 6,800 meters and decided that conditions were already too dangerous.
Two meters of fresh snow expected
In addition, the experienced Austrian meteorologist Charly Gabl had informed him that between September 24 and 28, at least two meters of fresh snow would likely fall on all high mountains in Nepal. “I could climb fast, with no O2 and with no partner or Guide but not in an evident Russian roulette situation,” Moro wrote.
Among the teams that still want to wait and see is the Nepalese operator Summit Force. “For now, we rest, observe, and gather our strength, holding fast for the moment the right window opens,” writes Halung Dorchi Sherpa, co-founder of the company, on Instagram. “. Staying humble, and staying cautious.”
Will the rope-fixing team’s summit success be the only one of the Manaslu season?
Last weekend – as reported – two climbers lost their lives when an avalanche buried their tent at Camp 3. Last Thursday, the nine-member Nepalese rope-fixing team had secured the route up to the highest point at 8,163 meters, thereby ensuring the first summit success of this season. It may also have been the last.
For this fall, the Nepalese government had issued a record number of 493 permits (as of 18 September) to foreign climbers. Together with the local guides and Climbing Sherpas, the number of people on the mountain totaled more than 1,000.
Climbing break on Dhaulagiri
In contrast, things are relatively quiet on the nearby eight-thousander Dhaulagiri. The government’s Tourism Department issued 34 climbing permits for the 8,167-meter mountain in western Nepal. “Makalu” Lakpa Sherpa, head of the rope-fixing team on Dhaulagiri, said all activities on the mountain would be suspended this week due to expected heavy snowfall.
