Manaslu Northeast Face. A light-weight expedition of six Poles and two Mexicans was led by Jerzy Kukuczka. They established Base Camp on September 8 at 4400 meters. From September 17 to October 26 in very bad weather they climbed the difficult and complicated east ridge to the lower plateau. They then changed their route. From November 5 to 10 they made the first ascent of the northeast face from the Manaslu Glacier in pure alpine-style. The three men bivouacked at 5500, 6300, 7300, 7600 and 8000 meters. There were several pitches of hard, mixed climbing between 7300 and 7500 meters and on the slopes of the virgin eastern summit (7992 meters). On November 9, they reached the summit plateau where they made their fifth bivouac. The next day Carlos Carsolio, who was suffering from frostbite, stayed at the bivouac while Kukuczka and Artur Hajzer went to the summit. It was frigidly cold. “Though the effort was enormous, I shivered the whole time,” said Kukuczka. Poor weather and complicated terrain made it necessary to take 62 days to reach the summit. This is the first 8000er to be climbed in November. It was Kukuczka’s 12th 8000er.

Jósef Nyka, Editor, Taternik, Poland