Manaslu, Ascent and Tragedy. Japanese Masatsugu Konishi gained the summit of Manaslu on September 30 with two teammates from their party of five Japanese climbers and five climbing Sherpas. They had made a late start for the summit because of strong winds, and their descent was late and very slow because of exhaustion. Well after nightfall, after having gone down to an altitude of 7900 meters, Konishi stopped and bivouacked for a few hours, far above their highest camp at 7650 meters, and then in a confused state because of the high altitude, he moved briefly upward and later finally disappeared completely. His body was not found.

Elizabeth Hawley