puja ceremony

The following post is courtesy of Billi Bierling, Himalayan Experience:

The following blog is courtesy of Billi Bierling, Himalayan Experience:

This is just a brief update from Manaslu base camp, where the Himalayan Experience group arrived on Saturday, after having spent five days in Samagoan. “We came up one day early as the group is really strong and everyone is feeling great. Even though Samagoan is great, we have a much better set-up here at base camp,” Russell reported by satellite phone.

The Manaslu team gathered for the celebration of the Puja ceremony, held at rainy basecamp today. The Sherpa crew decorated and prepared the Chorten (altar) and each expedition member placed a piece of climbing equipment alongside it to be blessed during the ceremony. Prayers flags were hung beautifully around basecamp and traditional Sherpa dancing followed.

The Himex team arrived in BC (4800m) on Friday night in good form. So far, the weather has been anything but normal with clear skies and virtually no precipitation. The 34 member team (climbers, trekkers, guides, support staff...) is looking at a dry and icey mountain, which looks excellent for climbing and perhaps a little daunting for skiing, but on 8000m peaks, conditions change, so stay tuned to see how the mountain evolves throughout this season. The team is now in BC for 4 days, where they will have their Puja ceremony, a rest day, and 2 skills days.

Yeah, Basecamp! Our team has successfully completed the long acclimatizing trek to the Ama Dablam basecamp. Everyone is great, feeling healthy and happy, and enjoying a well-earned rest day today. The weather is being kind to us, with an entrenched high pressure system giving us clear blue skies and sunshine, although the 15,000 ft altitude makes it very cold and everyone wears multiple layers of clothing.

All of our team have done their 2 days of pushing up to Camp 1 at 19,000ft. Everyone made it really well, including practicing more technical climbing and working fixed ropes. The Puja ceremony back in Base Camp was wonderful, and left us ready for our next efforts. Tomorrow the plan is to climb up to Camp 1 and sleep there for 3 nights. During that time, we expect to make a climb one day up to 20,000ft, then back down to Camp 1 to sleep.

Reporting from Manaslu Basecamp: