Manaslu Circuit trek in Nepal

Monday, 19 September 2011

New tea-house lodges on Manaslu Circuit

Over the last few years several new lodges have been built on the Manaslu Circuit in Nepal so it now possible to complete this as a tea-house trek. With the new roads severely impacting Annapurna Circuit for trekkers then it look likes Manaslu Circuit is a natural replacement.

Manaslu Circuit is one of the most scenic treks in Nepal starting at a low altitude and then crosses Larkya La over 5,000m so one gets a cross section of Nepalese landscape and culture. By staying in tea-house lodges it is a good way to contribute directly to the local communities along the trail.

Take a look Manaslu Circuit Trek website that has details on locations of these lodges as well as Manaslu Circuit blog that has latest news and information about new developments on this trek.

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Sunday, 8 February 2009

Serena Brocklebank will lead Manaslu Circuit in October '09

The Mountain Company is pleased to announce that Serena Brocklebank will be our western trek leader for Manaslu Circuit trek in October 2009. I have copied below some information about her experience and background:

Serena has led over fifteen expeditions in India, Nepal, Andes and Pakistan. In 2006 Serena climbed to the summit of Mount Everest, inspired by her grandfather Tom Brocklebank, who made his own attempt in 1933.

Serena originally trained as a lawyer, but from an early stage decided to pursue her passion for outdoor education and development training, and spent her early career in the 1990's enjoying working for organisations such as Outward Bound and Raleigh International.

For the last 7 years she has been working as a diplomat for the UK Foreign Office on a variety of challenging postings and recently as Vice Consul at the British Embassy in Kathmandu for 3 years.

Serena has the following outdoor qualifications: Mountain Leader Summer Assessment, Winter Mountain Leader Training, Churchill Trust Research Fellow (Adventure Development Training) and Wilderness Medical Training Certificate (2008).

For more information I suggest you take a look at The Mountain Company webpage for the Manaslu Circuit. It would also be worth reading the Blog entry with Trip Report for Manaslu Circuit October '08

Sunday, 1 February 2009

Trip Report for Manaslu Circuit led by Roland Hunter in April '08

On April 7th the Manaslu Circuit group led by Roland set off for the roadhead at Arughat. The trek went well and as usual our Sirdar, Jhire, did a great job looking after the crew and clients. I would highly recommend this trek which explores a remote area of Nepal passing through a culturally and scenically diverse region of Nepal.

The trek starts at a low altitude (800m) where you will walk through rice paddies with mainly Gurung & Magar villages and then enters the Tibetan Buddhist region over 3000m. The Manaslu Circuit crosses over a high pass called Larkya La which is similar in difficulty to the Thorong La on the AC. This is a spectacular day with incredible views, it is challenging but a good objective for most fit walkers.

Roland Hunter
www.themountaincompany.co.uk

Trip Report for Manaslu Circuit led by Mike Farris in October '08

Mike Farris led a group for The Mountain Company on the Manaslu Circuit in October '08. This was the third time that we have organised this trek, previous groups successfully completed the Manaslu Circuit trek in October '07 and April '08.

One advantage of running the same a trek a number of times is that we build up cumulative knowledge and experience that can be used for planning future treks. For all western led treks we have written day by day Trek Leader Notes so that a leader who has not previously done the trek can tap into our cumulative experience. After a trek each western leader will submit their Trip Report to The Mountain Company, after reading this we will update the Trek Leader's Notes for any lessons learnt or changes in the route etc

Roland met up with the Manaslu group on their return to Kathmandu and by all accounts the trek was very enjoyable with everyone successfully crossing the Larkya La pass. One point forward for future groups on the Manaslu Circuit is that there are some noisy dogs at night in Lho, Samagaon and Samdo so bring along ear plugs! Although this was not an issue for the Manaslu Circuit group in April....

You might be interested to hear that Mike Farris has recently finished writing his book about altitude & acclimatisation called The Altitude Experience. I recently read this book and can highly recommend it if you are thinking of trekking or climbing at altitude. Mike combines his knowledge of climbing to extreme altitude on expeditions to K2, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum 2 with being a Professor or Biology to produce a highly informative and enjoyable book. Check out The Altitude Experience website.

The Mountain Company is planning to run the Manaslu Circuit trek in October '09, please get in touch if you are interested in joining the group.

Roland Hunter

www.themountaincompany.co.uk