Rémy Lécluse, Glen Plake, Greg Costa

12 September 2012, Manaslu Camp 1 (5750m) – In a late call last night from Greg Costa, Rémy Lécluse and Glen Plake we learned the team was in Camp 1 instead of Camp 3 as expected. Rémy reported that when their weather forecast changed from 10cm of snow overnight to 30cm of snow over the next three days, they decided to pull stakes and head for lower ground. The slopes between C1 and C3 are prone to avalanche so clearly the crew made a wise decision to play it safe and move back down to Camp 1.

Rémy: “Glen and I also woke up this morning with slight headaches which finalized our decision.”

Glen added, “Camp 3 is not a place to be stuck with weather on the horizon.”

Their plan is to head back to base camp, recover and wait for good weather to arrive then head back up to establish Camp 3, Camp 4 and possibly even make a push for the summit.

Rémy: “We’ll make the next push quite slowly: Camp 1, Camp 2, Camp 3, Camp 4, maybe the summit. We’ll see.”

When asked about the ski down from Camp 2, Rémy told us the team had left their skis at Camp 2: “It’s quite steep between Camp 1 and Camp 2 and exposed to avalanche and serac fall, so it’s important to move fast when you’re climbing up, which means going as light as possible.”

Plake noted, “The route between C1 and C2 has tons of seracs over it. There are several steps that are exposed to avalanche big time. When we were there we saw lots of little 20- to 30-meter slides, not that big, but they all swept into terrain traps.”

Glen also added, “I woke up with a little headache this morning but nothing serious. Everyone is good, our equipment is fantastic, and our two high-altitude porters are great. Now, if only there was something I could do about this bag of freeze-dried food in front of me – hahahaha!”

As for Greg Costa, he was on duty melting snow when the call was made but when the phone was passed to him he told me, “I’m brewing up right now, cooking dinner, and everything’s OK. I didn’t sleep much at Camp 2 but I didn’t have a headache and I was warm, so no problem. It will be nice to relax in base camp for a few days, hopefully we can get some photos to you. I’m looking forward to coming back up!”

11 September 2012, Manaslu Camp 2 (6300m) – Got a very broken call from Glen Plake yesterday who was checking in from Camp 2. The connection was very broken and ended abruptly but before the line was cut he was able to tell me that he, Greg Costa and Rémy Lécluse had reached Camp 2 at 6200 meters and that everyone was doing great.

Their plan was to spend the night at C2 and then head up to Camp 3 at 6800 meters and, depending on how everyone felt, weather out a small storm that was forecast to drop 10cm of fresh snow.

The connection was cut after that but in an earlier email, Rémy told us they spent Glen’s birthday in base camp with a strong weather forecast lasting until the 20th/21st with the exception of the storm that will hit them tonight while they are in Camp 3.

Rémy also emphasized that they are not competing with Canadian skier Greg Hill’s team whose goal, Rémy reports, is to put a record time from base camp to the summit of Manalsu in a single push on skis. Our crew on the other hand “…just wants to do a clean ascent and descent.”

Climbing in a single push differs to the siege tactics used by the Moguls to Manaslu team in that Greg Hill’s team will arrive to Manaslu base camp after having already acclimatized on 6476-meter Mera Peak. They will attempt to climb from the base camp to the summit without returning to base camp.

Those following this blog will know that the siege tactics used by the Moguls to Manaslu involve acclimatizing on the mountain itself by ascending to Camp 1, returning to base camp to recover, ascend to camp 2, descend to base camp to recover, ascend to camp 3, return to base camp, etc until all four camps are in place, the team is fully acclimatized and ready to gun for the summit.

Rémy also reports in this email that the current plan is to head for Camp 4 (7400M) when the weather clears again and then for the summit between the 16th and 20th of this month. Stay tuned!

Base camp at the foot of Manaslu

6 September 2012, Manaslu Base Camp (4800m) – Great news from the Moguls to Manaslu crew. Greg Costa, Glen Plake and Rémy Lécluse called in to report that they have made their first trip up to Camp 1 at 5750 meters and made their first turns down the slopes of Manaslu!

Glen Plake – “Yesterday we skinned up to Camp 1 and it was so nice to finally get the skis on! The real snow limit is around 5500 meters so it was kind of like skiing Chamonix’s Vallée Blanche at the end of the season. It was a nice day, really hot and pretty dry. Other teams are arriving at base camp – there’s maybe 100 people in base camp now – and they have fixed ropes almost the whole way from base camp to Camp 1. It’s like if someone had fixed ropes up the Mer de Glace – hahaha! [editor's note: the Mer de Glace above Chamonix is a flat glacier that tourists routinely walk around on during the summer without crampons]. I think I’m going to make a battery-powered jumar that would pull me up the fixed ropes. I’ll put a solar panel on my back and get after it!”

Greg Costa – “This place is so amazing, very nice, and the mountains are crazy big. The snow is very, very good, not a problem at all. Tomorrow our camp staff  will perform a puja, which is a ceremony where gifts like rice, chocolate and beer are offered to the gods in hopes of receiving their blessings for our expedition.”

Rémy Lécluse – “Yesterday we skied up to Camp 1 just below 5800 meters and skied down to 5100 meters. This was a good chance for us to test our equipment and to confirm that everyone is acclimatizing well. It was mostly old snow with grey ice but the top part was nice, fresh, spring snow. At high altitude the snow could be really good. Above C1 is the most difficult part of the route. It’s not steep – not more than 40˚ average – but there is a traverse that is exposed to a serac above it and there are crevasses and bergshrunds that we need to find a way through. There are about 200 meters of technical difficulties.

Rémy also reports that the weather should be good through the 15th. After a couple of rest days they plan to head back up to Camp 1 and spend three nights there, which would mean that Glen Plake will celebrate his September 9th birthday at Camp 1! As it stands now, the team hopes to ski from the summit around the 20th – 25th September.

In addition, a new challenge has appeared in the team’s attempt to be the first to ski from the summit of Manaslu without oxygen. It seems the rumors of Greg Hill heading to Manaslu to also try to be the first to ski from the summit without oxygen appear to be correct. You’ll of course remember that Greg Hill is the Canadian who set some kind of record by climbing and skiing two million feet (609,600 meters) in one year. Do the math and you’ll fid that this is an average of 1,676.4 meters each day for 365 days. Impressive. Greg is just coming off a successful ski descent of 6470-meter Mera Peak so he’ll be arriving well-acclimatized and ready to charge.

Looks like the race is on to become the first to ski Manaslu without oxygen!

Rémy Lécluse, Glen Plake, Greg Costa

27 August 2012, Sama Gompah, Nepal (3500m / 11,482 ft)  – After a couple of days in Katmandu shuffling papers, stocking up on last minute supplies and doing their best to steer clear of beggars and con men, the Moguls to Manaslu team – Rémy Lécluse, Greg Costa and Glen Plake – launched into rock star mode and caught a heli straight from Katmandu to Sama Gompah.

Rémy Lécluse: “We had a few hassles with the paperwork in Katmandu but everything’s sorted. We flew out this morning at 7:00 and now we’re in Sama Gompah, which, at 3500 meters, is where we’ll acclimatize for a few days before heading into Manaslu base camp.”

Glen Plake: “My leg still feels like I’ve been kicked by a horse but it’s getting better. Traveling is great! I haven’t been on an expedition in two years and it’s good to get back on the road. We had some great views of the mountains this morning from the heli flight in. The pilot even told us it was one of the best days in nine years. We’re here at a great lodge house in Sama Gompah to acclimatize for a few days. We’re hearing rumors that Cho Oyu has been shut so Manaslu could turn into a freak show. Our plan is to go slowly but we want to stay ahead of the crowd.”

[editor's note: At 8,201 meters high, Cho Oyu is the sixth highest mountain in the world and one of the best choices for those wanting to ski an 8000-meter peak. If the Chinese government denies access to the peak, the skiers who had planned to go there would most probably choose Shishapangma or conceivably, Manaslu, as a backup plan.]

The bruise Glen sustained after a fall taken while testing gear. The day after this photo was taken the bruising had spread below the knee, poisoned blood had entered his kidneys, and Glen spent the day unable to walk and puking his guts out.

Greg Costa: “We had a dream day today – it was the best flight of my life. I’ve done a lot of flying in the Alps but this one was crazy! Glen and Rémy are a very good team to travel with. We feel good physically and we’re laughing a lot. There are so many girls in this village it’s crazy. So cool. After we finish the expedition, I’m not going back to Chamonix. I’m staying here!”

To learn more about the team’s plan to ski Manaslu without oxygen, check out our interview with the team the day before they left.