When has a mountain truly been climbed? A Sherpa explains why Manaslu confounded climbers

On Manaslu, several climbers were convinced they had stood on the summit even though they had missed the mountain's highest point. Mingma Gyalje Sherpa says the confusion has a straightforward explanation.

The issue keeps troubling the high-altitude climbing community: when can a climber say they are truly on top, and did everyone who made that claim actually reach the summit? At Manaslu, many climbers turned around at a point on the ridge before the summit. The mountain's highest point is the standard that determines whether it has been climbed.

The first successful expedition reached Manaslu's main summit in May 1956. Many later expeditions also reached the highest point, making the subsequent return from the pre-summit ridge especially difficult to understand. Even legendary climber Reinhold Messner once became involved in a similar controversy involving an 8,000-meter peak.

Sherpa, known as Mingma G, searched for a route to Manaslu's highest point in 2021, aiming to reach the place where the first climbers had stood. He says the mountain was originally climbed mainly in spring, but became increasingly popular as an autumn mountain from 2008.

That change followed the absence of expeditions in Tibet during the Beijing Olympic Games. Major 8,000-meter expedition agencies shifted their operations from Shishapangma and Cho Oyu, normally approached from Tibet's northern side, to Manaslu. The move proved successful, and since then the climbing season at Manaslu has largely shifted from spring to autumn. The article's headline notes that 350 permits were issued to foreign climbers for the current season.

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The situation is actually even better now.