Manaslu Region

Manaslu (8156m) was first climbed in 1956 by a Japanese expedition. Its name comes from the Sanskrit word manasa, meaning "intellect" or "soul" It is the same root word as that for Manasarover, the holy lake near Mt. Kailash in Tibet. The British considered Everest their mountain. Manaslu has always been a Japanese mountain. HW Tillman and Jimmy Roberts photographed Manaslu during a trek in 1950. But the first real survey of the peak was made by a Japanese expedition in 1952. A Japanese team made the first serious attempt on the peak from the Budhi Gandaki valley in 1953. When another team followed in 1954, the villagers of Samagaon told them the first team had been responsible for an avalanche that destroyed a monastery and refused to let the 1954 expedition climb. The expedition set off to climb Ganesh Himal instead.