The Madison Mountaineering Manaslu expedition team arrived back in Kathmandu after an exciting heli ride, following several days of waiting the weather out in the mountains. The team had excellent views throughout the entire flight of awe-inspiring peaks high above and the valleys, rivers, and waterfalls below. Upon reaching Kathmandu and settling back into our team hotel, the team went out for one final meal together before boarding their planes back to their home countries – a fantastic way to end an unforgettable expedition! Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Kathmandu:
Hello! This is Terray calling in with the final dispatch of the 2024 Madison Mountaineering Manaslu (8156m/26,759ft) expedition – today is September 30th.
We spent the last few nights in Sama village waiting for the weather to clear so that we could fly back to Kathmandu (1400m/4,600ft). Late last week and into the weekend, a really heavy precipitation system came into Nepal which brought very heavy snow to the mountain. But this morning, fortunately, we woke up to perfectly clear, blue skies and so we were able to take a heli back to Nepal’s capital! It was a fantastic flight following the Budhi Gandaki River with beautiful glaciated peaks high above us on either side and really spectacular waterfalls pretty much the whole way till you get down into the foothills in the Gorkha District of Nepal.
We landed in Kathmandu mid-morning! We just wrapped up our farewell meal. It’s a beautiful evening here in Kathmandu and this evening our guests will start to depart for home – the last members of the team will leave tomorrow morning.
So, all in all it was a very successful expedition, 100% success on the planet’s eighth-highest peak! I for one am really looking forward to the next trip to Nepal. We’ll be in touch then!
The team after touching down in Kathmandu!
A final, celebratory dinner in Kathmandu.
In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:
– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:
- Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“
– Instagram:
