Night falling on the Manaslu Himalaya

After trekking around Manaslu I wanted to take the trek to the next level, and this meant finding a new vantage point from which to photograph her. So Purna, Ramesh and I got ourselves 7 days of food and started climbing the hillside above Syange village. Our objective was to get above the trees to see the Manaslu massif from the southwest across the Marsyangdi Valley.

It took some doing - hacking through heavy jungle in places and a few detours - but we found the right ridge, and most importantly, we found water up high. Thus we were able to make a base camp and spend a day without our loads climbing as high as we could into the foothills of the Lamjung Himalaya.

We witnessed this sunset on our descent. The southwest faces of Phungi Himal, Manaslu, Ngadi Chuli, Himal Chuli, and Boudha Himal float above the clouds arriving from India, crashing into the range, and funneling up the Marsyangdi. From here you can see 3 of the 48 tallest mountains on earth.