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500 climbers were forced to retreat: a nighttime drama in the Himalayas
A powerful landslide of earth and rocks struck directly above the mountain village of Samagaun (Samagaun) in the Manaslu region early this morning, leading to the sweeping and official cancellation of the entire climbing season in the area.
The incident occurred at around 3:00 a.m. local time, following days of heavy rain and snowfall. A tremendous thunderous roar awakened hundreds of foreign tourists, climbing guides, porters, and local residents, who were forced to flee their beds in panic into the darkness in search of safe shelter.
״We simply ran out of the rooms; we didn’t know where to go," shared Abiral Rai, an IFMGA international mountain guide who was trapped in the village together with his client. "It sounded as though the avalanches were coming from several directions at once. The noise was terrifying and nerve-racking." According to reports from media outlets, including [Everest Chronicle], the extreme weather is completely disrupting the movement of trekkers and climbers throughout Nepal.
Nearly 500 foreign climbers forced to retreat
Following an unprecedented accumulation of up to five feet (approximately 1.5 meters) of snow in residential areas and between seven and eight feet at the high camps, major expedition companies, including Seven Summit Treks, announced the complete closure of the climbing season on Mount Manaslu (the world’s eighth-highest peak). Nearly 480 foreign climbers who received official permits for this season are now being forced to leave base camp and descend toward the lower, safer valleys.
The entire country is now under a multi-day state of high alert due to severe weather systems. The current disaster has struck Nepal as it attempts to recover from the catastrophic floods and landslides at the end of August, which were caused by the collapse of a glacier near the border with Tibet and left more than 1,450 people dead and thousands missing. Local authorities, together with international trekking agencies, are calling on all travelers to remain in protected shelters in the villages and not to attempt to cross rivers or landslide areas on their own.
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