Mount Manaslu Korean expedition meets success
The 2011 Korean Manaslu expedition “For Freedom 2011 Manaslu Expedition” have met both of their objectives successfully. Their mission was not only to summit the 8,156-meter peak, but also retrieve the bodies of Yun Chiwaon and Park Haeng Su who died during
their bid for the peak last year.
Su was part of the Mount Manaslu expedition last year and during their final ascent for the summit, the team was engulfed by a white wash and lost their way. The team called for rescue which could not be carried out for several hours due to bad weather.
Park and Chiwaon were the missing members of the team when they finally made it into Camp 2.
Early this year, Park’s body was found at the height of 7500 meters. Loben Sherpa, the tour organizer, also reported about the details of the final rescue.
“His body was carried down to camp II with the help of our Sherpa team and brought down to Kathmandu from Camp II (6400m) by Fishtail helicopter,” Loben said.
Loben also reported that three members of the team have successfully made the summit this morning, May 9th, at 06:10 am local time. The three-member team included Kim Migaon, Sanu Sherpa and Chinjung Bhota.
The daring rescue was carried out by the newly lodged Fishtail Air and Air Zermatt and includes high altitude rescue choppers in its fleet. The pilots Captain Ashish Sherchan and Air Zermatt’s (Switzerland) Captain Daniel Aufdenblatten flew their AS350 B3+
(9N-AJI) to the perilous Manaslu region and lifted the body from the height of 6,400 meters.
The rescue fleet has been an immediate success and has rescued several mountaineers stuck in bad weather. In 2010, one of the rescue pilots lost his life while trying to rescue a mountaineer from Ama Dablam. Sherchan and Aufdenblatten were also part of the
rescue team which saved five mountaineers from the Mount Manaslu region last year.
Park’s body will be cremated in Kathmandu on May 13th, as per the Buddhist and Korean ritual while the search for his deceased team member, YuChiwaon will continue for the rest of the season till the beginning of monsoon.
Mt. Manaslu is the eighth highest mountain peak in the world located in the Nepalese Himalayas in the Mansiri Massif. Manaslu, which means, “Mountain of the Spirit” was first conquered by Japanese expedition in 1956.
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