Jamshedpur: Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) team is glad to announce and proud to share that its senior instructor Asmita Dorjee has climbed the true summit of Mt. Manaslu on 30th Sep 2022 without using supplementary oxygen. She became the 2nd Indian women to do so.
Manaslu is the eighth-highest mountain in the world at 8,163 metres (26,781 ft) above sea level. It is in the Mansiri Himal, part of the Nepalese Himalayas, in the west-central part of Nepal. Manaslu is the highest peak in the Gorkha District and is about 64 km (40 mi) east of Annapurna. The mountain’s long ridges and valley glaciers offer feasible approaches from all directions and culminate in a peak that towers steeply above its surrounding landscape and is a dominant feature when viewed from afar.
She climbed at around 1:15 pm on 30th Sept 2022 and become the second Indian woman to achieve this feat. She started camp 3 at 9 pm for the summit. There were strong winds at camp 4 so she decided to stop for some time at camp 4 with her sherpas. They left from camp 4 at around 6 am on 30th Sept and reached the true summit at 1:15 pm. This is her 2nd expedition to any 8000er peak without Oxygen. The first one was Mt. Everest in May 2022 where she reached 8749 meters without supplementary oxygen. She was the 1st Indian woman to reach the south summit (8748m) without supplementary oxygen.
This year Mt. Manaslu has been marred by avalanches. The weather has been very unpredictable this year and it snowed heavily in the higher camps. There were 3 avalanches while Asmita was preparing for the climb at the base camp. The avalanches at Mt Manaslu have already claimed 2 lives this season and injured many others, which includes a renowned sherpa and a skier.
Manaslu is considered to be a very technical climb with a long and dangerous sharp corniced ridge to the true summit. Proper acclimatization and weather forecast plays a major role for climbers for a successful expedition to Mt. Manaslu. Due to the bad weather and multiple avalanches spread across the summit window, many climbers had to return back from advanced camps and cancel their plans to summit this season.
Chanakya Chaudhary, Chairman, Tata Steel Adventure Foundation & Vice President (Corporate Services), Tata Steel, said “We are delighted that our very own Asmita Dorje conquered Mt Manaslu (8163m) without supplementary oxygen. This attempt was an ultimate showcase of human endurance and the indomitable spirit of the Indian woman. The successful ascent of Mt Manaslu will boost Asmita’s preparation and motivate her for the ultimate challenge of climbing Mt Everest (8849m) without supplementary Oxygen where she previously reached the height of 8749m in May this year. The Foundation, through its unique proposition and sustained endeavours, will continue to promote adventure sports in the country and inspire generations”
Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) is very supportive of its staff and offers opportunities for different mountaineering expeditions. 8 of its employees have summited Mt Everest and now work in different capacities in their Outdoor Leadership Development Courses (OLDC) for individuals and employees. These OLDC can be customized and is a learning and development intervention to help organizations address its training needs. TSAF uses outdoors and adventure as a tool to help develop leadership potential, a wide spectrum of soft skills and facilitate personal growth through experiential learning.
