Who is Manaslu?
Manaslu (; Nepali: मनास्लु, also known as Kutang) 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 west-central Nepal. Manaslu means "mountain of the spirit" and the word is derived from the Sanskrit word manasa, meaning "intellect" or "soul". Manaslu was first climbed on May 9, 1956, by Toshio Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu, members of a Japanese expedition. It is said that, given the many unsuccessful attempts by the British to climb Everest before Nepali Tenzing Norgay and New Zealander Edmund Hillary, "just as the British consider Everest their mountain, Manaslu has always been a Japanese mountain". Manaslu is the highest peak in the Gorkha District and is about 64 km (40 mi) east of Annapurna, the tenth highest mountain in the world at 8,091 metres (26,545 ft) above sea. Manaslu's long ridges and valley glaciers offer feasible approaches from all directions and culmin...