Manaslu'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.

[13] Set in the northern Himalayan range in the Gorkha District of Nepal, Manaslu is a serrated "wall of snow and ice hanging in the sky".

"[13] Manaslu Himal, as it is popularly known among trekkers, provides views of the snow-covered mountains of the Himalayas and allows close interaction with the different ethnic groups who live in hill villages scattered along the trek route.

[16] The region, which is also termed the Manaslu Conservation Area, comprises sub-tropical Himalayan foothills to arid Trans-Himalayan high pastures bordering Tibet.

The peak is bounded on the east by the Ganesh Himal and the Buri Gandaki River gorge, on the west by the deep fissures of the Marysyangdi Khola with its Annapurna range of hills, and to the south is the Gorkha town at the foot of the hill (from where trekking operates during the season), which is an aerial distance of 48 kilometres (30 mi) to the peak.

The area is now an important habitat for the snow leopard, grey wolf, musk deer, blue sheep, and the Himalayan tahr.

The valley basin has a rich ecotone diversity and includes nineteen different types of forests, most prominently rhododendron, and also Himalayan blue pine, which is flanked by Ganesh Himal and the Sringi ranges.

In the central hills of the region, Gurungs are the main ethnic group who have joined the Brigade of Gurkhas in large numbers.

Closer to Tibet, the Bhutias (also spelled Bhotias), akin to the Sherpa group, of Tibetan ethnicity dominate the scene as can be discerned from their flat-roofed houses, and they are distinctly Buddhists.

Three months later, after their aborted trip to Annapurna IV, Tilman, accompanied by Major J. O. M. Roberts, trekked to Larkya La pass and from there saw Manaslu and its plateau and concluded that there was a direct route to the summit, although they did not make an attempt on it.

[21] After the reconnaissance visit by Tilman, there were four Japanese expeditions between 1950 and 1955 that explored the possibility of climbing Manaslu by the north and east faces.

In the following year (1953), a team of 15 climbers led by Y. Mita, after setting up base camp at Samagaon, attempted to climb via the east side but failed to reach the summit.

In this first attempt by a Japanese team to summit via the northeast face, three climbers reached a height of 7,750 metres (25,430 ft), before turning back.

[23] In 1954, a Japanese team approaching the Buri Gandaki route to the peak faced a hostile group of villagers at Samagaon camp.

The villagers thought that the previous expeditions had displeased the gods, causing the avalanches that destroyed the Pung-gyen Monastery and the death of 18 people.

[4] In 1956, David Snellgrove, a noted scholar in Tibetan culture and religion, undertook a seven-month sojourn of mid-west and central Nepal.

On April 10, an avalanche buried their camp at 6,500 metres (21,300 ft), killing fifteen climbers including ten Sherpas and the Korean expedition leader Kim Ho-sup,[27] and Kazunari Yasuhisa from Japan.

[11] The first Japanese women expedition led by Kyoko Sato was successful on May 4, 1974,[28] when all members reached the summit after a failed attempt from the east ridge.

[11] In the pre-monsoon period of 1980, a South Korean team led by Li In-jung reached the summit via the normal route, which was the eighth ascent to the peak.

[22] On November 9, 1986, Jerzy Kukuczka, Artur Hajzer, and Carlos Carsolio made the first climb of the east summit (7894 m) of Manaslu.

[35] On May 22, 2001, a three-member team of Ukraine Himalaya 2001 Expedition comprising Serguiy Kovalov, Vadim Leontiev and Vladislav Terzyul successfully summited Manaslu via the challenging south-east face; all climbed without oxygen support.

[36] On May 13, 2002, five Americans, Tom Fitzsimmons, Jerome Delvin, Michael McGuffin, Dan Percival and Brian Sato and two Sherpas reached the summit.

However, Dariusz Zaluski, Anna Czerwinska and Barbara Drousek, who started the climb after Piotr and Krzysztof, had to turn back due to strong winds and bad weather.

[39] On December 1, 2006, former Formula 1 driver Ukyo Katayama achieved his lifetime ambition of climbing Manaslu, after a prior unsuccessful attempt in 2004.

[46][47] On the morning of September 26, 2022, an avalanche struck the route 24,000 ft., just below Camp IV at Mount Manaslu, enveloping 13 climbers which also killed Nepali guide Anup Rai.

[49] On September 28 her body was located above the Thulagi glacier on the south-west face of Mount Manaslu and was flown to Kathmandu by rescuers.

[56] In 2021, an investigation by a team of international experts reported in the American Alpine Journal that the vast majority of climbers who claimed to have summited Manaslu had not in fact stood on the true peak.

Further from Lhogaon (Lho), an impressive view of Manaslu, with its double peak, appears described as "a soaring monarch with a double-edged summit towering above fields of barley.

One is on the Annapurna Circuit trail but leaves it at Dharapani to reach Manang, crossing Thorong La and Jomsom (Kali Gandaki valley).

People add Tsum Valley and the Ganesh Himal Base Camp as acclimatization trips before going on expeditions through the high passes.