TWO CLIMBERS FROM THE ANDALUCIA WOMEN’S EXPEDITION 2009 CONQUER THE
SUMMIT OF MANASLU

Tamara Romero and Inma Garrido concluded with success the first Andalucian ascent of this ‘eight-thousand’ of the Himayalas

At 9:30, Nepal time, two Andalucian climbers of the Andalucia Women’s Expedition reached the 8,163 meters of the summit of Manaslu.  The first of the Andalucian climbers to make it to the summit of this mountain of the Himalayas is Tamara Romero and then the chief of the expedition, Inma Garrido made it to become the first Andalucians who reach this summit, the eight highest in the world, that had never been climbed by anyone from Andalucia.

Hence, a hit in the history of Andalucian mountain climbing has been
made and a new ‘eight-thousand’ for Andalucian mountain climbing,
which was made by female climbers.  Both climbers reached their first eight-thousand summit.

From Nepal, the members of the expedition, in a telephone conversation with liaisons in Andalucia wanted to “send our loving embrace to Ana María Gómez, the teammate who had to return to Andalucia during the acclimatization phase because of medical problems, and to Lina Quesada who stayed today at camp 4 because of slight breathing problems, that forced her to avoid any altitude gain.  And also our thanks to Manuel González ‘Lolo’ who made it to the summit with our female climbers, and to Miguel López ‘the doctor’.  Thanks both for their fundamental
support of this achievement for Andalucian female sport.

The Expedition started early last April and after a hard approach to
the mountain, they suffered a little delay because of strong wind and snowfalls, weather difficulties that frustrated a first attempt on May 8 and the return home for Ana because of hemorrhage in her left eye, which is recovering nicely.  The ascent route they used is on the Northeast face, a path through the North Peak glacier full of
difficulties, crevasses and the danger of avalanches in which the
Andalucian mountain climbers installed four high altitude camps.

The route is on the Northeast face, where the Japanese route passes. The difficulties of this itinerary are located between 5,500 m and 6,500 m of altitude, Camp I (5,600 m) is installed once above the Naike Col (a very twisted one among crevasses and seracs).  After a seracs cascade of more than 70° of inclination and between 30 and 40 meters high, the North Col is reached, where Camp II (6,900/7000 m) is installed.  At the end of the plateau of this wide Col, there is a ramp with an altitude difference of 1,000m, with an inclination of between 40° and 45° that ends in the ridge that leads to the summit. The end of the ramp is the location of Camp III, around 7,600 m.  From here the ascen is without much technical difficulties but with the dangers of high altitude, disorientation and the strong winds that blow in Manaslu.

The ‘Andalucia Women’s Expedition 08/09’ was divided in two parts in
2008 to reach the summits of Baruntse (7,200 m) and Mera Peak (6,476 m) and now the success of the conquest of Manaslu, with the objective of stimulating female mountain climbing, giving the opportunity to Andalucian women to participate in high level projects, and support female practice in the different disciplines as a vehicle to integration and equal opportunity.

The sponsorship of Consejería de Turismo, Comercio y Deporte to this project was of 45.000 € in 2008 and 80.000 € in 2009.  The Women’s Expedition is also supported by Deportes Sherpa from Granada, ATV Andaluza de Trabajos Verticales, Infosport and Isdin.


            Satellite Telephone 00 88 21 650196591 ( +5:45 hours).
            Recommended Spain time from 13.00 to 16.00 hours

            CONTACT WITH THE CLIMBERS:
            CHIEF OF THE EXPEDITION.  Inma Garrido (Jaén), 606 168081
            Tamara Romero (Granada), 629 278770
            Lina Quesada (Sevilla) 676 443575
            Ana María Gómez (Málaga) 649 938879
 

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