Manaslu: A Trekker's Guide

The Manaslu trek is one of the finest and most scenically spectacular in Nepal. At 198km it is long, wilder and remoter than Everest and Annapurna treks, and needs about three weeks. Also covers Thonje to Jomosom (Manang area) via the Thorong La and exit to Pokhara via Bagnes Tal.

Mandala Trekking Maps of Kathmandu

Latest Trekking Map Series: Sheet Kathmandu to Manaslu Ganesh Himal (1:125,000)

Notes on the maps

‘It is quite understandable when a trekker gets the name of a mountain or village wrong, because even the maps can’t agree about those!’
(Bill O’Connor – Adventure Treks in Nepal)

Although Nepal was surveyed between 1924 and 1927 by a clandestine team working for the Survey of India, there are no strictly accurate maps for the Manaslu region currently available, but the dyeline sheet produced by Mandala Trekking Maps of Kathmandu in the series entitled ‘Latest Trekking Map’ (sheet Kathmandu to Manaslu Ganesh Himal, with a scale of 1:125,000) will be found useful enough – until it comes to identifying peaks, that is, a number of which are missing. Mandala maps are the most commonly used among trekkers in Nepal, despite howling inaccuracies, since they are readily available in Kathmandu and there are sheets to cover practically all the Himalayan regions within the country. On the above-named sheet contour lines are marked at 100 metre intervals, so it’s difficult to gain a true impression of the country you’re trekking through. Not all villages are shown, and a number that are have been given different names to those by which they are known by local people. The trail followed by the Manaslu Circuit described in this guide is represented fairly accurately, although not entirely, but the most frustrating omission is that of several notable peaks in the high country north of Manaslu itself.

Mandala Maps (not the same as Mandala Trekking Maps mentioned above) have a single sheet which more or less shows the circuit described in this book. Manaslu Ganesh Himal is drawn to a scale of 1:150,000, with contours at 250 metre intervals. It too contains numerous inaccuracies, and the contours are pretty ineffective. As with the above-named map, this sheet marks with the same symbol as a village or township a number of sites which may once have had local significance, but today exist only in imagination.

Pilgrims Book House also produces outline trekking maps under the heading ‘Namaste’. That which covers this particular trek has been especially drawn by Bob Gibbons, a much-travelled trek leader with many years experience of Nepal’s classic trails behind him. Entitled Manaslu, this is also drawn at a scale of 1:125,000, while Nepa Maps (the brand name of Himalayan Maphouse Pvt Ltd of Kathmandu) produce the most colourful series of maps under the sub-heading ‘For Extreme and Soft Trekking’. Drawn by Paolo Gondoni the sheet for Manaslu is also produced at a scale of 1:125,000 with 250 metre contours. It spreads east of the Buri Gandaki to include the Ganesh Himal, but barely squeezes the Marsyangdi at its western limit. With symbols denoting campsites, gompas, bivouac caves and villages with overnight accommodation, and with notes attached containing extraneous pieces of information, this is to date the most useful, if not entirely accurate, map available for this trek.

If you cannot obtain any of the above sheets before leaving home, they are easily found in Kathmandu.