Manaslu, which means "Mountain of the Spirit", also known as Kutang, or Pung-Gyen (The Bracelet), the eighth highest mountain in the world (8,156m), is located in the Mansiri Himal, in the northern Himalayan range, in the west-central part of Nepal. 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. It was first climbed on May 9, 1956 by Toshio Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu, members of a Japanese expedition. It is said that "just as the British consider Everest their mountain, Manaslu has always been a Japanese mountain". Until May 2008, the mountain has been climbed 297 times with 53 fatalities.
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