Everest mountaineer Kenton Cool arrived in Kathmandu yesterday ahead of his 6 week expedition to Mount Manaslu in Nepal.

At 8,163 metres high, this remote mountain in Western Nepal is the 8th highest mountain in the world.  Kenton's plan is to lead a small team of five to the summit of Manaslu.  After leading his team back down the mountain he will then head back up to the summit in order to make a record breaking ski descent of the peak.

Manaslu at sunrise

In 2006, Kenton became the first Briton to ski down from the summit of an 8000 metre peak when he skied completly solo and unaided from the summit of Cho Oyu in Tibet.  Any mountain above 8000 metres is firmly in the 'death zone', an an area where there is so little oxygen that life cannot be sustained.  If he is successful in his attempt to ski from the summit of Manaslu, then he will become the first Briton to have made two successful ski descents from above 8000 metres.

“I’m extremley excited to be using skis once again in the high Himalaya, the mountian looks beautiful from all the photos, so just being there will be amazing but to ski down this majestic peak will be simply epic!!”

After summiting Everest for the 8th time this May, we feel pretty sure that Kenton's latest expedition will be a success.  We'll keep you posted!