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AFTER conquering the world's highest peak, one would think Sergeant Brian "Henri" Laursen would have been entitled to a well-deserved rest.

But just over a year after he reached the summit of Mt Everest (8850m) in May 2001, SGT Laursen added another imposing Himalayan peak to his list of achievements, becoming one of the first Australians to climb the 8163m Mt Manaslu.

An Alpine Association (AAA) climber, SGT Laursen, along with fellow AAA member Dr Andrew Peacock and two others, Greg Mortimer and Geoff Robb, reached the summit of Manaslu on May 13.

Located in central Nepal, Manaslu is the eighth highest mountain in the world and, according to SGT Laursen, enjoys a less than popular reputation with climbers.

"Manaslu hasn't got a good history as far as accidents go," SGT Laursen said.

Indeed, only eight people have successfully made the trek in the past two years.

"There aren't many expeditions there because of the serious avalanche hazard."

In 1972, a team of 15 Korean climbers was lost on the mountain following a severe avalanche, and this hazard was constantly in the back of SGT Laursen's mind during his month on the mountain.

Derived from Sankrit, the name "Manslu" means "Mountain of the Spirit", and SGT Laursen and his team showed plenty of spirit to overcome other hardships they faced on the climb.

Apart from the threat of avalanches, SGT Laursen and his team had to contend with some atrocious weather conditions, particularly at the beginning of their expedition.

At base camp 1, the party was "smashed" by a severe storm that lasted for more than two days. Braving 120km/h winds and minus18C temperatures, they took it in turns to emerge from their tents every two hours to shovel snow that threatened to bury them.

"It was a very uncomfortable couple of days," SGT Laursen recalled.

But as uncomfortable as the experience was, it's that sort of physical challenge that fuels his desire to continue climbing.

"It's hard to explain, but to be in that kind of environment makes you feel really alive," he said. "It certainly shows how small and insignificant we are."

SGT Laursen has spent the best part of a decade scaling some of the tallest peaks in Asia, Russia, France and America.

His latest achievement means he has climbed four of the 14 peaks in the world higher than 8000m.

In addition to Everest and Manaslu, during the past three years he has also reached the summits of Mt Shishapangma (8046m) and Mt Cho Oio (8201), both in the Himalayas.

Although eager to have a break, SGT Laursen has plans in the pipeline to climb Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America in the not-too-distant future.

"Either that or I'll do some ice climbing in Canada," he said.

By Ben Caddaye and
FLTLT James Allen