The name «Manaslu» is derived from the Sanskrit word Manasa roughly translated as «Mountain of the Spirit». The Japanese made the first successful ascent in 1956 on the Northeast face; this is considered the normal route nowadays. In 1971 Japanese were also responsible for the 2nd successful attempt, this time on the difficult Northwest spur and finally in 1974 the first all-female expedition was successful on an 8000m. mountain, Japanese again! The Japanese were obviously drawn to the magic of this mountain! Nevertheless, in 1981 a German/Swiss expedition was successful in the attempt to ski down from 8125m.