Cho Oyu Expedition - 46 days

Trip Information

Cho Oyu (Cho Oyu Expedition 2013) is the sixth highest mountain in the world at 8,201 metres (26,906 ft) above sea level. Cho Oyu lies in the Himalayas and is 20 km west of Mount Everest, at the border between China and Nepal. Cho Oyu means "Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan.

Cho Oyu was first attempted in 1952 by an expedition organised and financed by the Joint Himalayan Committee of Great Britain as preparation for an attempt on Mount Everest the following year. Cho Oyu Expedition was led by Eric Shipton and included Edmund Hillary & Tom Bourdillon. A foray by Hillary and George Lowe was stopped due to technical difficulties and avalanche danger at an ice cliff above 6,650 m (21,820 ft) and a report of Chinese troops a short distance across the border influenced Shipton to retreat from the mountain rather than continue to attempt to summit.

The mountain was first climbed on October 19, 1954, via the north-west ridge by Herbert Tichy, Joseph Jöchler and Sherpa Pasang Dawa Lama of an Austrian expedition.

Just a few kilometres west of Cho Oyu is Nangpa La (5,716m/18,753 ft), a glaciated pass that serves as the main trading route between the Tibetans and the Khumbu's Sherpas. Due to its proximity to this pass and the generally moderate slopes of the standard northwest ridge route, some climbers consider Cho Oyu summit to be the easiest 8,000 metre peak to climb, and it is a popular objective for professionally guided parties. Cho Oyu Climbing is the best time is September, October and April May.

Advanced Base Camp (Cho Oyu Basecamp) it is several hours of tough walking on a vague path over moraine-covered glacier to the start of the mountain proper. After a short, steep climb is Lake Camp (Camp 1/2: 6065m) where we have a tent to store gear. Camp 1 is an hour or two up the steep scree slope, which improves the higher you climb.

Cho Oyu Camp 1 is either perched more or less on the ridge at 6430m and the real mountaineering begins from here. The ridge is soft, so easy enough climbing, then it broadens out and we climb successive huge steps, several of which probably require fixing a rope up. We will fix a new rope in co-operation with other expeditions on the mountain. Normally one rope is used for ascent and another for descent. Although the route is crevassed, normally these pose no problems.

cho oyu Camp 2 is on the edge of a large plateau at 7130m although we will carefully assess where to put it. For our summit attempt we will establish a light Camp 3 across the plateau and up on a minor ridge at 7560m. Above Camp 3 are two rock steps where we fix another set of ropes prior to our summit bid.

cho oyu Summit day: Above the rock bands the slopes are still reasonably steep and we may take a line to fix there, depending on conditions. However once on the crest of this ridge the terrain is straightforward although it is a long haul to the summit plateau. The panorama is breathtakingly magnificent, including Everest 8848m, Lhotse 8501m, Nuptse 7855m, Chamlang 7319m, Ama Dablam 6812m and other peaks of the Khumbu region to the east and south. To the west are the Melungtse and Gauri Sankar massifs and to the north is pure Tibet. It is normal to descend to Camp 2 and from here the big job of clearing the mountain begins.

Note: please do not book the cho oyu from Tibet site, because china government has closed permit.