Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and two of her Nepali climbing partners– Pasdawa and Dawa Ongju Sherpa—have stood atop 12 mountains in 147 days. Their target was to scale all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters within 161 days to smash the record of famed climber Nirmal Purja aka Nimsdai.
Kristin and her partners were on track so far to break or equal the record. The challenge for her now has been getting a visa from China along with climbing permits for two mountains above 8,000 meters—Cho Oyu and Shishapangma. Her expedition agency, 8K Expeditions and the Norwegian government, are doing their best to secure visa and climbing permits. So far there is no response from China.
To achieve her target Kristin now plans to climb Cho Oyu from the Nepal side. Cho Oyu, which straddles Nepal and China, remains unclimbed from Nepal side in recent years as climbers failed to fix the route to the summit. Kristin wants to prove her mountaineering skill by climbing Cho Oyu from the Nepal side.
“As soon as the weather gets better here now, we will fly to Cho Oyu base camp and climb it from the Nepal side,” Kristin, who is taking rest in Kathmandu for two weeks after successful Manaslu summit, wrote on her Facebook page adding, “Hopefully moving in a day or two.”
Several climbers had abandoned this season’s Manaslu expedition. Harila and her climbing partners were successful to reach the real summit despite continuous snowfall and avalanches early in the season.
Reaching the Cho Oyu summit from the Nepal side is not an easy task. In February this year, two Nepali teams attempted to scale the mountain. A team of Nepali climbers led by Gelje Sherpa was forced to retreat after reaching an altitude of 7,560 meters on the Southeast ridge of Cho Oyu due to deteriorating weather conditions.
Another team led by Mingma Dorchi Sherpa also had to retreat from 7,200 m after storing rations for a final push around February 27, according to Nivesh Karki, the manager of the team.
Nepali climbers have been working hard to explore routes to the world’s sixth highest peak through the Nepal side to attract more aspiring climbers to attempt the peak via Nepal, bringing more jobs and revenues to the country.
Considered one of the easiest 8,000 m peaks to climb from Tibetan side, Cho Oyu (8,188-meters) attracts hundreds of climbers every year. Since the peak was first climbed in 1954, almost all expeditions have been done from the northwest face in Tibet. Nepal’s Department of Tourism lists only fourteen successful summits from the Nepal side.
Even if Kristin succeeds in climbing Cho Oyu from the Nepal side, she will have to obtain visa and climbing permits from China to climb the last remaining mountain, Shishapangma.
