On Monday, six seasoned Nepali guides from Pioneer Adventures made their way to Camp III of Mount Cho Oyu (8,188m) from Nepal side amidst prolonged bad weather in the Himalayas. They reached the elevation of about 7100m.
As they were planning to head out to Camp IV (about 7,450m) after a rest, the weather started deteriorating dramatically. On Tuesday, a major avalanche occurred right below Camp II (6,800m) sweeping away the fixed rope that the team had laid. On Thursday, another avalanche hit the Advance High Camp (5,700m) that swept away five tents, oxygen cylinders and climbing equipment of four of the guides.
This has further delayed the mission to open route to the summit of Cho Oyu from Nepal side. This is the second attempt of route exploration by Nepali mountaineers. A total of 16 Nepali guides are currently at Cho Oyu for the endeavour.
On February this year, a team of 10 Sherpa guides led by Mingma Dorchi Sherpa of Pioneer Adventure had explored the route up to 7,770 m from Thame side, while renowned guide Gelje Sherpa from Seven Summit Treks had led another team of 10 climbers from Gokyo side. They had reached up to 7,900m.
Both teams were forced to retreat due to bad weather. They planned to join forces and continue the exploration jointly but by that time their winter season permit had expired.
Now this autumn, Pioneer Adventure has again taken the lead in fixing the rope to the summit. The local Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality has also supported the mission by providing four climbing guides. Seven Summit Treks is also supporting the exploration.
“We have put together a strong team of seasoned summiteers and this is the route that the team had broken in winter. So, we are hopeful about the route opening this time,” Nivesh Karki, Executive Director and Co-founder of the Pioneer Adventure told Everest Chronicle.
Among the team members are record holder Sanu Sherpa, who summited 14 eight-thousanders twice and Pioneer Adventure owner Mingma Dorchi Sherpa, who holds record of the fastest summit to Everest and Lhotse in 6 hours and 1 minute. All 16 guides are seasoned eight-thousand climbers and Everest summitters.
“The buzz about commercial expedition of Mount Cho Oyu from Nepal side gained momentum after China closed its border due to the pandemic. This is a route desired by many, but there has not been an attempt in the past. We took the initiative as government showed no visible action towards opening the route, which, if we succeed, is going to contribute to national economy,” said Mingma Dorchi.
According to Himalayan Database, there have been 4,047 summits until 2022, making it the second most climbed eight thousander in the Himalayas. Of them, barely 135 summits happened from the Nepal side. However, the Department of Tourism has record of only 14 climbers, who summited the peak from the south east ridge of the peak from Nepal side between 1984 to 2018.
The team will continue with the exploration and rope fixing task despite bad weather. “This is not just about our clients, but about historic task of opening expedition route from Nepal side for all mountaineers and companies,” said Nivesh.
He said that the company has already restocked all the equipment that was lost in the avalanche immediately afterwards so that there is no lagging in the mission due to lack of equipment.
The Department of Tourism has issued 11 climbing permits for Cho Oyu for the autumn season so far. The number of aspirant climbers could rise significantly if the route is opened, tourism entrepreneurs say.
Gelje Sherpa is guiding three female climbers in Cho Oyu for Seven Summit Treks -Norwegian climber Kristin Harila, British Climber Adriana Brownlee and Polish climber Dorota Lidia. All three wants to summit 14 eight-thousanders for record. Photographer Sandro Gormen Hayes, who is filming Kristin, will also be in the team. Tenging Gyaljen Sherpa and Pasang Norbu Sherpa will be assisting Gelje.
Kristin wants to summit all 14 eight-thousanders in six months, while Adriana wants to become the youngest climber to summit all 14 peaks above 8,000m. Cho Oyu will be Kristin’s 13th and Adriana’s 12th 8000er peak.
Mount Cho Oyu is going to be Gelje’s 14th and final 8000er peak. If he succeeds in scaling Cho Oyu this season, he will be the youngest to join the 14 peaks club at 29 years old. Mingma Gyabu Sherpa aka Mingma David currently holds the record of the youngest 14 peak record holder which he did at 30 years and 166 days. Gelje has already summited 8 eight-thousanders twice. “I will try to scale Mount Cho Oyu twice for my goal to summit all 14 peaks above 8,000m twice,” he told Everest Chronicle.
Although Gelje was a prominent leader of Cho Oyu route exploration last winter, he hasn’t led the initiative this season. “I have not been able to pay back some of the loan I took for route exploration in winter,” Gelje shares about his reasons for choosing to stay behind.
“I also lost four of my closest friends, who were like my siblings in the last month. It was my late friend Ashok Rai, who encouraged me to pursue 14 peak summits and prompted to explore route to the summit of Cho Oyu from Nepal side,”, Gelje added.
Ashok was coordinating Gelje’s team in winter. Ashok was also the base camp coordinator while the all-Nepali team including Gelje summited K2 in winter. Ashok perished in a fire that broke out in the office of Elite Exped in Kathmandu last month along with Karsang Tenjing Sherpa and Tsewang Sherpa. All three were close friends of Gelje and belonged to the tight knit mountaineering community of Nepal. Another close friend of Gelje, renowned guide Dawa Chhiring Sherpa was killed in an avalanche in Manaslu recently. Gelje retrieved his body from the mountain.
Despite his personal and financial losses, Gelje is again back at the mountain with an iron resilience typical of him.
“I am taking Liverpool jersey to the summit of Mount Cho Oyu to honor Ashok’s wish. He was a huge fan of Liverpool club,” said Gelje. “The Cho Oyu mission will be successful if we get even the briefest good weather window,”, he added optimistically.
