A strong gale on the mountain forced Nepali Sherpa guides to retreat from 7,300 m at Mount Cho Oyu thwarting their mission to open a commercial expedition of the world’s sixth highest peak from Nepal side, expedition organizer said.

"We decided to end the exploration for safety reason, as there is no good weather ahead," Pasang Tenje Sherpa, Chairman and Co-founder of expedition organizer Pioneer Adventure, told Everest Chronicle.

According to him, there has been constant wind with speed above 70 km per hour throughout the week. The climbers had decided to proceed even if the wind speed lowered to 50 kmh, but it never subsided below 60 kmh. 

"It is extremely risky to attempt to climb on rocky face of the mountain in such a condition. Climbing mountain is like walking on the edge of a sword. We can't risk life knowing the danger ahead," Pasang Tenje said.

This is the second attempt by Pioneer Adventure to explore the Cho Oyu route. On February of this year, Mingma Dorchi Sherpa, one of the co-founders of the outfitter, had led a team of 10 guides to explore the route to the summit of Mount Cho Oyu from Thame side. They had reached 7,770m. 

Mingma again led a team of 16 guides in the mission to open route to Mount Cho Oyu following the same route this October, but the team was forced to retreat before reaching Camp IV. The team waited a week at Camp III before heading to Camp IV. The weather did not improve. “Weather beat us this time too. Otherwise, we could have done it already,” said Pasang. 

Gelje Sherpa, who was guiding two record chasing climbers Norwegian Kristin Harila and British Adriana Brownlee, said they decided to turn around from Camp III. "Weather is clear but the wind speed is extremely dangerous. So, we decided to come down," he told Everest Chronicle from the Base Camp 

Seven clients -- four members of Pioneer Adventure and three members of Seven Summit Treks-- had reached Camp III, while the rope fixing team reached upto 7,300m of the mountain.

Gelje, Kristina and Adriana have been chasing records. Mount Cho Oyu is the only peak left for Gelje to join the 14 peaks club. When he does, he will become the youngest climber to summit all 14 peaks above 8,000m at the age of 29. 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

Adriana wants to become the youngest climber to summit all 14 eight-thousanders. She has Mount Shishapangma, Cho Oyu and Gasherbrum I and II left to climb. Kristina is on a mission to become the fastest climber to scale all 14 peaks above 8,000m within six months. The trio were right behind the rope fixing team to summit Mount Cho Oyu. 

On February, Gelje too had led another team of 10 climbers from Gokyo side and reached up to 7,900m before retreat. This time, he had to return from 7,100m due to weather. He did not put together an exploring team this autumn, as he has not paid off all the debts he incurred during the previous exploration. “I will have to scale Mount Cho Oyu in five months to make the record,” he says. 

As it does not seem possible to scale Cho Oyu from Nepal side, he and other aspirants will have to get a permit from China to climb it from Tibet side. The mountain has remained closed for foreign climbers since outbreak of Covid from Tibetan side. Chinese government has not yet granted permit to these record chasing climbers to attempt Shishapangma and Cho Oyu.