Trip Reports

Cho Oyu 2013

Cho Oyu
Trip Report

Written by Leader Tim Calder, October 2013

From Kathmandu to Chinese Base Camp
The team arrived in the Summit Hotel, Kathmandu, on 8 September to a warm reception from our local crew and hotel staff. We were greeted with a small ceremony to bless our trip, which consisted of a garland of flowers, a boiled egg and a glass of very strong local spirit. After settling into our rooms and taking a much needed shower the group were briefed, and it felt like the expedition had finally started.

The next morning it was off to the border town of Kodari along some very interesting roads through verdant mixed jungle and subsistence farms. The road literally drops out of the Kathmandu valley and descends to around 600m [the height of the Indian Plains] before winding its ways up narrow gorges to the border.

Most of the team - Paul, Mary, Chris, Mike, Robert and Ron - had been to Nepal before but for Andy, new to Nepal and a very exuberant character, everything was “outstanding!” The next few days were spent driving gradually towards Chinese Base Camp and acclimatising in Tibetan towns. We were also trying our best to “acclimatise” to traditional Chinese food, and were constantly surprised at the standard of accommodation now available in Tibet (some good surprises and some not!).

The highlight of this part of the trip is always the ascent of the Crystal Fort at Xegar Dzong. This is a monastery built on top of a very pointed fairy tale shaped hill with a fort atop.

15 September, Arrive Chinese Base Camp
It was good to eventually spend our first night under canvas. We finally felt like we were in the mountains and approaching the mountain we had come to climb. Cho Oyu loomed white and majestic over our campsite.

A few days acclimatising and the team, accompanied by unruly and unwilling yaks, headed towards interim camp. We had been very lucky with the weather so far, as it had been unseasonally warm. But the nights were getting colder. The altitude really starts to take effect from here on upwards and not everyone slept as well as they normally do.

19 September, Arrive ABC
It was good to get into Advanced Base Camp. The walk had been pretty tiring but the views were amazing. Our objective was at last in our sights. The view of the mountain is very daunting. If you look at the route as a whole it seems immense, but when broken down into camps it looks more doable. Tomorrow would be the ‘Puja’. This is the ceremony where we ask the mountain deity for permission to walk upon her slopes and for forgiveness that we will pollute her by just being there. The Sherpas will not head up the mountain until this has been carried out.

The first trip up to camp1 is always hard. The scree slope can be a case of 2 steps forward and 1 step back. This is hard at sea level but at 6,000m can be very frustrating. Most of the group looked somewhere between ‘pretty tired’ and ‘exhausted’. If the trek up to camp 1 is hard then getting a good night at the camp is even harder. Thankfully everyone had had a reasonable night on the mountain and looked almost fresh the next morning. It is all relative!

Things were moving pretty fast on the mountain with the fixed ropes going in above camp 3 so we had to ramp up the acclimatisation process. This was also dictated by the prospect of 2 potentially good weather windows: one around the 27 September and one around the 2 October. Many expeditions consist of large amounts of time sat at base camp. Not this one. It felt like as soon as we were back in base camp it was time to head back up again. This time we headed up to Camp 1 for 2 nights, during which time we would climb half way up to camp 2 and tackle the serac. This is a large icecliff that bars the way to camp 2. Many years it can be fairly vertical but this year it was pretty straightforward.

These couple of nights at camp 1 had been pretty tiring and the group were hoping for a few days rest when we arrived back in Base Camp but as with any expedition the weather dictates.

30 September Weather Report
The nights of 2nd and 3 October were looking really good for a summit attempt. Very little wind was forecast, with much snow expected after that date.

1 October, Back up to Camp 1
Is this hill getting harder or are we just moving quicker? A bit of both perhaps. Everyone feels pretty good at Camp 1 this time. The other 3 nights spent here have really paid off.

2 October. The group reaches camp 2 in really good time. It has been a hard climb though. I phoned the office in Sheffield to get the weather forecast from Matt. Tomorrow night looks better than tonight. Great! We can rest tomorrow and hydrate.

3 October.
2130. The weather is not looking good. Light snow but fairly strong wind.
2230. Heavy snow and little wind.
0030. Absolute whiteout and freezing.

Pasang, the Sirdar, and I checked the conditions until 0230 that morning, but with no improvement the hard call was made to cancel the summit attempt. It is always a very hard call to make but in marginal conditions with snow accumulating by the hour there was only one choice.

The team descended the next morning in a melancholy state but all seemed very accepting. The ensuing rescue operations of a team that had chosen to go when we had chosen not to take the risk made everyone realise the potential risk of a bad decision up at 8,000m.

The team were all back in ABC by dark, tired but glad to be off of the mountain. The headlamps of the other team could still be seem above the serac well into the night…..

Another chance?
The weather was looking good again for 7/8 October. But instead 3 days of snow at ABC and the weather was getting much colder. The snow conditions had not be great when we descended from camp 2 to camp 1 and now with this extra snow it was assessed to be unacceptable. The expedition was off.

Another team had arrived whilst we were resting in ABC. We informed them of the conditions on the mountain but they chose to head up the mountain. Later we heard that they set off an avalanche below camp 3 but were all OK. The next day, on their summit bid, they were avalanched above camp 3. Once again they were lucky but it was a very close call. We heard that they called off the their attempt after that. By this time we were in Kathmandu having a few beers to celebrate a successful expedition. We had not summited but were all back safe and sound. The first rule of a successful expedition had been fulfilled! « | Next report »

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