Cho Oyu is the sixth highest mountain in the world, at 8,188 metres above sea level. It lies 20 km west of Everest and straddles the border between Tibet and Nepal. I have already written briefly about the history of climbing this mountain, but today I will look at the Tibetan climbing route of the “Turquoise Goddess”.
Cho Oyu has several climbing routes, including from the south (Nepalese) and north (Tibetan) sides of the peak. The conventional route ascends from the northwestern side of Tibet. Fewer than 100 people have summited Cho Oyu by alternative routes.
Several teams have already reached the summit this autumn after China reopened Cho Oyu to foreign climbers, but climbers must adhere to strict rules: above 7,000 metres they must use bottled oxygen and are not allowed to climb alone.
There will be one Russian team climbing from the south side this fall.
Climbing from Camp 1 to Camp 2 on the Tibetan side of Cho Oyu. Photo: Tony Van Marken
Nampa La Pass
Nangpa La (5,716 m) is a high mountain pass on the Nepal-Tibet border, a few kilometres west of Cho Oyu. The route along the Nangpa La was a traditional trading and pilgrimage route. In the spring of 1951, a joint British and New Zealand party led by Eric Shipton crossed the pass but did not attempt to climb it.
A year later, a team including Shipton and Sir Edmund Hillary returned, reaching 6,800 metres on the first attempt to scale Cho Oyu.
The peaks of Nangpa La and Cho Oyu are marked in red. Photo: Himalaya-info.org
First Ascent
Cho Oyu was first summited on 19 October 1954 by an Austrian party led by Herbert Titchie, who approached via Nangpa La and ascended from the northwest face. Herbert Titchie, Sepp Jechler and Pasang Dawa Sherpa did not use supplemental oxygen, an unusual feat for a first ascent of an 8,000 metre mountain.
Pasang Dawa Sherpa, Herbert Tichy and Sepp Jokler. Photo: Herbert Tichy
North face and north ridge
On November 2, 1988, Iztok Tomazin, climbing with a Yugoslav team, reached the summit from the north face. He descended from the west face of the West Ridge. Two more team members, Victor Groselli and Jose Rozman, reached the summit on November 5. Their route was a slight variation, climbing to the right of Tomazin's route from 7,500 metres. More climbers reached the summit a few days later.
On September 28, 1996, Catalan climber Oscar Cadiac and Austrian Sebastian Luckensteiner pioneered the “Free Tibet” route on the previously unclimbed North Ridge. The route is impressive for its steepness (45-75 degrees). They completed the route in alpine style from Palung La at 6,500 meters. During their summit ascent, they left a high-altitude bivouac at 7,500 meters at 9 am and reached the summit at 6 pm the same day.
After summiting, they returned to camp at 10pm and then rejoined the standard route to reach the advance base camp.
Horst Fankhauser at 6,500 metres in the early morning on the Tibetan side of Cho Oyu. Photo: Alexander Huber
On May 21, 1997, Georgi Kotov of Russia and William Pearson of the United States reached the summit via a new route: they ascended from the west via the North Ridge, after a new 1,000 metres climb on the north side of the peak.
Partial northeast facing route
In spring 2001, Christian Stangl from Austria attempted a variation of the regular route. On 21 September, Stangl made his way to Camp 1 and started climbing up the northeast face to an altitude of 7,400 metres. Powdery snow on the rocks made the last part of this section too difficult, so he descended to an altitude of 7,000 metres. He traversed to the west under a large serac and rejoined the regular route at an altitude of 6,800 metres. On 23 September, Stangl reached Camp 3 at an altitude of 7,500 metres via the regular route. From there he climbed to the summit, reaching it on 24 September.
Climbing routes on Cho Oyu. No. 1 is the 1954 route. No. 6 is the 1988 north face route. No. 11 is the 1996 north ridge route. No. 12 is the 1997 route. No. 13 is Stangl's 2001 partial variation route. Photo: Animal de Ruta blog
