Cho Oyu ABC

Today we left Tingri and headed for Cho Oyu. Our goal was to reach the so called middle camp between Cho Oyu BC and ABC. We were off at 6:30am of the local Nepal time and already at 8 am our jeep reached the BC at the height of 4700 m. The Liaison Officer demanded to be paid extra USD 50 but the jeep was covered by the service fee we already paid to the agency. After a short hassle he said that it is because the jeep will take us already to the middle camp and not only to the BC. He would also dispatch the yaks very quickly so we would not loose any time. Since we were acclimatized from Cho Oyu he told us to even go right into the ABC today.

Thus I'm already sitting in the ABC under Cho Oyu which we reached only in one day since our depart from Tingri. It's great. The yaks came at 5:30 pm and now we are watching the majestic eight-thousander. The weather seems to be quite good. The cook, who cooked for a month for two Italian mountaineers, was waiting for us here. He told us that during the same time we reached 7800 m on Shisha Pangma they only climbed to the C1 which is at 6400 m and then left for Kathamndu on May 7 without getting any higher then that. The weather here was the kind we fought with on Shisha Pangma.

Tomorrow, May 11, we have a day off or better a day meant for relaxation and rejuvenation. Then we want to reach and build one altitude camp per day. Thus the expected try to summit the mountain is on May 15 when also, according to a forecast, 4 consecutive days of good weather should start. Other expeditions confirmed that forecast as well so we will see. Right now we are in the ABC at 5700 m.

Miro