Cho Oyu Winter Nepal: a final push till summit

Kathmandu / Feb 15: A team of Nepali mountaineers who left for the Everest region on January 26 with a mission to introduce a commercial route to the summit of Mt Cho Oyu has successfully fixed lines up to 7,409.72 meters. Although the plan was to reach Camp 3 (7,800 meters), the team had to turn back after a weather warning.

Mt Cho Oyu (8,188 meters) is the sixth tallest mountain in the world and the second most summited eight thousander after Mt Everest. The expedition is led by Gelje Sherpa, one of the youngest and renowned names in the profession.

“Our actual plan was to fix ropes until camp 3 which was around at the elevation of 7800 meters approximately. But, we were warned that the weather wasn’t looking good for the evening and the weather speed would increase. Actually, we felt that,” Gelje Sherpa shared through his Facebook.

“We are heading back to Basecamp and moving ahead as planned. So far, we are on it and we believe we will make it,” Sherpa said.

Along with introducing a safe commercial route from the Nepal side as their primary goal, the team is also looking toward making a winter summit. However, the team will have to make the ascent before the end of the meteorological winter at the end of this month. The team had reached Camp 1 on February 11 and Camp 2 on February 13.

The expedition is sponsored by Mountaineer Nirmal Purja also known as ‘Nims Dai’ and Kailas gear among other donors. (Myrepublica)