Cho Oyu

Height

Cho Oyu's height was originally measured at 26,750 ft and at the time of the first ascent it was considered the 7th highest mountain on earth, after Dhaulagiri at 8,167 m (Manaslu, now 8,156 m, was also estimated lower at 26,658 ft). one remarkably similar to the 26,867 ft used by Edmund Hillary in his 1955 book High Adventure.

Climbing history

Cho Oyu was first attempted in 1952 by an expedition organised and financed by the Joint Himalayan Committee of Great Britain as preparation for an attempt on Mount Everest the following year. The expedition was led by Eric Shipton and included Edmund Hillary, Tom Bourdillon and George Lowe. A foray by Hillary and Lowe was stopped due to technical difficulties and avalanche danger at an ice cliff above 6650 m and a report of Chinese troops a short distance across the border influenced Shipton to retreat from the mountain rather than continue to attempt to summit.

The mountain was first climbed on October 19, 1954, via the north-west ridge by Herbert Tichy, and Sherpa Pasang Dawa Lama of an Austrian expedition.

Cho Oyu is considered the easiest eight-thousander, with the lowest death-summit ratio (th of Annapurna's). It is the second most climbed eight-thousander after Everest (whose height makes it the most popular), and has over four times the ascents of the third most popular eight-thousander, Gasherbrum II. It is marketed as a "trekking peak", achievable for climbers with high fitness, but low mountaineering experience. It has a broadly flat summit plateau with no cairn (the traditional prayer flags on Cho Oyu's summit plateau do not mark the "technical" summit), which can be a source of confusion, and debate, amongst climbers (see Elizabeth Hawley).

View

Timeline

• 1952 First reconnaissance of north-west face by Edmund Hillary and party.
• 1954 First ascent by Austrians and Herbert Tichy, and Pasang Dawa Lama (Nepal)
• 1958 Second ascent of the peak, by an Indian expedition. Sherpa Pasang Dawa Lama reaches the peak for the second time. First death on Cho Oyu.
• 1959 Four members are killed in an avalanche during a failed international women's expedition.
• 1964 A controversial third ascent by a German expedition as there is no proof of reaching the summit. Two mountaineers die of exhaustion in camp 4 at 7600 m.
• 1978 Edi Koblmüller and Alois Furtner of Austria summit via the extremely difficult southeast face.
• 1983 Reinhold Messner succeeds on his fourth attempt, with Hans Kammerlander and Michael Dacher.
• 1984 Věra Komárková (USA) and Dina Štěrbová (Czechoslovakia) become the first women to climb Cho Oyu. Štěrbová is also the first woman from Czechoslovakia to climb an 8,000er.
• 1985 On February 12, Poles Maciej Berbeka and Maciej Pawlikowski make the first winter ascent via a new route on the southeast face. It is the only winter ascent on an eight-thousander made on a new route and the first winter ascent without additional oxygen support. The ascent was repeated three days later by Andrzej Heinrich and Jerzy Kukuczka, with Kukuczka setting an additional record for climbing two eight-thousanders during the same winter, as he had earlier climbed Dhaulagiri.
• 1988 On November 2, a Slovenian expedition consisting of Iztok Tomazin, Roman Robas, Blaž Jereb, Rado Nadvešnik, Marko Prezelj and Jože Rozman reach the summit via the never before climbed north face.
• 1994 On May 13 Carlos Carsolio sets a world record speed ascent from base camp to summit, ascending in 18 hours and 45 minutes.
• 1994 First solo ascent via the South West face by Yasushi Yamanoi.
• 2000 Russian-Finnish expedition of nine climbers summitted the top, but two of them disappeared in the attempt and were presumed dead.
• 2004 Second summit by a double amputee (Mark Inglis)
• 2007 Second Indian ascent. Expedition led by Abhilekh Singh Virdi.
• 2009 Clifton Maloney, husband of US Representative Carolyn Maloney and at that time the oldest American to summit an eight-thousander, died at age 71 after summiting on 25 September. His final words were "I’m the happiest man in the world. I’ve just summited a beautiful mountain."
• 2011 Dutch climber Ronald Naar dies after becoming unwell at 8000 m.

Notes

References

Sources

• {{cite book | last = Hillary | first = Edmund | title = High Adventure
• Herbert Tichy, Cho Oyu - Gnade der Götter, (Vienna: Ullstein 1955)

References

1. "China I: Tibet - Xizang". Peaklist.org.
2. (2018). "NASA Earth Observatory: Cho Oyu". NASA.
3. "2886 15 Pasan Lhamu Chuli map".
4. Barnett, Shaun. (7 December 2010). "Cho Oyu expedition team, 1952".
5. Hillary, pp. 79-80
6. Cho Oyu was the fifth [[eight-thousander]] to be climbed, after [[Annapurna]] in June 1950, [[Mount Everest]] in May 1953, [[Nanga Parbat]] in July 1953 and [[K2]] in July 1954. Until the ascent of [[Mount Everest]] by [[Reinhold Messner]] and [[Peter Habeler]] in 1978, this was the highest peak climbed without supplemental oxygen.Günter Seyfferth, [http://www.himalaya-info.org/PDF-Dateien/Cho%20Oyu%201954.pdf Cho Oyu, 8201 m, Erkundung, Erstbesteigung, Erstbegehungen, Ereignisse] {{in lang. de
7. (August 2010). "Goddess of Turquoise: my attempt on Cho Oyu". Mark Horrell.
8. (29 May 2013). "Stairway to heaven". The Economist.
9. (2008). "ALL 8000ers – ASCENTS vs FATALITIES". 8000ers.com.
10. (12 November 2014). "When is a summit not a summit?". Mark Horrell.
11. (September 2017). "Cho Oyu summit: Where is it exactly". Explorersweb.com.
12. Zawada, Andrzej. (1986). "Cho Oyu's Three-Kilometer-High Face".
13. Kukuczka. (1992). "My Vertical World: Climbing the 8000-Metre Peaks". Hodder & Stoughton.
14. "Clifton Maloney, 71, died on one of highest peaks".
15. (2009-10-01). "Rep. Carolyn Maloney's Husband Dies During Mountain Climb - Gothamist".