|
The
International Mountain
Guides Cho Oyu 2001 Expedition
|
Join
EverestNews.com as we cover IMG's Autumn Cho Oyu 2001
Expedition. First Dispatch >>>>
INTRODUCTION:
International Mountain Guides conducts Cho Oyu
expeditions in both Spring and Autumn. The
Autumn 2001 expedition is the tenth time IMG has
conducted this trip since 1995 (eight of nine
previous expeditions successful, over 65 persons to
the summit). The IMG Cho Oyu trips are organized
by Eric Simonson. For more info on IMG programs,
please check www.mountainguides.com
LEADERSHIP:
This years autumn trip is led by IMG Senior Guide John
Race. This is John's fifth expedition to Tibet (he
summitted Cho Oyu on the 1996 IMG expedition).
John is a long time senior guide on Mt. Rainier and
Mt. McKinley and (when not guiding elsewhere) operates
his own company, Northwest Mountain School, (www.mountainschool.net), serving
youth climbing programs. John was a member of
the 2001 Mallory & Irvine Research Expedition and
he will get help on the Cho Oyu trip from Rainier
guide Olivia Cussen, who will be the Base Camp manager
for the team.
TEAM
MEMBERS: This year's team includes climbers Bruce
Turner, Chris Nichols, and Slate Stern. On a
non-guided basis, climbers Reid Carter, Mike Bell,
Scott Johnston, and Steve House will also join the
team. Trekker Gavin Symonds rounds out the group and
provides extra company at BC and ABC. We will be
supported by Sherpas Ang Pasang, Ang Chhiring (Kami),
Phu Nuru, Da Nuru, and cook Pemba Tshiri. These
Sherpas have all been on many IMG expeditions.
Ang Passang and Kami are from Pangboche and have each
summitted Everest and Cho Oyu several times. Da
Nuru and Phu Nuru are from Pangboche. Da Nuru
has climbed Everest twice, and Cho Oyu several times.
Phu Nuru has summitted Cho Oyu and was with us on
Everest this past spring. This is Pemba's fourteenth
IMG expedition as cook. We are climbing with an
AWESOME Sherpa team that we are proud to count as
friends and team members, not just hired help. Eric
Simonson
Cho Oyu - the "Turquoise Goddess"
in Tibetan - is located at the frontier of Tibet and
Nepal. At a height of 8201 meters, it belongs to the
Himalayan range, about 30 km west of Everest. It is
the sixth highest mountain in the world and was first
climbed on October 19th 1954 by the Austrian Herbert
Tichy, with Sepp Jochler and Pasang Dava Lama.
"Finally, the peak is reached, the infinite
hardships are ended. The last nine hours fighting with
the mountain; the time in the death zone above 24,000
foot, the weeks of privations and hardships, even the
risk of one's life - is this reward itself really?
Yes, certainly! Not because of fame but inner
satisfaction: To have found the mountain as friend and
have been so near to the sky." Sepp Jochler.
The History
1952: First reconnaissance of Cho Oyu's Northwest
face by Edmund Hillary and party.
1954: A small Austrian expedition, under the
leadership of Herbert Tichy, make a spectacular first
ascent without oxygen on the Northwest face. This new
style of climbing big mountains with alpine techniques
rewrote mountaineering history.
1958: Second ascent by an Indian expedition. Sherpa
Pasang Dawa Lama, who was part of the first ascent,
reached the peak for the second time. First death on
Cho Oyu.
1959: Four members
of an expedition are killed in an
avalanche during a failed international women's
expedition.
1964: Controversial third ascent by a German
expedition. No proof of reaching the summit. Two
mountaineers die in Camp 4 of exhaustion at 7600 m
(25,000 foot) height.
1978: The Austrian alpinists, Koblmuller and
Furtner, succeeds in a spectacular ascent of the
extremely difficult and dangerous southeast face.
1983: Reinhold Messner succeeds on his fourth
attempt.
1985: First winter ascent of the South buttress by
a Polish expedition. The South Buttress is the most difficult route on Cho Oyu
to be completed successfully.
First Dispatch >>>>
|
