Cho Oyu: Two Teams, One Route

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Cho Oyu: Two Teams, One Route
October 13, 2022
Angela Benavides
8000ers | Cho Oyu
Climber wth heavy backpack moved up fixed rope
A Sherpa with Pioneer Adventure on Cho Oyu's SSW ridge. Photo: Ngaa Tenji Sherpa/Pioneer Adventure
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Pragmatism has triumphed over individual plans, and the two Nepali teams will now climb Cho Oyu by the same south side route. Weather delays and the need to give clients as many summit chances as possible forced this alliance.

“[The] Seven Summit Treks team is going to join us on our route,” Nivesh Karki of Pioneer Adventure told ExplorersWeb. “We will be just one team. Only the climbing permits are separate.”

“Yeah, that’s the idea [climbing together],” Kristin Harila confirmed.

This differs from previous conversations when Pioneer Adventure said that they did not know the other team’s climbing plans.

A plan takes shape
Neither Seven Summit Treks nor their sister company, 14 Peaks Expeditions, have detailed the overall climbing strategy. Team leader Gelje Sherpa says he will decide on the route after checking the conditions from Base Camp. This was also the original plan…but no one expected that many people, including Gelje, would be stranded in Lukla for an entire week because of the weather.

The weather-bound party finally managed to fly to Namche Bazaar today, Harila told ExplorersWeb. They hope to fly on to Base Camp tomorrow.

“So far, there’s just Gelje Sherpa, Adriana Brownlee, Sandro Gromen-Hayes, Tonya, and I,” Harila said. “Hopefully, the rest of the team will arrive here tomorrow.”

Adriana Brownlee is also preparing herself for a climb that she knows will be far from easy.