No Luck

I wish I could say that we went up the mountain and had success in reaching the top. We did not.

We went up to camp 1 in strong winds and low temps. Found one of our tent fly's ripped to shreds. Had a long nigh of high winds. Woke up to still more wind and moved up to camp 2. By the time I arrived I felt like my face had been to one of those fancy spas where they sand blast the outer layer of skin off your face. We found both our tents standing but definiely the worse for wear. We rested and brewed up but the the winds did not die down. We made the decision to wait it out one more night. During the next day clouds built, snow came, and our constant companion the wind stayed with us. The big issue with wind is that the ambient temperature at the summit is -25 to -30f add a 25mph wind to that and it is bitter cold and high risk of frost bite.

At about 2pm we pulled the plug on the climb and came down figuring it was not going to be our season.

On any expedition, luck and timing play a huge role. Based on my estimate there were 3-4 days that Cho Oyu was summitable. Unfortunately we were not in a position to take advantage of any of those days. The team is in great spirits knowing that we did everything we could to reach the top.

This morning we woke to 4-6 inches of snow at ABC so it helps with our decision.

Thanks for all the support...Until next time.

Chris Klinke
Cho Oyu ABC

Quick Update

Hello Everyone,
Just a quick update from Chris's sister (Amy).   He left a message last night that the winds are bit strong for a summit attempt today (Thursday the 14th) so they are pushing it back one day till the 15th.

Stay tuned!

Be well,
Amy

Summit Update

Hello Everyone! 

This is Amy, Chris's sister with a summit update from Camp 1.   He called while he was cooking - it was only 10 degrees, but with no wind which is good.   They plan to head up to Camp 2 tomorrow (wed) and then go straight from Camp 2 to summit on Thursday and all the way back down by Friday the 15th.  They really have to boogie it back down as they have a ride waiting for them at base camp on the 15th.   Chris said not to expect to hear anything until late on Thursday, so if you don't hear from me, its b/c they are not in a good place to call yet. 

Laurent and Chris were joined by Chris's good friend Fred Strang.  Chris and Fred have been climbing together for years, so it will make for a good solid team.  The only mitigating factor of course is weather, so please send calm and clear thoughts to Cho Oyu in Nepal over the next 3 days!

post a question if you have any and thanks for following, I know that they really appreciate it!

Be well,
Amy Klinke

Summit Aspirations...

We have ben waiting patiently, we have been checking a variety of weather forecasts, we have have been eating our veggies and maintaining our caloric intake, we have changed flights and plans, and now we are going to try for the summit on the 13th. We will leave tomorrow for Camp 1 in what will be some foul high wind conditions, then move up to Camp 2 in hopefully diminishing winds, and the leave around 2 am for the summit on the 13th. If that does not work we will have to wait on more day and head up on the 14th. If it is the 14th we will have to descend from the summit all the way to ABC on the same day, then wake up early and head down to BC to catch our jeep to the border.

That is our plan at the moment, but as always it is subject to the forces of Mother Nature. We will be out of contact until at least the 15th.

Everyone here thanks you for your continued support.

Chris Klinke
Cho Oyu ABC

Hurry Up and Wait

The weather certainly has not been cooperating with us and has forced us to make some decisions. Laurent and I are going to stay and extend our visas through the 15th of October with a forecast that says there is a summit window on the 13th. Matt is leaving to join his wife on a three week vacation in Thailand.

Right now I have been taking advantage of the Urkainian Teams Banya (Steam Room) what a great experience in ABC.

I will let you know more about our plans as they materialize.

Chris Klinke
ABC Cho Oyu

Weather Woes

The weather gods are fighting us with. We are back in ABC and are debating about the feasibility of another summit push. Permit and visa's expire on the 11th, flights are on the 10th and 11th. Decisions, decisions.......

Tenative Summit Push

We are going to head to Camp 1 on the morning of Oct 4th, move to Ccamp 2 on the 5th and test the conditions and weather. If everything seems good we will go for the summit from Camp 2 in the early hours of the 6th with the plan of returning to Camp 2. If the r weather does not cooperate we will wait and see what weather the morning of the 7th holds for us.

Chris Klinke
Cho Oyu ABC

Waiting and summit Plan

So we have been waiting for the past 7 days for the snow to firm up on the upper mountain. Amazingly it has and one lone German made it to the summit yesterday. He said conditions were fickle but the lower part of the summit push had firmed up.

This morning we woke to a large lenticular cloud over the summit and high wind raging up on the mountain. So we are back to waiting.

Our tentative plan is to move up the mountain on Oct 4 with a goal of summiting the 6th or 7th if the winds drop to an acceptable level.

Right now most of the other teams in Base Camp have left. The Chinese threw an end of the season party a few nights ago the likes of which I have never experienced. It was quite a bit of fun. By the 4th we will be one of only 4 groups left waiting for an opportunity to move up the mountain.

From the rumors I have heard it seems to have been a dismal season across the Himalayas with heavy snows and high winds hampering most of the summit bids.

Everybody is in good spirits though and still enjoying each others company. The more time you spend with the people the more you get to know them.

Chris Klinke,
Cho Oyu ABC

Weather, Camp 2, and Waiting

We had a bad stretch of weather from the 20th through the 24th. Everyday we woke up to a cloud of white. Snow falling, clouds hanging all around us and we were forced to wait it out as it dumped snow on the mountain. Finally on the 25th we made the decision to head up to camp 1. We got up there in a little bit of snow, but nothing that was daunting. The next morning we woke up to clear skies and headed up to Camp 2 for our night of acclimatization. The winds were picking up and were making the use of down suits necessary for some. Everyone was feeling great though and we were happy that we were one step closer to making our summit bid. Throughout the night of the 25th the winds continued to pick up and when we woke in the morning, the windspeeds were gusting up to 60 knots. We made the decision to head down rather then try to fight the wind and touch camp 3. As we descended the winds kept at us and we kept huddling up like penguins in the antarctic to be able to speak to each other.

We are now resting comfortably at ABC, enjoying great food, a few movies, and we watched our last episode of The Office. Dunder Mifflin seems so out of our reality we just laugh at Michael Scott.

Chris Klinke
Cho Oyu ABC

Puja Team Photo

Matt, laurent, and Chirring relaxing Camp 1

French and English Blog Entry

Hello I'm Laurent and I'm going to give some news in french as we are an international expedition.
Bonjours a toutes et a tous, le programme de l'expedition se deroule comme prevu par chhiring, notre sherpa nepalais organisateur Rolwalling expedition ltd . Nous avons pu atteindre C2 le 18/09 et poursuivont l'acclimatation en y remontant le 22 pour y dormir. La suite sera conditionnee par la meteo

Safe at Camp 1

Hello Everyone,

This is Amy, Chris's sister.   I spoke with Chris this morning and he sounded good!   He wanted me to post an update to say that the entire team has made it to Camp 1 and they plan to go up to Camp 2 in the morning to just touch it and then they will return back down.

hope everyone has a great weekend and I will let you know if I hear anything more!

be well,
Amy

To Camp 1 and beyond

We are moving ahead of schedule and everyone is feeling great, but a little tired tonight. Since the last installment from Matt we were able to do our Puja Cermony on Sunday Morning. Chhiring contacted the Lhama and he said Sunday was the most auspicious day. During our puja we had two strong signs that we will have a good climb. First we had two ravens land on our altar during the ceremony, and then we had changing weather. Sun, rain, snow, and wind all blessed during the ceremony. Our Kitchen help Carsung is a trained Lhama and he and Chhirning conducted the ceremony. ABC is all set up except for the shower tent, but that will be rectified tomorrow.

Today, instead of just going up to Depot Camp at 5850m we went all the way up to Camp 1 at 6250m. We left this morning at about 7:41 am and got back about 3:30 pm. Everyone did really well moving over the glacier moraine and up the scree slopes to get to Camp 1. I will try and send a few pictures to give you a better idea, but let me try and describe the climb. We leave from ABC and head up a rocky moraine (debris field left by a glacier receding) It has ice and rock stacked up in all sorts of strange configurations, like a two year old trying to build something. So we head out of camp and immediately start descending to the bottom of valley, climbing to the top of a valley, going down the next valley, etc... All the while stepping on rock and ice and slippery mud. It makes for a fun journey. Then we get to the valley that leads up to Camp 1 and start heading up about 800m of scree to top out on the ridge that is Camp 1.

We were foruntate that today was just a trial run without much weight in our packs. But Chhiring did hire two Tibetans who carried about 40 kg of gear up to C1. You do not hit the snow line until about 75m below camp 1 so we are able to wear our approach shoes to that point and that makes a huge difference.

Chris Klinke
ABC Cho Oyu

Cho oyu abc

Hello Friends,
This is Matt, with an update of our Cho Oyu expedition. We are in Advanced Base Camp, ABC. Our camp is set at 18,300 ft,situated where we can stare down the rest of the route. As I write, what started out as a little thunder has turned into a full on gropple event. Chris and some of the sherpas arrived yesterday, found this site, and set things up. Laurent, Chirring and I came in this morning. Having known Chirring only from summers he spent in Steamboat, it is awesome to see him in his arena. He is so strong, positive, and pretty much has rock star status. He literally knows everyone... And remembers all whom have crossed his path. He can do it all.. Case in point, last night he cooked fried chicken for us.. On a crappy little gas stove. It was the best I have ever had... Ever!! For Gods sake it is all I can do to make grilled cheese at home on thousands of dollars of kitchen equipment, and here he is... The Colonel Sanders of the Hymalya on a cook stove. He is concerned that we maintain our weight, thus we eat well.. Including some form of fried pototoe at each meal. Isn't there some kind of law against that?
It is so cool to have this technology up here... Thanks in whole to Chris. The other night we watched The Best Of Chris Farkey DVD!! We laughed long and hard at "you are going to end up eating a steady diet of Govt cheese, and living in a van down by the river" After hanging out in some of these Tibetan Tea Houses, that sounds kind of appealing! Lots if these tea houses have a tendency to be a little rough.
The Korean team is camped beside us... There are many teams and climbers, but these guys will be entertaining. They appear to be very well funded and organized.. They included in their supplies an Opera singer. Really! For no reason apparent to me he has burst into song today a few times! It was a little startling! His renditions last 2-3 minutes and he sings loud and with conviction! Who knows, I may become a fan.
So, here we sit at ABC.. We will hang for a few days letting our systems adjust. Meanwhile, a shout out to an amazing wife, kids and circle of friends!! Hey SSMS, hope sicence camp is going well... Thanks for the gold watch by the way, it is coming in handy. A sincere debt of gratitude to Eric Meyer for putting Chirring Dorge Sherpa in our lives!!

Regards all, Matt

At Base Camp

We arrived at Cho Oyu Base Camp yesterday morning. Everything is going great. Tents are up, food has been amazing, and everyone on the team is healthy and acclimatizing well.
This morning we went for a hike up to Palung which is the intermediate camp between the Chinese Basecamp and Advanced Base Camp, BC is at about 4855m and Palung is at about 5400m so it did our bodies some good to get the exercise after sitting in a car for the past 4 days.
Our trip to BC was relatively uneventful. We got stopped by one landslide on the Nepal side of the border and then missed the cutoff time to cross the border. Because of that we stayed in Kodari, Nepal instead of Zhangmu, Tibet. We spent two days in Nylam and I have to say how I am amazed at the new road that was put in on the Tibet side. What used to take 4 hours only took 45 minutes. While in Nylam we hiked up to about 5100m and enjoyed ourselves people watching. Then we moved to Tingri and I found it exactly as I remembered it, dogs outnumbering people 3 to 1, dusty and, a bit trying. We were all happy to depart Tingri and head to BC.
Our plan now is to spend a rest day at BC tomorrow and then head up to Palung on the 9th where we load our 4000lbs of food and gear onto yaks for the hike to ABC, and spend 1 night. We should arrive at ABC on the 10th of September and we will spend a day or two setting up camp and getting ready to start moving up the mountain.
Chris Klinke
Cho Oyu BC

Pictures of the Puja for Cho Oyu Trip

Tashi, Laurent, Min Badeau, Chris, Chhiring,

and Matt

The Outside of the Monastery

The Color Palette for the inside of the Monastery Temple

Painting the Murals

The Future Buddha stand over 12 feet.

More Mural's being painted

A Buddha Statue in the making, when finished it
will be over 12 feet Tall and be the present Buddha

Getting ready to leave Kathmandu

We attended a blessing from the Kyabje Trulshik Shatrul Ngawang Chokyi Lodro Rinpoche who is one of the most revered living masters of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the teacher of the Dalai Lama. They are in the process of building a new monastery outside of Kathmandu and it was really quite an amazing site to see the artwork, stonework, sculptors, and masons at work.

I will send some pictures later on this afternoon.

CHO OYU 2010

Greetings from Kathmandu again!
I am back in Kathmandu to attempt another 8000m peak this year, Cho Oyu. I have attached some information below regarding the mountain, the route, and some maps. I have also added a weather feature at the blog site. If you would like to view the weather at the summit of Cho Oyu simply go to the main blog site. 

 I arrived in Kathmandu on August 25th and was greeted by the fact that the village where all the garbage is dumped for Kathmandu has gone on strike,  and is refusing to allow garbage trucks to pass through unless the government guarantees the villagers jobs driving the trucks. So trash is heaped up at strategic points in the city and the normal smells of Kathmandu which are unpleasant on normal days are even worse at this point. 

I have completed all the shopping for the expedition and we shall be eating like kings on the mountains. The team will arrive on August 30th and we plan to depart for the mountain on Sept 2. From Kathmandu we will drive to the border town of Kodari on the Nepal side and Zhangmu on the Tibetan side. We will spend one night here as we transfer gear across the border and deal with the customs and immigration to get into the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The following day will take us into the little mountain village of Nylam where we will spend two nights acclimatizing at about 3800m. Then we drive to Tingri which I pleasantly refer to as the anus of Tibet where we will spend one night. From there we drive to Cho Oyu Base Camp and we will spend about 5 days acclimatizing and preparing to transfer our gear up to ABC. On the first trip we will stop at the midway point called Palung. We hope to arrive in ABC by Sept 10 and start climbing the mountain around the Sept 12.  

For those of you who were hoping to be following Robbie, Brad, or Eric I am sad to say they are not on this trip. I believe there is a button at the bottom of the emails you receive if you would prefer not to get these email.Thank you for your support.

Details about CHO OYU

Cho Oyu (or Qowowuyag; in Nepal चोयु, Tibetan in Wylie transliteration: jo bo dbu yag; Chinese: 卓奧有山,Pinyin: Zhuó'àoyǒu Shān) is the sixth highest mountain in the world at 8201 metres above sea level. Cho Oyu lies in the Himalayas and is 20 km west of Mount Everest, at the border between Tibet and Nepal. Cho Oyu means "Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan.

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 Tom Bourdillon, but technical difficulties at an ice cliff above 6,650 m (21,820 ft) proved beyond their abilities.

The mountain was first climbed on October 19, 1954 via the north-west ridge by Herbert Tichy, Joseph Jöchler and Sherpa Pasang Dawa Lama of an Austrian expedition.^[1] Cho Oyu was the fifth 8000 metre peak to be climbed, after Annapurna in June 1950, Mount Everest in May 1953, Nanga Parbat in July 1953 andK2 in July 1954.Just a few kilometres west of Cho Oyu is Nangpa La (5,716m/18,753 ft), a glaciated pass that serves as the main trading route between the Tibetans and the Khumbu's Sherpas. Due to its proximity to this pass and the generally moderate slopes of the standard northwest ridge route, some climbers consider Cho Oyu to be the easiest 8,000 metre peak to climb^[2], and it is a popular objective for professionally guided parties. 

(From Wikipedia.org)

CAMPS

Base Camp- 4,725m (15,500ft)

Advanced Base Camp- 5,630m (18,500ft)

Camp 1- 6,400m (21,000ft)

Camp 2- 7,040m (23,100ft)

Camp 3- 7,470m (24,500ft)

Summit- 8201m (26,906 ft)

The route

MAP

Avoiding Confusion

I got several emails this morning regarding the previous post "The Final Curtain", this was written by Robbie Klimek and provides a descriptive narrative of his summit push.

Chris Klinke

The Final Curtain

By Robbie Klimek of the K&K Cafe

The final curtain has been drawn and I now have returned to my more civil life... I am looking back on the expedition with fond memories for life during the expedition was very sweet (tx to Chocolove) We were blessed with everything... (except for good weather). The team's camaraderie and strength were sans pareil. We moved and laughed well together... I didn't get to the summit yet I feel as though I did. I accomplished what I sought out to do; immerse myself into a wild and uncertain milieu, absorb the sherpa spirit and their unpretentious disposition, and push myself to it's, my body's, physical limits... I do love a challenge and I was given more than my fair share for most of the climb... I gave all that I had yet I needed more... I needed more uninterrupted sleep and way more calories... I had been told that my metabolism would be slowing down when I turned 30, that that the metabolic engine brakes would hit. Now that I am 40 I eat more than I have in the past. Go figure. I wish that wasn't the case but it is far better than the bariatric alternative. So, I tried to plump up and by doing so I gave the the expedition members something to behold (esp the French) they were aghast when they witnessed me eat... continuously... I could put down 3-4 dinners per night in addition to the other two meals and treats that were consumed earlier throughout the day... so when I left for Camp 2 (C2) I was fat and happy... that was on the 20th of May. That evening we were hammered... winds to 60 k raged continuously thus hampering our 21st ascent... we stayed in our tents that day and decided to move on the 22nd... Brad and Marty jumped on a lull and move to C3 on the 21st... smart move in my book because I firmly believe that movement is rewarded. The tail end of the 21st was beautiful... skies were mostly clear and the sunset resembled a Georgia Peach being dipped in heavenly whipping cream... I was ecstatic about the days to come... apparently the wind was ecstatic as well and returned once again with even more fervor. I took my normal sleeping agent though it still had on it's training wheels and was not effective what so ever... I thought more would be better but, that was not the case... Morning came early and I was just getting ready to tuck myself in... Klinke was gone, already on the move (damn powerhouse) and the French were slinking up the fixed lines while I was still wiping the benzos from my eyes... @ 6,800 m, the strain of altitude climbing started to take its toll on me... My dinner of Cup'O'Ramen and some Mac-n-chez didn't help matters. I needed a whole lamb, horse, yak, whatever... they say you burn nearly 7k calories per day when you are up that high... I'm frightened to think of how many I may have burned making the push from C2 to C4. I sauntered to C3 passing numerous groups of people and caught up with Mica. We had some tea and treats and reveled in the stark, shear, and winsome beauty of the visage before us... We had a lil tete-a-tete and he told me that that was it for him... I looked @ him and said basically "Ya right..." with my facial expression. He was a strong individual and I couldn't believe what I had just heard. I roused him to continue on and he persevered to C4. As I came into C3 it dawned on me that I hadn't voided since 0800 and it was now close to 1400... I tried and forced myself, in my own macabre way, to get some urine out. I did, though I wish I hadn't seen it. If you can imagine what spoiled sulfur would look like then you get the visual and that is what came out of me... No bueno! I downed my litre, ate a lil pistachio/ dark chocolate energy bar and move on. I was feeling great @ this point. I was now awake and moving rather briskly for 7500 m or 25,000'. I came into C4 with hugs and cheers from a couple of the others and I thought I was setting myself up nicely for a summit bid... Ready for some chow and sleep I settled into camp. Then it happened... another sleepless night with scant caloric intake. We became a nylon boarding house housing three souls instead of a cozy two and that did me in... We departed @ 0230 and proceeded as a group, in the likings of the eclectic troupe of souls from the movie Cool Hand Luke... The rising sun @ 0457 did give more strength but not enough to ascend much higher... the good doctor and I discussed what lay ahead and I thought "Well, maybe now I can cruise up the easy traverse along the fixed lines and get to the French Couloir." Beautiful thinking, but the body and the mind were disenchanted with each other and the mind lost... I moved up the fixed lines for some time and parked it @ a snow stake... I looked down at the stake and new that if I went up any further the chances of me seeing that stake and these fixed lines again was nil. Plastered with fatigue, borborygmus to the point of dryheaving, and now a complete loss of motivation, will and desire, I made the ultimate and most difficult decision a mountaineer will ever make which is look up see the summit so close (yet know that "so close" is still "too far") and head back down to C4. I am glad that I did. Big snows, a lost and presumed dead Sherpa, a crevasse rescue, and our lead Sherpa informing the team that it is too late to continue on three different occasions helped ease my anguish for having pulled a 180 and descend back to C4.
I am now back on the rooftop helo pad overlooking this vast and magical landscape, psyched that I am alive without any deficits (well maybe just a couple small ones) and capable of telling another story about life and how special it can be. Four days post summiting we were informed that a member from a neighboring expedition couldn't make it down from the summit during the same snow storm and perished. Another may have lost numerous fingers from both hands... this all happened the next day. As it turns out our team summited @ 1830ish, 8-10 past the time we had est as our summit time. We also had to wait two hours for Lokpa (our climbing Sherpa) to bring up O2 for one of the French climbers... So, with that said I am glad to be home... Life is "easier" once again though I am longing for another trip... any ideas let me know... Be well all and thanks for all of your support, kind words, and thoughts!

Photo's from the Climb

Team Photo in Tashigoan

Glacial Lake below Shipton La

Chhiring Dorje with Makalu in Background

Robbie with Makalu in Background

 
Chris with Makalu in Background

Chris and Ann at Base Camp

Team Valandre

Sunset on Makalu

Cold Avenger Mask Blair Falahey and Eric

Robbie with Lhotse and Everest over coffee at C2

Ice Wall to Camp 1

Our Sherpa Team with Noir Sunglassess

Furtemba with Valandre Combi Suit

View up to summit from Camp 4

Robbie at C4

View down to C4 from Base of French Coulior

Summit Ridge with poor weather conditions

Chris on Summit

Storm Clouds building on Descent

Chris calls home at ABC

Boudha Stupa in Kathmandu on Buddha's Birthday

Chris's Summit Account

I know many of you have been waiting for the details of Mountain Climbing versus Mountain Summiting, and I am finally going to go through all the gritty details of the summit push. I have been waiting for everyone to arrive back in Kathmandu and to give everyone the chance to put together their own version of events.

The reality is that our summit push started May 20th. I left ABC at 5800m early on the 20th to give myself the best chance at getting some rest at Camp 2 at 6800m. I left ABC at about 6:15 am and started the arduous climb up to camp 2 via the depot camp, the ice fall, and the serac field to reach Camp 2 at about 11:30 am. It was actually one of the best parts of the climb for me because I was feeling strong, healthy, and arrived with enough time to level out our tent at camp 2. One of the interesting things that happens to tents on a snow field is that the middle of the tent melts out due to the solar reflection and heat that collects inside the tent. I call it the bathtub effect, and you get this sloping wall inside the tent not unlike laying in a bathtub. Not real comfortable to sleep in and you either have to move the tent or chip away the ice wall along the sides and then build up the center. This is what I spent the afternoon doing, so that by the time my tent mate Robbie arrived we had a nice level tent again. Which was  a great thing because we ended up spending two nights at Camp 2 due to extremely high winds on the morning of the 21st.  The forecast had called for moderate winds of 20-30km/h during the night of the 20th and through the morning of the 21st. Reality was that we had winds close to 80 km/h with gusts that were stronger. In order for us to make a successful bid for the summit we would have to leave Camp 2 no later then 9:30 am to head for Camp 4. If everything would have been perfect we would leave no later then 6:30 am to head for Camp 4. It is about a 5 hour climb to the Makalu La and then another two hours past that to Camp 4. We needed to have enough time to get to Camp 4, set up tents, make dinner, brew water, and rest before leaving for the summit. We were up and ready to go at 6 am, but the winds kept howling and a few times I thought the tent would blow down due to the gusts coming off the Makalu La. The winds did eventually die down as they were supposed to but it did not happen until close to 1pm. Therefore we had to delay our summit bid until the 23rd. The winds picked up again on the evening of the 22nd but luckily they were in the 20-30km/h range on the morning of the 22nd when we left Camp 2 and started up towards Camp 4.

The journey up to Camp 4 winds through the upper German Camp 2 and proceeds up the lower rock band, the snow field, and the upper rock band in the Makalu La. It takes about 5 hours to make your way through the nearly vertical rock bands that are layered with blue ice and sugar snow. Once you successfully navigate that area. You have a two hour hike across a snowfield to reach Camp 4 at about 7500m. This is where our journey to the summit began.

On the morning of the 22nd I left at early and arrived at Camp 4 by about 1:30pm. I arrived and helped set up the tents at Camp 4, started boiling water for hydration and food by 3pm. Robbie arrived at about 4 pm and jumped into the tent. Things were going well for our summit push. The winds had died down, their was some afternoon convection clouds happening but nothing that was serious. Chhiring and Furtemba had left to fix a few sections of rope through the serac field that lead to the base of the French couloirs. Brad had made a climbing decision about heading to the summit the day before from Camp 3. Unfortunately his bid for the summit was not successful.(He will tell his tale in a few days). Eric was still coming up to Camp 4. Robbie and I were in the tent resting and getting all our gear ready to head to the summit. For me this included going through my Valandre down suit and making sure everything was in the right pockets. Batteries for foot warmers on inside pocket right side, water bottle on inside pocket left side, Camera, Dermatone Sun Block, Spare Batteries for head lamp, Spare Head Lamp in zipper pocket, food stashed in thigh pocket, Camelback full, Radio, spare radio battery.  Then I crawled into my down suit, Crawled into my Bloody Mary sleeping bag, and started to nap for our departure for the summit. Eric M arrived into camp 4 just before it got dark and he started his process of getting ready. Our original plan was to leave for the summit at 12:00am but because so many people had arrived so late in the day we made the decision to push that back until 2 am.

By the time everyone was out of their tents and ready to go it was almost 2:30 am. We headed off towards the summit walking in a single file line through the lower glacier field to avoid crevasses. It always an interesting experience to walk in a line of people through the dark with headlamps glowing ahead and behind you. In the dark you cannot really see anything except a dull outline of what is ahead of you, and you simply hear the breathing of the person behind you. If they happen to be on oxygen then you are pretty sure that Darth Vader is following you in the dark on the way up the mountain. In total their was 11 of us who left for the summit that night. Finjo had returned to Kathmandu because of an illness, Brad had already made his summit attempt, and Mica(a member of the French Team) had felt that he was not rested or hydrated enough to make a bid for the summit that night. So as the 11 of us trudged through the dark we were expecting about a 10 hour push to reach the summit by noon. The reality of a 16 hour push was not something we had considered when we started out, but as the night turned to day it became clearer that was we were looking at.

The glacier and serac fields had fresh snow on top that made some of the traverses a little tricky in navigating. We pushed up through the Serac Fields and reached the bottom of the French couloirs at about 1 pm. The weather was still clear but we had become a stretched out line of climbers. Robbie K had decided that it was not his day due to lack of sleep and food and turned around. So at about 1 pm we started pushing up through the French Couloirs, which is strikingly similar to the Makalu La  but starting at 8100m and slightly more vertical. We had Chhiring who was fixing rope in the lead, followed by the Phillipe, Alexia, and Yeti on oxygen, then Andu and Sandrine, and I was batting clean up on the way up. When we were about half way up at about 3:30 pm The weather started to change on us. We started getting some wind gusts, and we saw the sky starting to speckle up with mares tails and when I was looking across at the ridges spind drift was blowing. Yet we continued to push on thinking all the time that we were almost there. We got to the summit ridge at almost 5pm, at which time we were still about an 1 hour from the summit. The sky was white, the wind was up, and spin drift was blowing everywhere. Sun had disappeared and the temperature was definitely cold. We decided to go for it.

The Summit of Makalu is really only about 3 ft wide and it is proceeded on either side by a little tiny ridge that drops off on both sides for thousands of feet. It is covered by ice and corniced snow and you have to traverse past a false ridge to reach it. It is very tricky to reach. So after making our way up to the false summit, and moving across the ridge. I finally reached the summit at 5:59 pm!!! Alexia and Sandrine summited before me, and I was followed by Phillipe. Yeti had  made the decision to turn around prior to reaching the summit ridge based on weather conditions which was probably one of the smarter decisions of the day.

As we started making our way down the mountain the weather progressed into real nasty storm. Now we were descending the ropes that we has put up and to add insult to injury, they were difficult to find under the snow that had just fallen. We finally reached the bottom of the couloirs after about 2 hours of descending into a worsening storm. We were all aware of the crevasses that we had passed over to reach the couloirs but none of us were sure of our ability to spot them in a white out in the dark. So we roped up and started our descent. It took me until almost 10:45 pm to reach our Camp 4. And along the way there were a few issues, but in the end we all safely reached our Camp 4 by midnight. Everyone was safe.

In the morning, I headed down to ABC. Being completely wiped out a journey that had previously took me 6 hours ended up taking almost 12.

Then on the morning of the 25th a large part of our group was heading down for a helicopter ride from Yangle Kharka which is about 29km trek from our ABC. They headed out at 11:00am. After they left Robbie, Yeti, and I were planning on leaving on the 26th or 27th from ABC. But at this point they became like caged animals and wanted to leave right away. So they headed out after lunch at about 1pm for Yangle Kharka, and I followed at 2:30 pm. By this point I was wiped out and decided the helicopter was the best way out for me. Robbie and Yeti then went on a death march from Yangle Kharka to Tumilingtar and did the simply amazing feat of completing the trek in two days!!!!

Now we have celebrated Robbie’s 40th Birthday in Kathmandu and plan on doing up a party for Eric tomorrow!!!!

Pictures will follow, I am still waiting for my stuff to arrive from Base Camp!


Chris Klinke, Kathmandu

Brad's Climbing Push

During the days of May 15 through 18 I decided to escape the wind and doldrums of ABC and hike down to the lower altitudes of Makalu Basecamp for a rest. I ended up staying in the basecamp of Marty Schmidt and Chris Benway. During this time I met up with Marty Schmidt who had been attempting a new route on the opposite, side of the mountain with Chris Warner, but Chris ended up getting very sick and was evacuated from the mountain, leaving Marty without a partner. Marty decided to try and solo the N.W. ridge route that we were climbing on and then is when I met Marty.
Talking with Marty, he and I both knew we did not want to be "guided" up the mountain by Sherpas, nor did we want to get in line and just follow fixed rope to the summit.
May 23rd was the day chosen by our team of Sherpas and climbers to try and summit. The weather was also suppose to be great on the 22nd as well.
Marty and I decided to climb to Makalu La, alpine style from Camp 2 on May 21 ahead of the 14 people going for the summit on the 23rd. This way we would have the first shot at the summit on the 22nd and it would be just the two of us route finding and breaking trail to the summit. We chose to make our summit bid from Makalu La, 7500m, and not from a camp 4 at 7600m. the distance between Makalu La and Camp 4 being 1-1/2hrs.
Although I knew  we should depart Makalu La at midnight, we overslept and ended up leaving at 3:30am, already putting us behind schedule.
The night was perfectly calm and stary and not too cold. We climbed to 7800m by 8:30am, then found our way through a very steep broken glacier / ice fall, pulling out of the snow fixed rope from last year and replacing some anchors. This used up valuable time as well.
Once through the icefall we climbed a crevassed slope that seemed to go on forever up to approximately 8,100m where we stopped to rest at 12:30 noon.  Being above 8,000m now we both could begin to feel the lack of oxygen, althugh up to this point we both felt strong climbing without bottled oxygen.
Looking up at the summit pyramid, we calculated how many hours we still needed to climb the French Couloir to the summit ridge, then across the summit ridge to the "false summit", around that and the final 100m to the true summit. We decided that if all went well we would need at least 4 more hours. Meaning we would summit around 5:00PM.
The weather was still perfect and no wind. If there was ever a day to push the limits today was the day. We were both worried though, about summiting so late in the day and then descending as the sun was setting and obviously coming back down through the crevasses and icefall in the dark.
We ended up making the deciscion not to continue, which left me heartbroken that we were turning around so high on the mountain and the summit seemingly so close.
Our descent to Makalu La ended up being faster than we thought and the evening weather stayed clear and calm, telling us that all would have been fine if we had been descending in the dark.
As we stood at Makalu La re-hydrating from the days effort, my American and French teammates and the Sherpas, came up over the La from Camp 2 on their way to Camp 4. Some looked stong and ready for their summit attempt and some look exhuasted from the steep climbing with a heavy pack. Two of the French climbers could not make the Makalu La without the aid of using oxygen. By dark they were all in Camp 4, hydrating and getting ready for their summit bid.
At 2:30am they departed Camp 4 and began their ascent. By the time the group reached 7,800m, Robbie and Silvia had already decided that they did not have enough energy to continue. The main group continued throught the steep ice fall, with several Sherpas out front fixing rope as they went. By 11:00am they all arrived at our high point and rested for a long time. Then they al decided to push on, crossing the slope above to the start of the French couloir. Although the Sherpas found lots of old fixed rope in this section, they also fixed their own rope, caused more delays. By mid afternoon they had reached the summit ridge in deteriorating weather. Pushing on the lead Sherpas climbed to the false summit and fixed more rope around this and up to the main summit.
At 4;15pm Erik Meyer and Lakpa Sherpa, both climbnig without bottled oxygen, decided that because of the lateness of the day and because it was beginning to snow, that they would turn around and head down. This was a very difficult decsision only 100 vertical meters from the summit. Ahead of them the two lead Sherpas, two French ladies, one Fench men and Chris Klinke pushed on. Ultimitaley they all summited Makalu between 5:30pm and 6:30pm in a brief window of clear wether, then began their descent.
In the long hours that followed descending in the dark, Lakpa and Erick had difficulties finding the start of the fixed rope back through the steep icefall. In their searching, Lakpa suddenty slipped on blue ice and dissapeared down the ice cliffs to the horrow of Erick. Erick searched for Lakpa for several hourse before the group of summiters had descended to where he was searching. Further searching came up empty handed and they assumed that Lakpa had died in a crevasse. They slowly made their way through the icefall in the dark snowstorm and back to Camp 4, where to their shock and amazement found Lakpa in his sleeping bag in one of the tents. He had miracoulously survived a 250m fall, without much injury or ending up in a crevasse and found his way back to Camp 4. By 11:00pm everyone was safely back in Camp 4 exhausted. That night it snowed all night and by morning there was 18 inches of new snow.
Packing up it took them all day to descend from Camp 4 to ABC in a snow storm and very heavy packs.
It was a big releif to have the entire team of climbers and Sherpas back down from the mountain safe and sound for the last time.
Starting the next day we packed up our equipment and headed 30km down valley to a point where we could be helicoptered out of the mountains and back to Kathmandu.
We are now resting in Kathmandu and eating lots, with skinny bodies and sunburned faces. It was a great trip and we all came back good friends.
Thanks for all of your support and we will see you when we get home..
Brad Johnson

I just wanted to let everyone know that ALL team members are doing great. Some team members flew into Kathmandu yesterday, and two members are trekking (Rob and Yeti)  back and should arrive tomorrow. I will make sure a new  post is up by tomorrow regarding the climb itself and the last few days, plus some Pictures......

There is a reason they call it Mountain Climbing and not Mountain Summiting...

That is the title my brother specifically asked me to lead this post with.  Hello, this is Chris's sister, Amy, writing again.   I spoke with him around 8:30pm (EST) on Sunday 5/23.  He and the team were in camp 4 and 6 out of the 14 (I think I have that number right) summited.   He would not specify who summited, and frankly, I was just happy to hear that everyone was happy and safe and well.    So in summary, some summited, some did not, and they are all safe and coming back down.

They are heading all the way back down to ABC as I write this blog so they can post their own update and we will hear all the gritty details then.

Thanks for all the good thoughts!

Be well,
Amy

Hello Everyone!

This is Chris's sister, Amy.  I spoke with Chris (and heard Rob in the background)   They are at camp 2 waiting for the winds to die down and hope to make the summit push on the 23rd.   They sounded happy and are looking forward to the summit.

Be well and thanks for sending all the warm and safe thoughts,

Amy

Revised Summit Plan

Weather is weather and completely unpredictable at this point. After having been informed by the various weather services that the previous weather window was "short lived and dangerous" we abandoned our summit plans and have been waiting. Well, the window was good, and we missed the first one, but we are going for the second one with gusto and commitment.

The goal will be to summit on the 22nd of May. Based on current forecasts it should be a stable weather window starting on the 21st and continuing until the 24th. It gives us plenty of time to get up to high camp in semi-decent weather and have the opportunity to get to the summit on a clear day.

So the question that you may have is what have we been doing in the meantime. Well, not much. We went up to Camp 2 on the 16th which was the start of our previous window and slept a night to keep our acclimitization in order, had a horrible, sleepless night and returned to ABC for breakfast. We have taken showers, shaved (some of us), and done laundry. Life in ABC has not been exciting. Although in the last 24 hours we have arranged a helilcopter for a portion of the team who want to fly back to Kathmandu rather then trekking the 5 days out. There is some logic to this decision. I have decided to trek out because I want to enjoy the fun of seeing green and smelling something other then rock and snow.

So to sum up our plan.We will leave ABC on May 20th and go directly to Camp 2. We will try and arrive early in the day so that we can have plenty of time to rest and hydrate. Then on the 21st we will head up the Makalu La and go to our Camp 4. Again leaving early and trying to arrive in Camp 4 with time to spare for hydration and eating. Then we will leave on the morning of the 22nd at about 1 am to arrive on the summit by 10 am. Then we will return from the summit, break camp 4 and descend to Camp 2 by 5pm on the 22nd.

Climb Hard, Climb High, Come Home

Chris Klinke, ABC Makalu

May 15th Update

Robbie K writing the blog for the 15th from ABC. The news isn't too good for an accent up Makalu until later in the month, hopefully around the 23rd of May... The French and the Germans left two days ago for their summit bid and we were to leave today The winds have been ripping for the last week from C1 all the way to the summit. When I say ripping, I mean our flesh would be frozen in seconds without remorse if accidentally left exposed. (Upwards of 100km winds with -28 deg C temps.) We have been diligently watching and getting weather updates from France, Germany, and Switzerland. We utilize as many meteorological resources as possible so that our guessing is minimized and a more calculated decision can be ascertained as to when we should make our way up the hill. The information that we had been originally given gave us a window for the 16th and 17th to make our summit push and we were to leave today. We decided to stay in ABC for the last two days because there were going to be 23 people ahead of us. We wanted some room to play and we wanted to make a speedier accent (3 days). In addition we want to spend as lil time above C2 as possible. But the window is too small and the winds have been nuking since last week. So... the French and the Germans are now heading down because of the deteriorating weather... Right now, outside our fabric walls, we are having a mix of snow and rain. So, we are in a hold patern and we are going to see how the winds and weather fair over the next couple of days. So that is all that we have going on right now. We are relaxing and getting "plumped" up for our attempt. It looks as though we are going be in ABC for a few more days so we will keep you all posted. Again, thanks for all of the comments... And please keep them coming...

Summit Bound

This morning we awoke to the very familiar winds of the past week, but noticeably less intense. Conditions have been unstable this past week, causing our three consultant weather forecasters in Europe to really scratch their heads about how much improvement there might actually be during the May 16-17th period.

It looks like the jetstream will split North/South around Everest and Makalu as it approaches from the NW. Our weather sages think this will mean a decrease in winds from 60-110 km/hr to 20-30 km/hr from the Makalu La(7400m) to the summit(8467m), with temps warming from from -35 C to around -20 C near the summit the 16th and 17th. We will definitely appreciate the warmth and comfort of the Talus Cold Avenger masks and the Point 6 socks!

So today, the six French climbers of our group, four team sherpas, and Chhiring Dorje left for the summit push, targetting a May 16th summit. Right behind them out of BC was a party of 13 Germans with the same game plan. The four of us haqve decided to hold back our summit departure till the day after tomorrow, May 15th. Our reasons for doing this are that we want to summit on the 17th, avoid crowding(including icefall and rockfall risk) in the technical areas of the route, and since we are not using botttled oxygen, to minimize our high altitude exposure time, skipping the camp at Makalu La with a push from Camp 2 to a final staging camp at 7600m.

The waiting is hard-reading books, watching videos, and going on hikes around BC are a reminder that high mountains are not "conquered", but rather snuck up on, and that planning,preparation, and commitment are keys to a successful summit of an 8000m peak. The reality of the experience is that it's just not possible to get to the top of a peak like Makalu without climbing in at least some bad weather. Communication and trust amongst teammates, continual reassessment of risks and benefits, and conservation of energy, are all really important at this stage.

"dolendi modus timendi non item...
to suffering there is an end, to fear, none..."

Eric Meyer, M.D.