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