October 12, 2011
Sunrise over Everest, from summit of Cho Oyu. (Photo by Danuru Sherpa)
Congrats to IMG Leader Mike Hamill, Vanessa, Al, Danuru, and Karma Rita for a successful Cho Oyu climb. They are the last team on the hill, literally, as all other expeditions have now departed the mountain. Mike said the climbers were super strong and acclimatized after previously climbing Shishapangma, and they decided to start from Camp 2, since the weather was looking good. In fact, Mike said the conditions were excellent, the best of any of his five Cho Oyu summits. They left Camp 2 at about 1am and reached the top a little before 8am, and were back to Camp 2 by 10am, which is a really fast time. After brewing up at Camp 2 and having a good rest, they continued their descent, and have now made it all the way down to ABC! On the way down the group managed to get all the Camp 2 gear down to Camp 1.
This afternoon the sherpas started dismantling the ABC Camp, with the big dining tent coming down and gear getting packed into yak loads. Mike and the climbers get a well-deserved rest and packing day tomorrow, and we have three Tibetan porters going back up to bring down the last loads from Camp 1 We also have 17 yaks that will be arriving at ABC tomorrow, and a jeep and truck ordered for the next day to meet the team at the trailhead.
Eric Simonson