May 17, 2010
IMG leader Eric Remza called on the sat phone from Camp 1 with some more information on their Cho Oyu summit climb today. The climbers left Camp 3 at 2am and reached the summit 26899 ft (8201m) at 8am. For our head sherpa, Panuru, it was his 12th ascent of Cho Oyu and he said it was the most difficult Cho Oyu climb he had done. It sounds like there was a lot of exposed rock above the Yellow Band which made for added difficulty.
Remza said the wind was not too bad for their ascent, but it was very cold. He said that shortly after their summit the weather started to close in again and it deteriorated during the day as they descended. On the way down the Sherpas pulled Camp 3 and then after a good rest at Camp 2, they were able to pull Camp 2 and descend to Camp 1 where they are now resting comfortably.  So, all’s well and the team should be back to ABC tomorrow. Congrats to the climbers and Sherpas on a safe and successful summit day!
Eric Simonson