September 24, 2009 (10:00pm)

Just off the phone with Greg and all is well on Cho Oyu. Everyone made it to the top yesterday and then descended to C1. Today they will go on down to ABC.

He said the weather yesterday was excellent but this morning it is cold and windy with a cloud cap on the upper mountain!

Congrats to Greg Vernovage, Rafal Szczepanik, Renata Piszczek, James Davidson, Sandhosh Kumar, Mayk Schega, Anastasia Iliopoulou (first Greek female to climb an 8000’er), Danuru Sherpa, Mingma Tenjing Sherpa, Mingma Dorjee Sherpa, Penjo and Kheju (Tibetan climbers). A job well done!

Eric Simonson

** All time references are Tibet time. It’s 1:00pm local time (10:00pm PST) at the time of this post.

September 23, 2009 (10:55am)

We received word from IMG Guide Greg Vernovage yesterday that the team had arrived at C2! All is well and the team is on schedule.

It’s close to 2am on September 24 in Tibet so summit bids should be underway… Stay tuned for more updates.

—-
Tye Chapman
Operations Manager

September 21, 2009

IMG Cho Oyu team summit bids begin.

IMG leader Greg Vernovage reports that the weather is good, the team is healthy, the camps are all set, the ropes are fixed, and it is time to go climb Cho Oyu! 

The plan is for the team is:

September 21st – C1 (6400m / 20992ft.)

September 22nd – C2 (7100m / 23290ft.)

September 23rd – C3 (7450m / 24600ft.)

September 24th – Wake up at midnight and leave in the dark, reach summit early morning and descend to C2  

September 25th – Back to ABC

More as it comes in…

– Eric Simonson

September 17, 2009

IMG Leader Greg Vernovage reports that the members and sherpas had a successful rotation to Camp 2.  After spending another night at Camp 1 (6400m / 20992 ft), they ascended the ridge to the Ice Cliff, then continued on up through the seracs to Camp 2 (7100 m / 23290 ft)  where they spent the  night.   Yesterday they descended back to ABC.  The weather continues to hold and after a couple days of rest at ABC the summit bids will begin!

-Eric Simonson

September 14, 2009

Over the weekend we received a report from IMG Cho Oyu Guide Greg Vernovage…
Greg report that IMG sherpas Tenji and Donuru, working with several other teams’ sherpas,  have now fixed the ice cliff and on to Camp 2.  The weather has been good and all IMG climbers are doing well at ABC after their C1 rotation. They’ll start their C2 acclimatization rotation in the next day or two.

Photo: The Ice Cliff is above the rock at bottom of photo.  C2 is above next row of seracs, below big basin.  Boot track visible in photo from C2 to C3 (which is on small rib below Yellow Band).

—-

Tye Chapman
Operations Manager

September 11, 2009

The Cho Oyu team had a beautiful night up at Camp 1 and are heading back down to ABC after a successful acclimatization rotation. Everyone is doing well! They’ll spend a couple days back at ABC before they move back up to C1.

That’s all for now…

—-

Tye Chapman
Operations Manager