October 21, 2022: Strong wind on Cho Oyu forced the rope fixing team to retreat from 7,300m. According to Pasang Tenje Sherpa, Chairman and Co-founder of Pioneer Adventure “we decided to end the expedition for safety reasons”. There has been constant wind with speeds above 70 km per hour.
Another team led by Gelje sherpa retreated from Cho Oyu’s Camp 3. He said We were in 70kph winds and knew this was not the safe territory. We are now back down and waiting things out. But it’s looking like a very narrow weather window and low chances this season.
We all feel like we are on a winter expedition with this cold and wind.
Gelje team includes Adriana Brownlee and Kristine Harila. They have been chasing records. Cho Oyu is the only peak left for Gelje to become the youngest climber to summit all 14 peaks above 8,000m at the age of 29 but he turns 30 on November 12. The current record holder, was 30 years and 5 months old when he completed.
Kristine Harila is also in a hurry because she is trying to become the fastest climber to summit all 14 peaks. She needs to summit Cho Oyu and Shishapangma in Tibet before November 3 to break the current record by Nirmal Purja. China has been closed to international climbers since COVID.
Adriana wants to become the youngest climber to summit all 14 eight-thousanders. She has Mount Shishapangma, Cho Oyu and Gasherbrum I and II left to climb.
Gelje’s teams plan to wait a little more on Cho Oyu.
