Cho Oyu Expedition News August 2007

Team leader and updates: Stu Peacock
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The Team: Alistair Ball, Ian Pratt, Tim Ralph, John Shelton-Smith, Nicholas Talbot

29th Sept  Stu phoned from ABC early afternoon to say that the group are successfully back at camp having had an unsuccessful attempt at Cho Oyu summit.  The weather has been bad, with heavy snow meaning that they had to break trail to Camp 2 and Camp 3.  Once above Camp 3 the winds were so strong they were forced to abandon their summit bid, along with a number of other teams.  All team members are safe and well and will make preparations to return to Kathmandu in the coming days.

26th Sept  The summit attempt is on! Everyone is safely back up to Camp 1. The recent heavy snow and strong winds have caused some damage to the tents but not enough to stop or even delay the AP Elite Card Playing team. They plan to move up to Camp 2 tomorrow and if everything goes according to plan they’ll make their attempt on the 29th September.

24th Sept  The team have spent the last couple of days at ABC planning their summit attempt and keeping an eye on weather reports.  All are in good spirits and plan to set off to Camp 1 in the next day or so.

19th Sept  We’ve just had the latest news from the team. They’ve all just returned from spending the night at Camp 2 (7125m) – a height record for five of them. It was a restless night for most but that’s normal at these altitudes and everyone’s now ready for the summit. The Sherpa team are currently stocking Camp 3 so the plan is to have at least four days rest at base camp with a potential summit attempt planned for the 27th, weather permitting.

15th Sept  News feed coming live from Cho Oyu, Tibet…The Adventure Peaks elite card playing team have had their card playing schedule rudely interrupted by a week of high altitude walking and climbing. This enforced rest from cards and bacon sandwiches included walks up to Lake Camp, a two night sojourn at Camp 1 (at 6400m) which included an excursion above the seracs – all of the team successfully climbed these with three deciding to continue on a further couple of hundred metres with reasons best known only to themselves.  Ian Pratt (callsign goldfish, formerly viper) has shown a strong aptitude for being able to sleep for most of each day no matter what the altitude, we hope that he does not switch into permanent hibernation mode prior to summitting. One of the highlights of the week was the introduction of a shower facility at advanced Basecamp which all have taken advantage of we hasten to add. One team member – Al Ball (callsign formerly Chongo, now Cleopatra II) shed new light on the way that the Liverpudlians choose to bathe by introducing a flask of yak milk to the water tank for his shower. This does not appear to have improved his attractiveness to others on the mountain however he is hopeful that his new softer silkier skin will be a big hit on his return to Anfield. We are now firmly embedded in base camp for the weekend with the next scheduled card/dvd playing interruption due to be an excursion up to Camp 2 at 7100m. Excepting Stu Peacock (callsign Genghis) should we make this height it will be a new record for everyone.Report over… Nick Talbot (callsign Ralph)

10th Sept All members of the team have now done a carry to Camp 1 (6400m).  Rest day tomorrow with plans to sleep at Camp 1 on Wednesday 12th September.

8th Sept News feed coming live from Tibet…The adventure peaks elite card playing team has arrived at advanced base camp in good spirits [aided unquestionably by bacon sandwiches] after a 2 day trek from Chinese base camp. This included an overnight stop at intermediate camp which resembled a small village – we were firmly in the minority! We have set up our permanent [well for the next 4 weeks] home just out of the main camp which makes for a quieter and more tranquil experience especially given some particularly vicious card playing en route – stu has taken a real beating at times but is bearing up well. There are already some large groups here with more to come we hear, so our location appears to be a godsend. We awoke this morning to some stunning views of cho oyu herself as well as her neighbours and a camp liberally doused with snow. Having had breakfast on the ‘veranda,’ we are spending our first proper rest day relaxing, playing cards, assigning radio call names [not to be repeated] and taking in the views. Tomorrow we will make our first visit to the snow line followed [fingers crossed] by our first ascent to camp 1. Report over…ian pratt [call sign viper]

3rd Sept – Today the group have been up to 5250m.   All the team were moving well and feeling strong.  The plan is to complete a further walk to 5600m tomorrow, moving to Intermediate camp on 6 September and arriving at ABC on 7 September.

31st August – Everyone is in good spirits in Tibet and all have completed an acclimatisation walk up to 4400m today.  Anil and Nuru (Sherpas) have gone to Tingri today with the truck and will set up BC ahead of the rest of the team who will travel to Tingri tomorrow.  From there, the plan is to move to Chinese Base Camp the day after.

28th August – The group have arrived safely in Nepal.  They are enjoying a day in Kathmandu experiencing the sights, sounds and local culture.  Tonight they will enjoy local cuisine and some Nepalese dancing.

25th August – The team will depart on the 26th August