Bolivia Summit and Nepal Starts

First the news from Ian in Bolivia:

Desiree and Ian have successfully summited Hyuana Potosi!!! Brad was forced to make a difficult decision, and turned around with our other guide Renee at 5500 meters due to extreme cold. The team is now back in La Paz recouping and trying to eat as much as possible. Stay tuned for a full dispatch coming soon…

Meantime, the team for Cho Oyu is gathering in Kathmandu. From there, they will be flying to Lhasa. After some sightseeing and final preparations, they make a Jeep trip through Xigatse and Tingri, then hike out to Base Camp. 

Above ABC (5,600m) we use three camps. Camp 1 (6,400m) is at the top of a long scree slope. From here the route is entirely on snow. We follow a gentle rounded ridge until we hit a short but steep ice cliff. We use a fixed rope to negotiate the cliff (normally about 20m) and then continue across a gentle glacier before we start another slightly steeper slope, again equipped with a fixed rope. Camp 2 (7,100m) is on an easy snow slope. The day to reach Camp 3 (7,500m) is relatively short, about 3 – 4 hours, climbing more gentle snow slopes. From here we can reach the summit in 5 – 7 hours and return to Camp 2 for the evening. This final day consists of climbing intermediate snow slopes until we reach a series of rock bands, which we cross by way of their snow ledges. We come out onto a snow slope leading us to the summit ridge, the summit, and spectacular surrounding scenery.