Cho Oyu | 2014 NW side

A Argentina expedition to Cho Oyu in 2014 via NW side, led by Mariano Galvan. Summit reached on 18th May 2014. 8 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 8512
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID CHOY14106
Peak ID CHOY
Year 2014
Season 1
Host Country 2
Route 1 NW side
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Argentina
Leaders Mariano Galvan
Sponsor Makalu Adventure Cho Oyu Expedition 2014
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Romania, Russia, Spain
Approach -
Basecamp Date 2014-04-17
Summit Date 2014-05-18
Summit Time -
Summit Days 31
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8188
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 5
Summit Members 2
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 3
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used False
O2 None True
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken True
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(17/04),ABC(19/04,5700m),C1(22/04,6400m),C2,C3(17/05,7400m),Smt(18/05)
Route Notes From Radu Stancescu blog: Joan and Radu with have full Sherpa support across the 3 high altitude camps, while the other three (Mariano/Igor/Irina) opted for a more budget oriented option with no Sherpa support on the camps. I am not sure whether they will be using oxygen on the summit day. Radu will climb with Ongchhu Sherpa (39 years old) and Joan with either Ngima or Ang Kami Sherpa. Ngima and Ongchhu are younger, Ang Kami will be celebrating his 60th birthday this year (same birthday as Radu), so I am not sure whether all three Sherpas are going for the summit or one will wait at Camp 3 for support. Regarding oxxygen, Radu mentioned that he and his Sherpa will be using 3 + 2 oxygen bottles. April 23 I spoke this morning with Radu ( Wed, 7 pm Tibet local time) and he seems convinced that a summit bid is very unlikely in the current conditions. There are no fixed ropes up the mountain, the has been a lot of recent snow and the morale given the recent accident on Khumbu has put a dent in everyone’s confidence. This decision has been supported by the Sherpas who are less inclined to continue the climb. He mentioned they went to Camp 1 (6400m), but did not overnight there. Joan, Radu and the 2 Sherpas are coming back to Nepal, while the 3 semi-independent climbers (Mariano, Igor, Irina) decided to stay + the cook/Sherpa. May 2 The main reason that pushed me to return home earlier was the medical condition. My acclimatization wasn’t that great, maybe starting from sea level, maybe the extreme cold/wind, etc. One day we climbed up a bit at 6200m (20500ft) and I didn’t take it very well. The next day I talked with one of our Sherpa and let him know that I might go down from here. Here you have other considerations that played a big role in my decision: - Just a couple of days before taking the above decision something happened a few miles from us in the Everest area, the biggest tragedy ever where 17 Sherpa were killed by an avalanche. After this event almost all the Sherpa from Everest took the decision not to climb anything this season. The same opinion was immediately shared by our Sherpa’s, saw it in their behavior. If you don’t have the support of these great people then everything is lost, in the end, they save your life if you’re ready to push your luck beyond the limits. - This season were registered only 6 to 8 teams to climb Cho Oyu the lowest record in the history, normally there are at least 15/20 expeditions here. - Our mountain was virgin this season; nobody ever touched the Camp 1 at 6400m due to extremely strong winds; that was up to the point I was there, I’m pretty sure there are teams advancing as we speak. - Normally there are several Chinese teams that setup and fix ropes in the mountain and of course charge the other people; this year was different, none of these was done. Another expedition (much bigger than us) ordered over 8 miles of ropes in Kathmandu to place them in the dangerous/exposed places. Delivery would take more than five days plus at least 1 week of good weather to mount them. Also cleaning the old ropes might take a couple of days too. I just didn’t like the idea to wait two more weeks at this altitude and then going up on un-tested fixed lines. - Missing snow at high altitude caused rocks to be exposed so difficulty of the climb went up to the roof; see the picture to compare; that’s what caused in Everest the big avalanche. The picture with the snow (first) represents the normal conditions; the other one was taken by me from ABC. - Weather was pretty bad, very strong winds, cold, temperature outside with the wind factor almost reaching minus 40C/F, inside the tent minus 15 - My equipment was not pretty good; I just didn’t want to spend several other thousand buying new things for something that I might not repeat it in the future. We were five in our group, Mariano by far the most experienced one, climbed Everest and other 8000m’s in the past with no oxygen, guide in Aconcagua; also Irina and Igor, Russians, both with 8000m experience and Juan, Spain 68 years old, already climbed Everest a couple of times and other higher mountains. I was the only one with no experience at this altitude. Mariano is actually one of the 170 people who scaled Everest without oxygen; however there are a few thousands so far that did it with O2. May 13 Coming back to my Spanish friend, so far he climbed the seven summits (the highest mountain on each of the seven continents) and Everest (two times). He was well prepared and very motivated to summit Cho Oyu. He told me that his decision was not based on health issues; he was much better acclimatized than me. He didn’t like the idea that only a few teams are in the mountains and specially the missing fixed lines (ropes). He also mentioned that climbing Everest twice was safer than the conditions we were encountering in Cho Oyu. It’s very important to climb together with other teams, you feel that you are not alone, if something unexpected happens, at least you know that other people could help (which is not necessary true as Everest proved many times…)
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Makalu Adventure
Commercial Route True
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2462410
Year 2014
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) nw side

Members

8 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Mariano Galvan M 1980 Argentina Leader Mendoza, Argentina Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Igor Mitroshenkov M 1965 Russia Climber Moscow, Russia Building manager Details Other expeditions
Irina Runova F 1982 Russia Climber Irrutsa, Russia Manager Details Other expeditions
Radu Cristian Stancescu M 1968 Romania Climber Canada Mechanical engineer Details Other expeditions
Joan Clofent Torellas M 1945 Spain Climber Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain Retired owner of machinery manufacturing company Details Other expeditions
Ang Kami Sherpa M 1954 Nepal H-A Worker Okhaldhunga - Details Other expeditions
Nima (Ngima, Maila) Sherpa M 1972 Nepal H-A Worker Sikli, Jubing, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Ongchhu Sherpa M 1975 Nepal H-A Worker Waku-9, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

1 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
CHOY14106 - - http://radustancescu.wordpress.com/ - - -