Cho Oyu | 2025 SE Face

A Czech Republic expedition to Cho Oyu in 2025 via SE Face, led by Marek Holecek. Summit reached on 11th November 2025. 2 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Change history — how this expedition, its members and references have changed between database releases.

Field Value
ID 3758
Imported 2026-11-04 22:32:23.994980
Expedition ID CHOY25301
Peak ID CHOY
Year 2025
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 SE Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Czech Republic
Leaders Marek Holecek
Sponsor 14 Summits Cho Oyu Expedition 2025
Success 1 False
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach From Khumbu
Basecamp Date -
Summit Date 2025-11-11
Summit Time -
Summit Days 0
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 7
Termination Notes Abandoned at 6400m due to exhaustion
High Point (m) 6400
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 2
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 0
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired True
O2 Used False
O2 None True
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC,Biv1(10/11,5000m),Biv2(11/11,6400m),xxx
Route Notes Report from Holecek: Hi Billi.... After arriving from Nepal I was quite busy with lectures and so on, so I am only responding now, after a week of being home. I will just briefly summarize what happened in the past almost two months. Our two-member expedition, me and Ráda, had a dream of climbing a new route on the SE wall of Cho Oyu, or the Turquoise Goddess. I had an imaginary "alley" there next to the Kazakh route, which I called the Golden Line for my work. Immediately after arrival, we headed for a slight acclimatization detour over Renjo Pass to BaseCamp at the foot of the wall. The first wave of the cyclone came against us, covering the Gokyo area with more than a meter of white snow. However, we made a trail for the porters up to the BC and on the third attempt we brought our things to where we needed to go. Just for fun, it was only 10 kilometers, with an elevation gain of less than 400 meters from Gokya Lake, which took three days. However, the wall itself seemed to be in good condition, so our enthusiasm still lasted. Our BC was in a place where we could run around and finish acclimatizing. We didn't have a cook or anyone to take care of us. We enjoyed the peace and romantic mountains. However, after fifteen days, when the actual ascent was approaching, the weather forecast warned of another massive cyclone coming from the Bay of Bengal. This anomaly was the second time in such a short period of time. The period of these cyclones is usually between 8-10 years. We were lucky, and two in a row. We ran away from him into the valley and waited 6 days for the hell to end. Then came the return to BC. Just the actual trampling of the new trail took Ráda and me 7 hours. At the camp we discovered that all the tents were buried under more than a meter of new snow. All of their poles were broken, and the tarpaulins were torn. However, we somehow dug them out again and created a place for survival from the remains. Nevertheless, we still had the idea and the fire in our hearts to fight for the result on the wall. This time, the approach under the wall from BC over the glacier and the remaining five kilometers took a whole long day with trampling, where we were stuck up to our waists. The wall itself was still in good condition for climbing, from our point of view, thanks to the steepness. After arriving under the wall, where we had deposited climbing material in the attack tent, we were in for a shock. We couldn't find the place, but we had GPS coordinates and finally managed to get everything out under the snow. The approach itself tired us so much that we returned to BC. There, after two days of rest, the final decision was made that we were going to make a hard attempt at the wall. The approach was already easier, so our previous tracks allowed us to climb faster. We set up a bivouac at 5000m. On 10th of November, we cut the first mixed meters in Turquoise Goddess. The first day's climbing was hard mixed climbing, which cost a lot of effort and we went very slowly. However, we managed to climb that day into passages that no longer presented such difficulties and make our first bivouac in the wall. On 11th of November, we continue to about 6400 meters. There, in a huge wind that came up from the valley without warning, we set up a second bivouac. Ahead of us was an open passage to the upper parts of the wall. On 12th of November, after an early assessment of our chances, the answer was clear. We could continue up. In two days, we might have reached the top, but we would never go back down. We simply felt that neither of us had the strength to move faster. We know our physical capabilities in detail. I had to admit the unpleasant truth, we were so exhausted from previous arrivals and departures that it was pointless to continue. Even though the climbing conditions were quite good, we turned around and headed back down the wall. Now, with hindsight, I can say. It was a good and perhaps the only right solution. Since just sending the climbed meters back to the glacier during the southern blizzard, which was missing in the forecasts, cost us a lot of our remaining strength. Then followed a march through the glacier to the storage tent, which in the meantime had been torn out of a more than meter-deep grave by a hurricane and carried somewhere. This was followed by a many-hour march through the night, all the way to BaseCamp. That would be the end of the story. Yet another interesting thing happened. Our things were subsequently picked up six days later by 7 porters and again only on the second attempt. Although they had trodden tracks from Goky to BéCé and the total weight of the backpacks did not exceed 70kg. To sum it up, the story is great without the cherry on top. However, the good thing is that I can go back there again.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency 14 Summits
Commercial Route False
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2464321
Year 2025
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) se face

Members

2 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Marek Holecek M 1974 Czech Republic Leader Prague, Czech Republic Alpinist Details Other expeditions
Radoslav Groh M 1989 Czech Republic Climber Vrchlabi, Czech Republic - Details Other expeditions

References

4 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
CHOY25301 - - https://explorersweb.com/holecek-groh-south-face-cho-oyu/ - - -
CHOY25301 - - https://explorersweb.com/holecek-and-groh-start-southeast-face-of-cho-oyu/ - - -
CHOY25301 - - https://explorersweb.com/holecek-groh-cho-oyu/ - - -
CHOY25301 - - https://explorersweb.com/holecek-groh-bail-on-southeast-face-of-cho-oyu/ - - -