Cho Oyu | 1982 SE Face

A Austria expedition to Cho Oyu in 1982 via SE Face, led by Wolfgang Nairz. Summit reached on 4th May 1982. 5 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 1685
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID CHOY82101
Peak ID CHOY
Year 1982
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 SE Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Austria
Leaders Wolfgang Nairz
Sponsor Austrian Cho Oyu Expedition 1982
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 W Germany
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1982-04-18
Summit Date 1982-05-04
Summit Time -
Summit Days 16
Total Days 35
Termination Date 1982-05-23
Termination Reason 6
Termination Notes Abandoned at 6900m due to fatal avalanche
High Point (m) 6900
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 2
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 4
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 1
Total Hired 5
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical True
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(18/04,5170m),C1(30/04,5900m),C2(06/05,6550m),xxx(04/05,6900m)
Route Notes Nairz - 27 May 82 BC - 5170m 18 April Depot 5300m on glacier 21 April (used for making route to C1) C1 5900m 30 April Quite difficult route to C1 - rocks and then 40m overhang. From C1 very steep to seracs (but safe). 6200m big plateau, then up 6550m to C2 north lower end of face. In C1 1st time on 6th May (had been there on 4th May) and then all down to BC for rest. 3 started up on 12th to C1 to C2. May 13/14 night weather 1m fresh snow in C2 and down to BC again. A member [Mayr] had tooth problem and went down. May 17th 2 to C1. May 18th 2 to C2 and Mayr to C1. May 19th an avalanche. C2 was in crevasse in bergschrund - safe place, nothing hanging over camp. Avalanche of ice came down face and on top of 2 tents in C2. Nairz had just before being hit, pulled head over his face. Karl's face smashed in. 5 Sherpas' tent not covered by avalanche itself but felt blast. Came out of tent within seconds. After 20 mins found Karl and 15 mins later found Nairz who was unconscious. Carried him to their tent, put him in 2 sleeping bags and gave oxygen. After 2 hrs became conscious. Nairz's right leg broken and right hand bruised and swollen. Left C2 9:30 am, very slowly and under sedative but impossible to be carried. Before leaving buried Karl in crevasse near C2. Met Mayr coming up, realizing something must be wrong cause saw no track above C1 towards site for C3 at 7400m-7500m at top of steep part. Plan was Nairz and Karl to make route to C3, a biv and Mayr to catch up with them there. 5 Sherpas to carry to C3 and one Maila Pemba to stay for next day's summit bid while other 4 to stay in C2. BC just W of Thonak Tsho lake (where Japanese had theirs). Route up Lungsampa Glacier. Depot camp at "s" in Lungsampa Glacier on Schneider map. Then across rock east and northeast of depot, up glacier north of their rock. C1 at end of rock, before ice. C2 due east of summit. Route same as Austria-German in upper part of climb, i.e., from C2 upwards. Below mountain now different from then. This SE Face route is only route from Nepali side at all safe and possible today. S Ridge is possible to 7000m and then too difficult steep rock and really vertical ice wall. SW Face not seen by this team in lower part, but upper can be seen as overhanging and steep rock pillars threatened by avalanches. On SE Face most difficult part is up to 6200m. Highest point reached was 6900m on 4th May by all 3 members. Nairz - 9 April 82 Route = SE Face probably, perhaps ENE Ridge (which is not permitted). BC somewhere on Lungsampa Glacier or thereabouts perhaps near a lake; altitude not now known. Does not believe Saleki reached summit. Also doubts Stammberger reached summit earlier. 3-4 camps above BC. Arrive BC 15-16 April. Letter from Nairz, BC - 15 May 1982 Our first summit was stopped by heavy snowfall in C2 (1-1/2 m snow in 5 hours). We nearly had problems to come down to BC. Now if the weather is good we will try again and start on May 17. The only thing what we need now is good weather for 4-5 days. Maila Pemba sirdar will try with us to reach the summit. Letter from Nairz, BC - 8 May 82 After 7 days work on the mountain we came down for rest in BC. We have established C2 in 6500m and had been up to about 7000m. Now on May 11 we will start to try the summit. C1 (5900m), C2, (6520m) from there we will go up to about 7500m, make a bivouack there and start on the next day to the summit. We all 3 feel quite well and we hope we can do it. The way is quite difficult. Now after the doctor, 1 Sherpa is at Khunde with hepatitis and another we send out today, probably the same. Letter from Nairz, BC - 24 April 1982 We reached BC on April 18, an altitude of 5170m. On the next day I went over the glacier for reconnaissance, on April 20 [with] R. Mayr and R. Karl. But we must see that on the right side of the big rock pillar is no possibility, so we wanted to stay on the other side the next day. But on this day morning, the April 21, the doctor Oswald Oelz was unconscious in his tent, with severe high altitude sickness. We send immediately one sirdar to the Namche Radio to ask for helicopter and we started to carry him down on a stretcher, down to Gokyo; it took us 7 hours and he got better. Fortunately we met Swiss Doctors in Gokyo. They had some medicines, the other R. Karl brought from BC (he run up in 2 hours from Gokyo). I ran out to Khunde in 5 hours to bring some oxygen and more medicines in case the helicopter will not come on the next day. R. Mayr and the Sherpas carried the doctor the whole night. In the morning he was better and at 8:30 on April 22, the helcopter arrived. If we had not met this 2 Swiss Doctors, I'm sure that Dr. Oelz had been dead. It was like 2 wonders. Now, today R. Mayr and R. Karl looked on the other side of the rock pillar and some hours ago they told me by radio that there is a good possibility to reach the top of the pillar, we need only about 400m fixed ropes. So we will start tomorrow to climb up and to prepare the way for the Sherpas and we hope that we can establish C1 in the next 4 days. It should be about 6000m high. We all others are now quite well acclimatized and we hope that also the weather will be good the next week.
Accidents Oelz severe AMS
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route False
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2450721
Year 1982
Summit Success False
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) se face

Members

5 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Reinhard Karl M 1946 W Germany Climber Heidelberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, W Germany Student Details Other expeditions
Rudolf Alexander (Rudi) Mayr M 1956 Austria Climber Wattens, Tirol, Austria Innkeeper Details Other expeditions
Wolfgang Nairz M 1944 Austria Leader Innsbruck, Tirol, Austria Director of mountaineering school Details Other expeditions
Oswald Oelz M 1943 Austria Dep Leader/Exp Doctor Ebmatingen, Zurich, Switzerland Physician Details Other expeditions
Maila Pemba Sherpa M 1953 Nepal Sirdar Kurima, Lokhim-9, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

6 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
CHOY82101 AAJ Oelz, Oswald - - 57:232-233 (1983) -
CHOY82101 - Mayr, Rudi Stille Abenteuer Steiger, Innsbruck - M248
CHOY82101 MM - - - 86:11 (Jul 1982) -
CHOY82101 - Dauer, Tom Reinhard Karl AS Verlag, Zurich - -
CHOY82101 - Nairz, Wolfgang Nepal, Durchwandern und Erleben Steiger Verlag, Innsbruck - N12
CHOY82101 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198323203/Asia-Nepal-Cho-Oyu-South-Face-Attempt - - -