Cho Oyu | 1982 SE Face

A Italy expedition to Cho Oyu in 1982 via SE Face, led by Reinhold Messner. Summit reached on 18th December 1982. 8 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 1535
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID CHOY82401
Peak ID CHOY
Year 1982
Season 4
Host Country 1
Route 1 SE Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Italy
Leaders Reinhold Messner
Sponsor South Tirolean Cho Oyu Winter Expedition 1982-83
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 Austria, Poland
Approach Lukla->Gokyo Valley
Basecamp Date 1982-11-29
Summit Date 1982-12-18
Summit Time -
Summit Days 19
Total Days 23
Termination Date 1982-12-22
Termination Reason 5
Termination Notes Abandoned at 7500m due to dangerous seracs
High Point (m) 7500
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 7
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 4
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 False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits Island Peak summited by all members except Oelz in Nov 1982
Campsites BC(29/11,5200m),C1(02/12,6000m),C2(06/12,6600m),C3(18/12,7500m),xxx(18/12,7500m)
Route Notes Messner wants Cho Oyu again via SW Face which is probably more difficult but less dangerous. Would like it for next autumn with one other, Kammerlander. "On normal route sure to succeed." Alpine-style, Dhaulagiri I NE Ridge, Spring 1984. S Face Lhotse - more direct route than Yugoslavs - 12 good climbers. E Face of Makalu. W Face of Ama Dablam - it's not so high. I'm not so interested in winter. Weather better, cold not so bad and winds. "Did not stop climbing except once. Did not think we could be stopped in winter by snow. Now I've had the experience." Our camp sites 100% safe but route had to pass under serac, threatening walk where had to run across. "Its a dangerous face, more dangerous than difficult. Difficult part was pillar." Oelz - 25 Dec 82 Hanny on 16 Dec at beginning of pillar at 7100m. At 15:20 hours big avalanche came off at about 7500m and roared over him; he was in crevasse in small tent where he bivouacing for the night and helped Reinhold and Hans on the pillar (then at that time in C2 at 6600m) next day, which he did. Oelz had been with Hanny that day but had no interest in biv and was descending where heard seracs break off icefall from seracs all the time. Stone fell also. On 17th Messner and Hans escaped from high piece of rock which smashed into pieces 10m above him at about 7300m. Kurtyka, Eisendle and Oelz in Karl-accident area. If 5 minutes earlier at a site would have been buried by ice avalanche, on 6th or 7th Dec, so actually only got hit by shower of tiny ice particles. Mutschlechner did not go above C1 because frostbite not entirely healed from Kangchenjunga. Actually all members Ok; no injuries, no frostbite. No sign of Karl or Austrian C2 near where he was killed by ice avalanche. "I consider us very lucky that all of us came back even without the summit." Messner today in Lukla, to KTM tomorrow; waiting for all loads to reach Lukla today by yak. Hanny thinks because altitude didn't realize his danger and was deep in crevasse. Pieces of ice did bury him and he had to dig himself out, then stayed where he was. Sharma, Tourism - 24 Dec 82 Failed on SE Face after making C3 18 Dec 7500m. All difficulties climbed, but endless powder snow made it impossible to continue, so we had to give up at beginning of less steep summit slopes. "It was an important experience, hard climb and hard conditions." 22nd Dec will leave BC. Sharma, Tourism - 12 Dec 82 Messner's letter to Sharma says they made a temperature C2 at 6600m on 6 Dec. All well. Messner - 2 Nov 82 7 climbers and 4 Sherpas above BC - Ang Dorje Route = SE Face, perhaps above 6500m will be same as unauthorized Austrian-Germans. BC at 5100m on right side of glacier. Maximum 3 camps above BC, possibly 2 only. Snowholes in every camp. Start climb 1st Dec, will go to summit: "small chance if we do not do it before Xmas." More than 60 steepness in middle of face; will require fixed ropes with winter wind. 2 weeks minimum to prepare face for summit push. Probably 3 weeks climb. No oxygen at all. Official name in Nepal: Italian-Nepalese Cho Oyu Winter Expedition. For selves: South Tirolean Cho Oyu Winter Expedition 1982-3. Fly to Lukla on 6 Nov. Oelz arrives 6 Nov and he and Messner probably go to Lukla on 7th.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route False
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2450949
Year 1982
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) se face

Members

8 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Hans Peter Eisendle M 1956 Italy Climber Sterzing, Bolzano, Italy Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Paul Hanny M 1940 Italy Climber Naturno, Bolzano, Italy Hotel manager Details Other expeditions
Johann (Hans) Kammerlander M 1956 Italy Climber Sand in Taufers, Bolzano, Italy Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Wojciech (Voytek) Kurtyka M 1947 Poland Climber Krakow, Poland Electronics engineer Details Other expeditions
Reinhold Messner M 1944 Italy Leader Villnoss, Bolzano, Italy Alpinist & author of climbing books Details Other expeditions
Gottfried (Friedl) Mutschlechner M 1949 Italy Climber Brunico, Bolzano, Italy Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Oswald Oelz M 1943 Austria Exp Doctor Ebmatingen, Zurich, Switzerland Physician Details Other expeditions
Ang Dorje Sherpa M - Nepal H-A Worker Thamo, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

5 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
CHOY82401 AAJ Oelz, Oswald - - 57:233 (1983) -
CHOY82401 - Mutschlechner, Friedl Einer Geht Immer Voraus Rudolf Rother, Munich - M585
CHOY82401 - Messner, Reinhold 3x8000 Herbig, Munich - M343
CHOY82401 MM - - - 90:9 (Mar 1983) -
CHOY82401 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198323301/Asia-Nepal-Cho-Oyu-South-Face-Winter-Attempt - - -