Cho Oyu | 1997 NW side

A UK expedition to Cho Oyu in 1997 via NW side, led by Willie Benegas. Summit reached on 20th May 1997. 9 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 2240
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID CHOY97116
Peak ID CHOY
Year 1997
Season 1
Host Country 2
Route 1 NW side
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality UK
Leaders Willie Benegas
Sponsor OTT (Out There Trekking) Cho Oyu Expedition - Group II
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 253
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Australia, USA
Approach KTM->Tingri->BC
Basecamp Date 1997-04-25
Summit Date 1997-05-20
Summit Time -
Summit Days 25
Total Days 32
Termination Date 1997-05-27
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 8188
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 7
Summit Members 3
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 3
Summit Hired 2
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 -
Campsites BC(25/04,4900m),ABC(28/04,5650m),C1(03/05,6350m),C2(09/05,7000m),C3(19/05,7550m),Smt(20/05)
Route Notes 1 May established C1. All went to C1. May 2 rest day. May 3 all slept at C1. May 4 all rest at C1. May 5 all carried gear to C2 except Rigby, Swinney and all slept at ABC. May 6-7 rest. May 8 all slept at C1. May 9 all slept at C1. May 10 all slept C2 except Swinney and Rigby. May 10 Pemba Sherpa and Mingma Sherpa established C3. May 11 all except the 2 slept at C2. May 12 all returned to ABC. May 13-16 rest. May 17 Arthur, Spencer and Stacey went to C1. May 18 the 3 went to C2. And Newbigin (joining from Group I), Robb, Swinney, Benegas went to C1. On 19 went to C3 the first group of [team] to summit (they started at 4 am). The 3 summiters (Arthur, Spencer and Stacey) went to C2. The summiters reached ABC on May 21. On 20 Benegas reached C3. On May 21 started at 2 am, reached 8000m. It was too windy, so returned to C2. On May 22 Benegas returned to ABC. On 19 May Robb went to ABC, Newbigin and Swinney went to C2. On May 21 went to C3, on May 22 tried summit went up 50m was too windy and returned to ABC on same day. Cleaned mess left by Canadian, US, Catalan Basque expeditions: Burned everything. Was last expedition to leave Cho-Oyu.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Himalaya Expeditions
Commercial Route True
Standard Route True
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2456321
Year 1997
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) nw side

Members

9 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Charles Arthur M 1953 UK Climber London, England Banker Details Other expeditions
Guillermo (Willie) Benegas M 1968 USA Leader Berkeley, California Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Jon Rigby M 1959 UK Climber Ambleside, Cumbria, England Social worker Details Other expeditions
Geoffrey John (Geoff) Robb M 1953 Australia Climber Sydney, NSW, Australia Banker Details Other expeditions
David Anthony Spencer M 1963 UK Climber Bern, Switzerland Geologist Details Other expeditions
Samuel Stacey M 1966 UK Climber Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Structural engineer Details Other expeditions
Jeffrey Swinney M 1956 UK Climber London, England Engineer Details Other expeditions
Pemba Tshering/Chhiring Sherpa M - Nepal H-A Worker Kharikhola, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Mingma Dorje Sherpa M 1972 Nepal H-A Worker Kharikhola, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

1 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
CHOY97116 HIGH - - - 179:28 (Oct 1997) -