This article is part of an ongoing series covering Benedikt Boehm and Prakash Sherpa’s planned speed ascent of Cho Oyu, Tibet — the 6th highest mountain in the world. For background information, click here.
Benedikt Boehm and Prakash Sherpa have returned to advanced base camp after an acclimatization push up the flanks of Cho Oyu.
Yesterday, October 2nd, after a night of fitful sleep at Camp 2, Boehm and Sherpa attempted to climb to the summit of Cho Oyu. Note that this wasn’t the complete speed ascent the team is preparing to undergo in the coming days.
Instead, it was an acclimatization effort, a climb designed to ensure that the pair’s bodies were ready to ascend and descend Cho Oyu from advanced base camp in one day (Boehm has noted several times that the acclimatization is primarily for his benefit, as Sherpa maintains high-altitude fitness far better than the average person).
Unfortunately, the team couldn’t reach the summit yesterday due to whiteout conditions.
Boehm described the climb, making particular note of Sherpa’s incredible level of fitness:
“Even before the yellow band at around 7,350m we only see small headlamps behind us. I’m surprised at how fast we are. No, better said how fast I am. Prakash is just incredibly fast. I can’t keep up his pace. He also feels a lot because wind and snow have buried the old tracks. Prakash is naturally acclimatized. He also did a lot of guiding at high altitudes this summer and is extremely well adapted. He starts again with intervals. I just can’t believe it…I was on 8,000m peaks with some professionals like Uli Steck. I never even felt like I couldn’t keep up. On the contrary. But Prakash his power and adaptability is just phenomenal.”
With these observations, it’s important to remember that Boehm is arguably one of the fittest mountain athletes on Earth. If someone’s beating him on the uphill, like Sherpa, they’re in a league of their own.
Then, it was time for the trek back down to Camp 2, where the team had spent the previous night:
“Storms and snowfall are now spreading to lower altitudes. We finally reach camp two and dismantle everything. There is a lot of snow in the tent. The visibility is bad. The wind keeps whipping in your face. Not only did neither of us eat breakfast, but we also drank very (far too) little. My bottle is frozen and my throat is so swollen that I know it’s going to be another hard day for my body. Because I can’t swallow anything anymore. We both want to move on quickly. After a few abseils we finally get closer to Camp 1.”
The journey continued with the team also making a pit stop at Camp 1:
“Camp 1 packed up. I knew that now the hardest part was coming. The endless path over the glacial moraine to the base camp. Up and down the hill. As I find myself in a trance-like state on the moraine, my thoughts are completely lost. I’ll let the others go first. We met Zuran (the Georgian) and his Sherpa in Camp 1. The 3 (including Prakash) go first. I try to convince myself that the moraine is beautiful. And that I can now go for a nice walk…I don’t know exactly what’s trying to come out of my lungs, but I try to avoid coughing as much as possible. Because it would somehow need fluid in my body to dissolve whatever is in there. But my body has a large deficit in fluids. Not even a milliliter is left. When I still have to cough, everything is so hard. The only thing left is a slightly bloody taste in the mouth. I know this feeling of endless exhaustion and emptiness from other speed climbs. I remember exhausting myself in very cold cross-country ski races as a child. Afterwards I had similar pressure on my lungs. I now only have 3 wishes when I finally arrive at base camp: 1. I have to wash my body with 2-3 liters of warm drinks so that everything goes away. 2. I really want to take a shower. 3. Eating something even though it is the least of my needs.”
During the evening at Camp 2 before the acclimatization summit attempt, Boehm encountered Nirmal Purja, whom he refers to as “Nimsdai.” Purja is a Nepalese mountaineer and entrepreneur broadly known for his Netflix film 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, wherein he climbed all of the world’s 8,000+ meter peaks in under seven months — a world record. He was at Cho Oyu for a guided expedition with his clients.
Purja, and Boehm’s partner Sherpa, represent a contemporary changing of the guard in guiding service ownership. Previously, guided trips in Tibet and Nepal were primarily led by Western organizations. Now, more and more local guide services, like those owned by Purja and Sherpa, are cropping up.
Boehm explains:
“It’s important to talk briefly about Nimsdai because he represents some profound changes in commercial high-altitude mountaineering. Firstly, you can see that Nepalese mountaineering agencies are largely replacing Western agencies. It’s also good that local agencies benefit directly. Prakash is also a good example, who serves well-known customers from all over the world with his agency ‘Alpinist Climber Expeditions’. Prakash can choose his customers and he mostly has exclusive individual customers. The former dominance of Western organizations as I knew them 10 years ago is gone.”
Now, Boehm and Sherpa are awaiting a weather window for the full-speed ascent:
“We are now ready to go after just 6 days. Nevertheless, I have a few thoughts about the speed ascent. There is supposed to be a lot of snow. This is bad. Because that means losing an incredible amount of power when tracking. Finding the ropes. And there may be a danger of avalanches…It would be great if it worked at all. Whatever the time is then. As far as I could research, no one has attempted something like this yet.”
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