Summit Climb Cholatse Autumn 2009

Yesterday on October 11th we (Felix Berg and Robert Steiner, both from Germany) summited Cholatse on the normal route around 9:20 a.m. local time. Our satellite telephone fell down 700 metres, but we found it and it is still working. Now we are on our way back down into the valley. Thanks for following along our expedition. Bye.

10/9: Hello SummitClimb news, this is Felix Berg the leader of the Cholatse expedition.

Yesterday we crossed the Cho La pass and camped at the base of the normal route. We had a clear night and our first sunny day in quite a while. We are thinking of doing the normal route, as it should have less avalanche danger than the north face. At the moment we are at 5150 metres/16,900 feet on the moraine ridge overlooking the normal route. Wish us luck. We’ll call in again soon.

10/5: Hello SummitClimb news, this is Felix Berg the leader of the Cholatse expedition.

We’re back in basecamp and it has been raining heavily the last few days. So we haven’t done much progress on the mountain and have been mainly hanging around camp and doing some fun hikes in the surrounding area. Yesterday we reached 5800 metres and had had a chance to look around and see stunning views, despite the rain.

We have yet to get up high on the mountain. Besides that, the weather continues to look bad, raining continuously. There is not much to do but wait in basecamp and hope the weather improves. I will call in again when the weather looks better and we are moving up the mountain. Bye for now.

30 September, 2009:  

We have spent the last few days acclimating and hiked up to the Cho La Col during two days of bad weather and camped there at 5500 metres/18,100 feet on the glacier. The next day we snow and ice climbed up on the ridge to about 6100 metres/20,000 feet. The view was amazing and we luckily picked the only good weather day, allowing us views of Cho Oyu, Tibet, Pumori, Everest, Nuptse and Ama Dablam. We descended to 5500 metres to get afternoon snowfall, followed by another day back to basecamp in mixed weather. Unfortunately, Robert has a small flu, so he is resting in BC while I hiked to Kala Patar with beautiful views of Nuptse, Everest and Pumori. Thanks for following our expedition. - Felix Berg

9/24: Hello SummitClimb news, this is Felix Berg the leader of the Cholatse expedition.

We arrived at Cholatse basecamp 2 days ago on the 22nd. There was mixed weather, so yesterday we spent all day walking around and acclimating up to 5100 metres/16,700 feet. Today the weather is good again and we’re going to hike up to Chola Col, which is at about 5600 metres/18,400 feet to get acclimated and spend a few nights up there.

Thanks for following along our expedition. All the best. Bye.

21 September, 2009: 

We reached Pheriche (4300 metres/14,100 feet) today, where we will spend the last tea-house night before reaching basecamp tomorrow. Acclimatization is going well, and we're feeling healthy too. Today in the morning we sorted all our necessary equipment and picked up some basecamp gear from our SummitClimb store in Pangboche. Very convenient to have it there. We're getting excited to reach the mountain soon. Thanks for following along our expedition.

18 September, 2009

We trekked up to Namche Bazaar (3300m) today. It rained heavy through the night, but kept dry during the morning, in which we hiked up. Now we are wandering around Namche, ckecking the shops for last-minute shopping. We're getting excited to reach Cholatse and are surrounded by stunning views of neighbouring peaks. Thanks for following our expedition. We'll report in again soon.

15 September, 2009

Our 3rd post-monsoon expedition is on the way. We look forward to exploring a new mountain, possibly a new route in the Khumbu valley with the peak of Cholatse (6400 metres/21,000 feet).

Our team consists of Felix Berg and Robert Steiner, both from Gremany. We plan to climb in alpine style, keeping our approach light, flexible and inexpensive.

Our flight from Frankfurt to Dehli with Air India was the first interesting experience. No problem with the check-in, old-fashion living room design and movies, but quite good food, our landing went quite rough and ended with a full-break and squeaky landing. Waiting at the Delhi airport over night we got very excited to reach Kathmandu, now finally we are here.

We met our local agency for SummitClimb in Kathmandu and started with the preparation work. With 45 days planned in Nepal we have a lot of time to get acclimated, explore the Khumbu valley and possibly get more than just one climb done. From now on we will be calling in some dispatches from our satellite phone, so stay tuned. Thanks for following along our expedition! - Felix Berg

Millet One Sport Everest Boot  has made some minor changes by adding more Kevlar. USES Expeditions / High altitude / Mountaineering in extremely cold conditions / Isothermal to -75°F Gore-Tex® Top dry / Evazote Reinforcements with aramid threads. Avg. Weight: 5 lbs 13 oz Sizes: 5 - 14 DESCRIPTION Boot with semi-rigid shell and built-in Gore-Tex® gaiter reinforced by aramid threads, and removable inner slipper Automatic crampon attachment Non-compressive fastening Double zip, so easier to put on Microcellular midsole to increase insulation Removable inner slipper in aluminized alveolate Fiberglass and carbon footbed Cordura + Evazote upper Elasticated collar. Expedition footwear for mountaineering in conditions of extreme cold.  NOTE US SIZES LISTED. See more here.

A cold weather, high altitude double boot for extreme conditions The Olympus Mons is the perfect choice for 8000-meter peaks. This super lightweight double boot has a PE thermal insulating inner boot that is coupled with a thermo-reflective outer boot with an integrated gaiter. We used a super insulating lightweight PE outsole to keep the weight down and the TPU midsole is excellent for crampon compatibility and stability on steep terrain. WEIGHT: 39.86 oz • 1130 g LAST: Olympus Mons CONSTRUCTION: Inner: Slip lasted Outer: Board Lasted OUTER BOOT: Cordura® upper lined with dual-density PE micro-cellular thermal insulating closed cell foam and thermo-reflective aluminium facing/ Insulated removable footbed/ Vibram® rubber rand See more here.

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