Why Climb Cho-Oyu with Alpine Ascents?
2011 - Brien Sheedy and Lakpa Rita Sherpa led our team to the summit in 2011. Most expeditions left well before Alpine Ascents without a summit attempt but our team diligently hung in there and reached the summit on October 4, 2011. We look forward to similar success in 2013.
2009 - Re-cap: Another outstanding year with Michael Horst and Lakpa Rita Sherpa leading climbers to the summit. This season, Alpine Ascents had an 8 climber team with 6 climbers reaching the summit (2 of the climbers left early in the expedition).
Success: Previous Alpine Ascent’s Cho-Oyu expeditions have placed 50 members on the summit!
- Outstanding guide and Sherpa Staff - usually the same group as our renowned Everest team
- Climber-to-guide ratio: Low climber-to-guide ratio.
- Acclimatization: Slow acclimatization schedule. We believe there is no point in moving to a higher elevation unless climbers feel good where they are. Given this, we take the time needed early in the trip to establish a sound base of acclimatization.
- Base Camp: A permanent Base Camp is established for the duration of the Expedition.
- Communication on the mountain: All guides are equipped with radios for communication on the mountain.
- You are the climbing team Alpine Ascents keeps our base camp small, and does not use base camp to support/house self-guided a or partially guided teams.
- Oxygen: High-altitude oxygen systems are used for the summit attempt, during the night at High Camp, and for medical emergencies should the need arise.
- Satellite telephone system and cybercasts: A Satellite telephone system is set in Base Camp. This provides direct emergency contact with home and is our regular link to the Alpine office, where we receive regular messages that are then posted on our web site. This depth of contact can only be had with a well-established, long term guiding company. Email and Satellite phone for climbers.
- Administrative staff: Our tightly knit staff is always available to answer questions and address concerns. It is not uncommon for family members to contact us during the climb for information about the climb and climbers. There is always someone available, on cell phone during non-office hours, who can address concerns, handle lost luggage, make arrangements if flights are missed or delayed, relay messages directly to the team, or mitigate any of the numerous situations that may arise before, during and after the climb.
- Currently aware of delicate visa process for entering Tibet -
Alpine Ascents Success on Himalayan Peaks
Our reputation for leading climbs in the Himalayas is superb and includes summits of Cho-Oyu, Ama Dablam, Pumori and over a dozen successful guided climbs of Mt. Everest with a record 213 climbers reaching the summit of the world’s highest peak. Some of our past Cho-Oyu climbs have 100% summit success.We encourage you to review our cybercasts from previous expeditions.
Our Guiding Team
Our guiding team is comprised of world-renowned guides and full-time professional climbers. Many of these guides have historical climbing achievements synonymous with their names. They are part of Alpine Ascents because they understand and share our climbing principles. These individuals are dedicated to sharing their excellence with others. The role of an Alpine Ascents guide is to impart knowledge, use calculated judgement and assist individual climber development. Our guides are experienced educators who evaluate their strengths by monitoring climbers’ achievements. Thus we stress our acute ability to provide expedition members with personal attention, realizing the commitment to assist each climber in obtaining their goals.