Ski touring @8000m+
There are only a handful of the 14 eight thousander mountains which are skiable almost all the way from top to bottom. Cho Oyu is one of them and it is also one of the “easier” 8000 meter mountains on Earth.
Of course, we have the “first ski descent of K2” and “skiing Everest” sorts of news… As many of us know, rock is unpleasant, if not impossible to ski on and these descents are only skied in a small proportion. The brave adventurers are often forced to unmount and tie the skis on their backpacks and rapell… But when we talk about skiing Cho Oyu, you’ll know that it’s real from top to bottom (not that Everest/K2 descents aren’t real – hands down for anyone who carves turns at those altitudes)… Cho Oyu can be tour skied almost all the way up and down.
Ski touring at such altitudes is pretty demanding as you can imagine – it’s actually tougher on your body to carve turns in deep snow or frozen firn, than it is to slowly inch your way in crampons on the ridge. Plus, on the ascent, you have all the mounting/unmounting to do which also takes a whole lot of steam.
Also, when you tourski way up there, you run into a whole lot of issues with gear. Especially footwear. High altitude climbing boots are pretty good already with insulation and keeping your feet dry, but the same cannot be said for ski touring boots. So you need overboots and those sorts of things. So it’s really a lot more complicated.
As you might imagine, the whole equipment issue ends up being a weight issue. When every gram counts, it’s a real pain in the ass to have to carry a 1.7-1.8 kg skiset on your back, heavy skiboots on your feet and the extra “gaiters on steroids” for protecting your feet. Not to mention the wind occasionally catching the skis every now and then.
But then, in deep snow when the slope isn’t too steep, you advance with less effort. You’re also a lot faster on the way down (unless you’re forced to rapell a lot and carry your skis) which adds a great deal of safety to the descent. What diminishes that presumed safety advantage is the condition that instead of going on in a group where you are near one another and can easily help, ski descents are more lonely. At this altitude, if the top guy takes a spill and the others have skied down a few hundred meters, it’s a real crappy situation if they have to climb back up to assist.
The whole reason I’m typing this post now is beacause on of our mountain guides, Laci Mécs is over on Cho Oyu right now, going for a ski descent, so I thought it’s a timely thing to share with you some of the issues we discussed before his departure. Wishing him and the rest of the team the best of luck and plenty of backwind for the descent… and wishing you a long ski touring season:
Dan Bergstein