Mountain diary

19th October (1997)
     Toni flies from Jomson to Pokara and he travels at night to Kathmandu. Álex and Jesús move down to Lete.

20th October
     Toni prepares in Kathmandu the formalities of the permit. Álex and Jesús move up to Jomson.

21st October
     Toni is still in Kathmandu. Álex and Jesús fly to Pokara; they take the bus in Kathmandu at night.

22nd October
     Álex and Jesús arrive at Kathmandu.

23rd October
     They arrange everything for Jesús and Álex to go forward with porters.

24th October
     They stay in Kathmandu.

25th October
     Álex and Jesús fly to Lukla. Toni waits for the money sent from Galicia.

26th October
     Álex and Jesús climb up to Namche Bazar (3500m) with porters.

27th October
     Lack of money keeps them back in Namche Bazar.

28th October
     Jesús returns to Lukla to pick up the money sent by Toni from Kathmandu. They climb up to Thame (4100m) with the yaks. Marcos, a Basque mountaineer, joins them.

29th October
     Jesús and álex, with the yaks caravan, move up to Chola, last inhabited place on the way to Mt Cho-Oyu.

30th October
     Toni flies to Lukla with the money left and the permit. On the same day he climbs up to Thamo. On his way he meets the Argentinean Daniel Eisenberg.

31st October
     Álex, Jesús, Marcos and the yaks caravan arrive at basecamp (5500m). At the end of the day arrives also Toni.

1st November
     They pitch down the basecamp. Countless Tibetan refugees pass by here to go to see the Dalai Lama. Also lots of Tibetan merchants caravans with yaks pass by. Marcos returns to Namche.

2nd November
     Álex, Jesús and Toni, with packs of 25-30kg, start the approach to the Cho-Oyu wall. They sleep in the Nampa-La Pass (5900m). As the other days, they pass lots of yaks caravans which cross the pass to go to Namche.

3rd November
     From the pass they go to the Cho-Oyu base. They spend the night in the glacier, 6100m in height, where Álex will remain.

4th November
     Toni and Jesús restart the ascent. Because of the wind they must stop when they were at 6700m. Álex films the climb from the tent.

5th November
     Toni and Jesús restart the ascent and arrive at Camp III (7600m), where they pitch down the tent to spent the night.

6th November
     They leave for the summit with the first daylights. Shortly afterwards, Tony feels his feet and hands very cold, so he decides to come back. Jesús goes further on his own. By 5.00pm he returns having conquered the summit.

7th November
     Toni and Jesús move down to the glacier, where Álex is waiting for them.

8th November
     They return to basecamp.

9th November
     Jesús goes before and set off for Namche. Álex and Toni remove the basecamp.

10th November
     Jesús moves down to Lukla. Álex and Toni move down to Thame.

11th November
     Jesús flies to Kathmandu. Álex and Toni move down to Namche Bazar and wait for the porters.