Cho Oyu

The sixth-highest mountain on Earth, 8,188 metres on the border between Nepal and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, twenty kilometres west of Everest. The name in Tibetan means "turquoise goddess," a reference to the colour the mountain takes on at sunset. Cho Oyu has the reputation, among the 8000ers, as the most accessible — the mountain on which a climber can earn high-altitude experience before attempting more dangerous peaks.

The first ascent came in 1954, the year before Kangchenjunga and the year after Everest. An Austrian expedition led by Herbert Tichy reached the summit in October — late in the season, after the main monsoon, in a four-man team that climbed in alpine style with minimal oxygen. The summit pair was Tichy himself, Joseph Jöchler, and Pasang Dawa Lama. The expedition cost 600 pounds, a fraction of what comparable expeditions of the era spent on Everest. Tichy's account of the climb is a classic of mountaineering literature for its modesty.

The standard route from Tibet, the Northwest Ridge, is technically straightforward by 8000-metre standards. There are no significant ice falls, no major crevasse fields, and a long broad summit plateau. The fatality rate is approximately 1.4 percent — the lowest of any 8000-metre peak. For this reason, Cho Oyu is the 8000er most frequently attempted by commercial expeditions and by climbers building toward Everest.

What this should not suggest is that the mountain is trivial. Cho Oyu is still over 8,000 metres. Climbers still die there. The summit plateau is so vast that in poor visibility some teams have descended on the wrong side of the mountain. The accessibility of Cho Oyu is relative. It is accessible only in the company of the other 8000ers.