Vijay Ahuja recalls Cho Oyu 2005
About an hour before our arrival in Kathmandu, I looked out of the plane window to see the Himalayan mountains come into view. They were vast and unwelcoming. The magnitude of the challenge ahead suddenly dawned on me. As a relatively inexperienced mountaineer, climbing an 8000m peak is no small feat. I was overcome with anxiety.
On arrival in Kathmandu, I was met by our expedition leader, Roger McMorrow, and fellow climber Mick O?Dwyer. Over the following 1-2 days the remainder of the team arrived, the majority of whom I was meeting for the first time. We spent a week in Kathmandu conducting baseline exercise tests and addressing last minute admin before our move to the mountain. As a team we also began to get to know each other. As the beer flowed and the banter exchanged, it was clear that we were going to get on extremely well over the subsequent weeks, as indeed was the case. As the youngest member of the group and as yet only a mere medical student, I was made to feel very welcome as an integral member of the team.
Finally, in early September, we began our journey to the mountain. From Kathmandu, at an elevation of slightly over 1000m, we were to ascend to 5000m, the elevation of the Chinese Base Camp on Cho Oyu. This was obviously quite a significant jump in altitude, so we took the best part of a week over the journey to allow ourselves time to acclimatise. As we neared the mountain, our sense of anticipation and excitement grew. We began to see posters of Cho Oyu in the guest houses- it looked massive! Finally, roughly 2 weeks into our expedition, the mountain came into view. We all jumped out of our Land Rovers and began avidly snapping away. Ahead of us lay what would be our focus and indeed obsession for the following 4 weeks?.
The 4 weeks on the mountain was a fascinating adventure. There were many highs and lows and a myriad of emotions experienced along the way. The effects of the altitude were numerous and often unpleasant. We all experienced breathlessness but I also suffered from severe headaches for a period, which was slightly unnerving. From an early stage we were all examining our personal reactions to the altitude to gauge our likelihood of success on the mountain. We all had bad days when summitting the mountain felt like nothing more than a pipe dream. Ultimately though, 6 of the 7 climbers on our trip successfully got to the top.
The expedition was a great success. We conducted various sleep and exercise studies as well as an examination of the various supplementary oxygen systems currently in use, amongst others. We also learnt a number of lessons ahead of Cho Oyu 06 and Everest 07. But above all, we made some great friends and had an extremely enjoyable and memorable experience.