Mondinelli and Confortola summit Cho Oyu

At 9.00 am Nepalese time Silvio Mondinelli and Marco Confortola reached the summit of Cho Oyu (8201m). The two Italian mountaineers made the most of a brief weather window: they departed from Base Camp at 5600m at 14.00 on 1 May and, after resting briefly in Camp 2 at 7000m, they set off in the deep of the night towards the summit. Mondinelli set foot on the top on 9.00am on 2 May and was followed by Marco Confortola - the two needed just 19 hours to reach the summit from Base Camp, which they reached safely later that afternoon.

The rush to the summit of Cho Oyu bodes well for their next appointment in June: Broad Peak, the only remaining 8000er summit missing in Silvio Mondinelli important Himalayan curriculum. Cho Oyu is Confortola's 5th Himalayan summit after Everest (2004) and Shisha Pangma, Lhotse, Annapurna (2006). Mondinelli on the otherhand had already climbed Cho Oyu in 1997


Silvio Mondinelli wanted to dedicate his ascent to the unfortunate Dhaulagiri expedition which included his friend Mario Merelli. The death of Sergio Dalla Longa, just a few meters from the summit, was an immense blow to all and reminds all, as if the need still arises, the true nature of adventure (always difficult and unpredictable) on the highest mountains in the world