Editing Cho Oyu (section)

==Climbing history==
Cho Oyu was [[1952 British Cho Oyu expedition|first attempted in 1952]] by an expedition organised and financed by the [[Joint Himalayan Committee]] of Great Britain as preparation for an attempt on Mount Everest the following year. The expedition was led by [[Eric Shipton]] and included [[Edmund Hillary]], [[Tom Bourdillon]] and [[George Lowe (mountaineer)|George Lowe]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/6h1/3/3|title=Cho Oyu expedition team, 1952|encyclopedia=The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography|first=Shaun|last=Barnett|date=7 December 2010}}</ref>  A foray by Hillary and Lowe was stopped due to technical difficulties and avalanche danger at an ice cliff above {{convert|6650|m|ft|-1|abbr=on}} and a report of Chinese troops a short distance across the border influenced Shipton to retreat from the mountain rather than continue to attempt to summit.<ref>Hillary, pp. 79-80</ref>

The mountain was first climbed on October 19, 1954, via the north-west ridge by [[Herbert Tichy]], Joseph Jöchler and [[Sherpa (people)|Sherpa]] Pasang Dawa Lama of an [[Austria]]n expedition.<ref name=evnews/> Cho Oyu was the fifth [[eight-thousander]] to be climbed, after [[Annapurna]] in June 1950, [[Mount Everest]] in May 1953, [[Nanga Parbat]] in July 1953 and [[K2]] in July 1954. Until the ascent of [[Mount Everest]] by [[Reinhold Messner]] and [[Peter Habeler]] in 1978, this was the highest peak climbed without supplemental oxygen.<ref>Günter Seyfferth, [http://www.himalaya-info.org/PDF-Dateien/Cho%20Oyu%201954.pdf Cho Oyu, 8201 m, Erkundung, Erstbesteigung, Erstbegehungen, Ereignisse] {{in lang|de}}</ref>
[[File:Chooyu.jpg|thumb|left|Viewing Cho Oyu via Tingri]]

Cho Oyu is considered the easiest [[eight-thousander]],{{refn|group=nb|Of the fourteen mountains surpassing the magic number 8000 metres in height, it is considered the easiest one to climb, and only the highest, Everest, has had more ascents.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.markhorrell.com/blog/2010/goddess-of-turquoise-my-attempt-on-cho-oyu/|title=Goddess of Turquoise: my attempt on Cho Oyu|publisher=Mark Horrell|date=August 2010}}</ref>}} with the lowest death-summit ratio ({{frac|25}}th of [[Annapurna]]'s).<ref name="dead1">{{cite web|url= https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2013/05/daily-chart-18 |title=Stairway to heaven |publisher=The Economist |date=29 May 2013 |access-date=2015-09-07 |postscript= As of March 2012}}</ref><ref name="dead2">{{cite web|url= http://www.8000ers.com/cms/download.html?func=startdown&id=184|title=ALL 8000ers – ASCENTS vs FATALITIES|publisher=8000ers.com|date=2008}}</ref> It is the second most climbed [[eight-thousander]] after [[Everest]] (whose height makes it the most popular), and has over four times the ascents of the third most popular [[eight-thousander]], [[Gasherbrum II]].  It is marketed as a "trekking peak", achievable for climbers with high fitness, but low mountaineering experience.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}  It has a broadly flat summit plateau with no [[cairn]] (the traditional [[prayer flag]]s on Cho Oyu's summit plateau do not mark the "technical" summit),{{refn|name="summit"|group=nb|Many people who climb Cho Oyu in Tibet stop at a set of prayer flags with views of Everest and believe they’ve reached the top, unaware they still have to walk for 15 minutes across the summit plateau until they can see the Gokyo Lakes in Nepal.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.markhorrell.com/blog/2014/when-is-a-summit-not-a-summit/|title=When is a summit not a summit?|publisher=Mark Horrell|date=12 November 2014}}</ref>}} which can be a source of confusion, and debate, amongst climbers (see [[Elizabeth Hawley]]).{{refn|name="cho"|group=nb|Miss Hawley uses the “did you see Everest” as her standard question, I have mentioned this to her as well.  I have summitted Cho Oyu 4 times and will be heading for my fifth this coming season. Each time I have watched the Koreans and Japanese go only to where they can see Everest, not the summit, because they know this is what will be asked.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://explorersweb.com/2017/05/09/cho-oyu-summit-where-is-it-exactly-2017-05-09-60289/|title=Cho Oyu summit: Where is it exactly|publisher=Explorersweb.com|date=September 2017}}</ref>}}
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