Cho Oyu and Shishapangma are closed again this autumn and every 14-peak climber is funnelled into Nepal

Cho Oyu (8,188 m / 26,864 ft) and Shishapangma (8,027 m / 26,335 ft) are closed to foreign expeditions again this autumn. The China-Tibet Mountaineering Association has not reopened either peak for the 2026 fall season, ExplorersWeb reported on 24 August. Two of the fourteen 8,000ers are off the board for a second year running, and both of them are in Tibet.

Getting to the Tibetan side overland is a separate problem again. Nepal’s only road crossing to Tibet has been shut since 26 August with no reopening date — see what the flood did to the Rasuwagadhi–Kerung border.

If you are working through the fourteen, you are not working through them in Tibet. That leaves Manaslu (8,163 m / 26,781 ft), and Manaslu is where everyone is going.

The Manaslu squeeze is one of several things reshaping the autumn season — the full list is in the autumn 2026 Nepal trekking briefing.

Why they are closed

The reason is administrative, not a mountain problem. Neither peak has become more dangerous and neither has a route that stopped working.

ExplorersWeb traces the closure to the fallout from a fireworks display staged near Shigatse in September 2025, which drew heavy environmental criticism. Chinese authorities then investigated permit administration in Tibet, and several officials from the China-Tibet Mountaineering Association and the Tibetan Sports Bureau were jailed over corruption allegations tied to expedition permits. The office that would issue your permit is the office that was taken apart.

Cho Oyu matters more than its position on the list suggests. It has long been the mountain climbers use to learn what 8,000 m does to them before they commit to Everest, because the standard route is straightforward and the descent is not a trap. Removing it does not just remove a summit. It removes the rehearsal.

What Tibet charged, and what Nepal charges

The price gap is part of why the closure reshapes a season rather than merely inconveniencing it. Tibet was roughly triple Nepal on a comparable peak, and the money followed the permit.

All of it lands on one mountain

Nepal’s Department of Tourism expects around 300 permits to go to international climbers on Manaslu this autumn. That is down on 2025, when 381 permits were issued and the season produced 659 summits counting foreign and Nepali climbers, with some Sherpa guides topping out more than once.

The season opened around 25 August, when a seven-member Sherpa team led by Chhiring Bhote left to fix rope on the mountain. Commercial teams are establishing base camp and pushing to Camp 1 behind them. We covered the shape of this season in more detail when the first permit numbers came out.

What compression actually does up high

The number that gets quoted is the permit count. It is the wrong number. Three hundred climbers spread across three mountains and six weeks is an ordinary season. Three hundred climbers on one mountain, on one line of fixed rope, waiting on the same weather window, is a different problem.

Above 7,000 m the cost of waiting is not boredom. It is oxygen, body heat and hours of daylight you do not get back. Every hour standing still on a fixed line is an hour of consumption with no altitude gained, and the decisions people make when they are behind schedule are the decisions that hurt them. The mountain does not care how many of you there are. The window does.

None of that is an argument against climbing Manaslu. It is an argument for going with a team that will turn around while it is still early, and for treating a queue as a reason to descend rather than a reason to hurry.

Frequently asked questions

Are Cho Oyu and Shishapangma open in autumn 2026?

No. Both remain closed to foreign expeditions by the China-Tibet Mountaineering Association for the 2026 fall season, as reported by ExplorersWeb on 24 August 2026.

Can you climb Cho Oyu from Nepal instead?

The standard commercial route is the north-west ridge from Tibet. A Nepal-side approach is not the route the guided industry runs, which is why a Tibet closure removes the mountain from a commercial season rather than moving it.

When will Everest’s north side reopen?

Spring 2027 is the expectation, not a commitment. It has been expected before and did not happen.

Does any of this affect the Manaslu Circuit trek?

No. The trek follows the Budhi Gandaki and crosses the Larke Pass at 5,106 m (16,752 ft). It shares a valley with the expedition traffic for a few days and nothing else. Solo trekkers can now get the restricted-area permit too — see the 2026 rule change.

Which 8,000er is the dangerous one?

By fatality rate it is Annapurna I, and it is not close. We ran the numbers here.

Sources: ExplorersWeb, 24 and 25 August 2026, for the China-Tibet Mountaineering Association closures, permit royalties and rope-fixing; Nepal Department of Tourism permit estimates as reported in the same coverage. Altitudes are the standard surveyed heights.

Walking the Manaslu Circuit this autumn rather than climbing the peak? We run it as a 14-day circuit and a 19-day circuit with Tsum Valley, both with the restricted-area permits handled. Message us on WhatsApp or send us your dates and we will tell you which weeks the expedition traffic is thickest at Samagaun.

Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).