Maltese mountaineers currently acclimatising themselves on the Himalayas may make an early attempt to reach the summit of Mt Cho Oyu.

The challenge8000 team said the acclimatisation process, though slow and trying, was going better than expected and there was a possibility of an early summit attempt, possibly in 10 days' time. The attempt was to be made in just under three weeks' time.

Team members Marco Cremona, Greg Attard and Robert Gatt are to climb Mt Cho Oyu (8,201metres, the sixth highest mountain in the world) as part of preparations to tackle Mt Everest next year.

None of them has suffered altitude sickness so far, although they admitted that they are still finding it difficult to sleep well.

On Monday, the team slept for the first time at Camp 1 at 6,400 metres of elevation.

At 7am on Tuesday the expedition experienced a small avalanche some 50metres from camp. The avalanche did not affect them, however, since they camp is perched on top of a ridge.

Later on Tuesday the expedition headed for camp 2, closer to summit. Unfortunately, however, they had to stop on an ice cliff after another expedition suffered difficulties and stalled the Maltese climbers' progress. They therefore had to go back to Advanced Base Camp. They head for camp 2 on Friday and the higher camp 3 on Saturday.

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