Trip Reports

Ama Dablam 2007

Written by Leader Steve Bell, March 2008

My expedition goal was to get everyone to the top. This is rarely achieved on mountains like Ama Dablam with variables such as weather, ability, health and motivation, impacting on a climber’s chances of topping out. However it is possible to reduce the negative effects of these influences, and this was the basis on which the expedition was run. The cornerstones of this were teamwork, thorough acclimatisation and sound logistical planning.

The team was a varied group of seven people, 5 men, 2 women, ages ranging from early 20s to mid 50s, from the UK, Norway, Australia and the USA. Everyone got on great. We used teahouses for the trek to base camp, which we extended with a two day stay in Pheriche, at the wonderful White Yak Hotel. I was adamant that everyone should be well acclimatised and the extra time for the walk in worked well. We reached BC (4500m) in good shape and ready for the mountain. Everything was set up and we moved straight into our tents after greeting our Sherpa team. Hot tea and biscuits were served beneath a glistening Ama Dablam. The weather was perfect and would stay that way for another 2 weeks.

Continuing the process of gradual acclimatisation, we used an interim camp between BC and Camp 1. After the Puja ceremony we hiked up to this camp and left some personal gear there. It gave everyone a flavour of what was to come, even though it was an easy walk. It’s a long way to Camp 1! The next day we went back to Interim Camp (taking 2.5 hours) and stayed for the night. Meanwhile our Sherpas did a carry to C1. We continued to C1 the following day, taking 3 hours to complete the scramble over boulders and up to the start of the SW Ridge. C1 (5700m) is a great location, with views down to BC and across the peaks of the Khumbu. Everyone was pretty comfortable here, although a few took paracetamol for headaches.

The next day we started the proper climbing, along the exposed SW Ridge towards C2. Everyone did very well, with Gunnar and Bernard blazing the trail ahead. Gerry however felt sick, and headed back to C1 soon after setting off. The technical crux of the climb is the Yellow Tower, just below C2. Four of us jumared up it (some were determined to climb it free, just using the jumar for protection) and continued to C2. The remainder reached the bottom the tower. The main aim of the day was to acclimatise and familiarise ourselves with the route, both of which had been achieved. We then all headed back to join Gerry at C1 for the night, and on to BC the next day.

Two days of rest were very welcome. The most exhausting thing we did was walk up the little hill to the toilet, and have a shot-put competition with the Sherpas (guess who won!). This was an important rest, because the summit attempt would be next.

Tent spaces are very limited at Camps 2 and 3, so I split the team into two. The stronger members, Adam, Bernie, Dave and Gunnar were to go first, with 2 Sherpas, Pemma and Phura. Catherine, Mara, Gerry and I were to follow a day later, with our sirdar Ang Dawa and Pem. The idea was to provide the strongest support for the less strong members, so I opted to push from the back rather than lead from the front.

We moved up the mountain one camp at a time. The distances between C1 and C2, and C2 and C3, are quite short, allowing members to be in good shape for the big summit day. There was no need for crampons up to C2, as it was nearly all on rock, but the climb changes character after C2. After climbing the long and rocky Grey Tower, the route becomes snow and ice, weaving between rock buttresses in a tremendous position. Eventually you break out onto a fine snow crest – the Mushroom Ridge, near the end of which was C3. Our tents were perched on airy snow platforms well away from any threat of avalanche or rockfall.

On 1 December, the first team left C3 at 05.30, and made steady progress up the fixed ropes. It was very cold despite the weather being perfect. Gunnar had trouble manipulating his jumar with his gloves on so he removed them each at each rope anchor to change ropes. As a result he got frostbitten fingers, but it didn’t stop him from reaching the summit. It took them 5 hours to top out, and we watched them as we moved up to C3 for our own summit bid. Everything was on track.

We reached C3 just after Team 1 got back from the summit, exhausted but very happy. After a bite to eat and lots to drink, they headed off to C2, where they spent the night. Meanwhile we settled into C3, Gerry nestled between Catherine and Mara, and I bunked up with Ang Dawa and Pem.

We were away just before dawn. It was bitterly cold and the wind had increased during the night. After 20 minutes Gerry turned back, too cold and tired to continue. We pressed on up the snow slope beside the great serac of the Dablam, the sun came up on the other side of the mountain, lighting up the peaks around us but not touching us with its warming rays. We shivered in the shadow of our mountain. Near the top of the Dablam, Catherine called it quits and turned back. Pem took her down, while I accompanied Mara up the summit. headwall. Ang Dawa had charged to the top, and now met us on the way down, ready to go with us back up there. But it was too cold. Mara was strong but very cold, and I wasn’t able to feel my feet. We stopped at a little rock buttress in the middle of the summit slope, about 200m from the summit, and I made the painful decision to turn back. It wasn’t easy, as it was so tempting to plod on to the top, but losing toes was too high a price to pay. Feeling cheated, we returned to C3.

The weather had turned, the mountains to the west were disappearing one by one as the cloud advanced. For the fist time since we’d arrived in the Khumbu, it was going to snow. In view of this, Ang Dawa suggested going straight to C1, rather than C2 as planned. It would be a long way for tired climbers who had just attempted the summit, but it was a wise decision. We reached C1 at dusk, all together, working as a team. That night it snowed heavily, and the descent to BC was tedious 6 hour stumble over slippery boulders half hidden by fresh snow. Even the idyllic paddock of base camp was coated in snow, but it was as welcoming as ever, and the wine flowed. Everyone was in good shape, except for Gunnar’s fingers, the tips of which were going a bit black (he is expected to make a full recovery).

We very nearly achieved what we set out to do: get everyone to the top. Half the team did get there, and the remainder all made a summit attempt, which was an achievement in itself. Ama Dablam was kind to us and let us scale its flanks and go back home safely, from a climb that we started as a group of strangers but came back as friends.

Ama Dablam is a spectacular and very climbable mountain, in fact it’s one of the most ‘guidable’ mountains I’ve been on. I just can’t wait to go back. But next time, I’ll take some warmer boots.

Steve Bell
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