Trip Reports

Ama Dablam 2008

Written by Leader Caroline Ogden, December 2008

It was not until arriving at the Summit Hotel in Kathmandu that the expedition members finally all met each other. Bill, Barry, Archie, Rob and Andy had travelled from the UK. From Australia and New Zealand came Marty, Mark, John, Chris and Corinne. Caroline had come straight from another Jagged Globe expedition and Richard and Emma from some exotic location from their year long travelling experience.

John had already had a lucky escape when riding in Kathmandu. His stabilisers came off his mountain bike and he crashed. It wasn’t to be the last time that his ability to balance was called into question!!

Wednesday 12 November saw an early start and after an exciting flight to Lukla, the trek to base camp began. We were blessed with glorious weather and bright blue skies as slowly we made our way towards Namche Bazaar. Following a rest day, we made a deviation from the original plan and headed to a settlement called Phorste. We had intended to stay at Tengboche, but a religious festival had meant all accommodation was taken. The next day saw us back on track and we arrived at Pangboche in the early afternoon. Many members made a visit to the local Lama in order to be blessed prior to climbing the mountain.

The final leg to base camp was yet another glorious day. Two members of the group had decided to spend another night at Pangboche. A rather virulent “bug” was doing the rounds and another day at a lower altitude seemed to be the sensible option.

On arrival at Base camp, we were allocated a tent and the group set about making themselves comfortable for the next couple of weeks. The team was introduced to all the Sherpa team – combined they had summitted Everest over twenty times!

Initially everyone was busy acquainting themselves with the various skills needed for the mountain: jumaring, moving on fixed lines, abseiling and “Sherpa” abseiling. There were also administrative tasks to be carried out – organising food for the various camps etc.

Following the Puja ceremony on Thursday 20 November, the group set off to Advanced Base Camp. On arrival it was very windy and everyone squeezed into two tents, had some thing to eat and drink and then retreated to base camp.

The next phase was to start acclimatising on the mountain. The plan was to sleep at ABC, move onto Camp 1, reach the top of the Yellow Tower, which was very close to Camp 2 and then return to Base Camp for a rest prior to the summit push. Because of the size of the expedition, the group had to be split into two. Each group had their problems. Some members of Group 1 had to try and fit into a tent with a 6’ 4” American! Group 2 had to contend with an Irishman who was convinced he could control the weather. There were those who thought he could: Barry had said there would be blue skies for the whole month – he was right!

After two nights rest at base camp, it was time for the summit push. The teams went two days apart. Saturday 29 November saw Emma Wilson, Richard Moriarty, Archie Stirling, Andrew Taylor, Pasang Tenzing Sherpa and Ang Kaji Sherpa on the summit. They were welcomed by astounding 360° views. On the way back to base camp the next day, John decided to demonstrate his acrobatic skills - or was it another momentary lapse of balance - and somersaulted off the mushroom ridge. He composed himself admirably before, very carefully, continuing with his descent. The teams briefly crossed paths at the bottom of the Grey Tower; Group 1 eager to be off the mountain, Group 2 eager to be at the top.

The second group had a slightly windier summit day on December 1st with slightly obscured views. Bill Goodland, Barry Mac Hugh, Corinne Mesnage, Caroline Ogden, Pasang Dawa Sherpa, Tamting Sherpa and Phuerba Geljen Sherpa all reached the summit. By the afternoon of Tuesday 2 December, all were safely off the mountain.

After retracing our steps to Lukla, we returned to the oasis of the Summit Hotel. We were all amazed how fortunate we had been with regard to the weather. Relaxation, combined with good food and drink, concluded a successful trip.

We would have never reached the summit with out the understated organisational skills of our Sirdar Nima Temba Sherpa and his team of Sherpas, most of who seemed to be related to him! Thanks also to the excellent base camp staff of Arjun Rana Magar (Cook), Hem Tamang, Bijay Tamang, Nawang Wangdi Sherpa and Santa Tamang.

Thank you to all the team members. It was great to see such a varied bunch of individuals from all over the world (Australia, NZ, GB, Ireland and the USA) forming such a cohesive and supportive team. I will look forward to seeing you all again in the mountains!

Caroline Ogden, Expedition Leader. Andrew Taylor, Primary School Headmaster & Author of the main body of the text. « Previous report | Next report »

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