Himalayan Adventure - Ama Dablam- Nepal

It's taken me a while to process this trip. In late Nov into Dec (2019) I traveled to Nepal for 30 days to try and climb Ama Dablam (22, 349'). Although the Khumbu region of Nepal is magnificent, and it was a great adventure, the trip took a lot out of me both mentally and physically, which is why it took so long to write this up.

The team trekking up to ABC. Ama Dablam in the background.

 Although there were lot of amazing things about the trip, overall I was disappointed by various aspects of the Himalaya and the style we climbed the mountain. I will get to these a bit later in this blog.

I also picked up a series of viruses. The first was a stomach virus which ruined my summit bid, forcing me to turn around just above 6,000 meters. The second was a super gnarly cold I picked up in Kathmandu, which lingered for about a month after my return to the US. 

Here's the details, and some photos for the few people who might read this. 

There was never a shortage of wonderful views

I joined a British team to climb the mountain, this time using Jagged Globe as the guide/outfitter.  They were terrific, unlike my experience with US guides, this felt far more independent, and the guide was not there to spoon feed or hold your hand. There was the UK climbers, a single guide from the UK (Jamie Houlding, who was excellent), a small climbing Sherpa team, and the various support staff - porters, Yak handlers, and the cook. Very luxurious, and pretty standard for Himalayan guided climbing. 

The group - From left to right to bottom - Me, Tony, Marcella, Charlie, Nick, Pem (our Sherpa Sirdar), John. Jamie is taking the photo.

I flew into Kathmandu from LA, met up with the team, then we took a small plane to Lukla, the start of the Khumbu region trekking routes, which includes access to Mt. Everest, and the Everest base camp trek. 

Lukla airstrip

Khumbu Skyline. Everest doesn't look so impressive does it?

The first week or so consisted of trekking along the Everest base camp trek, passing through small villages, staying at lodges. The Sherpa capital of Namche was pretty rad.

Namche - city in the clouds

Puppies playing

Hindu temple art

Along the way we passed by the exit to Ama Dablam basecamp and hiked up above 5000 meters past the village of Pheriche. There were wonderful views of the mountains Cholatse and Taboche. I think those are two peaks I would consider returning to the region for to climb. 

Our first foray above 5000 meters

 

Views from Periche.

We then circled back and headed up to the Ama Dablam basecamp, which would be our home for the next 3ish weeks.

As we were climbing at the very end of the Fall season, the base camp was fairly empty, only 2-3 other teams were present. The base camp was a pretty comfortable place to hang out.

 

Our luxurious base camp in the foreground

For the next while we settled into the acclimatization routine. We'd hike up high, then slept low. Then rest. Then hike high, sleep high, then back down. Rest. Then hike high, sleep high, then a bit higher, then back down to base camp. Rest. 

This was fairly tedious, especially after the first few rounds. I think if I am ever to climb a high peak again, I would prefer acclimatizing by climbing a bunch of smaller peaks, rather than spending so much time on a single mountain.

 

Acclimatization hike

 

Advanced base camp

The highest we slept on the acclimatization portion of the trip was camp, this was perched on top of some boulders and was quite cold, uncomfortable but had amazing views, especially when the clouds rolled in. We also spent a bit of time traversing on the technical terrain past Camp 1, which was quite fun. 

 

Traversing on the ridge

Above the clouds

 

Camp 1

After spending a night at Camp 1, it was back to basecamp for a few days. I hiked up again to Camp 1, rested, and then Nick and I did some day hikes, while we waited for the winds to die down so we could head up for the final summit attempt.

 

Lounging at basecamp

Nick and I on a chossy ridge adventure

After a few days the forecast cleared, cold (-20 F) but clear and no wind. So we started up, 1st up to Camp 1, then the technical rock bit on the ridge, then Camp 2.

A chilly night at Camp 1

Renji (Sherpa) traversing the 4th class terrain on the ridge

Charlie and John cresting the ridge

Nick, Charlie, John and Marcella  - hanging out at the base of the yellow tower

We reached the yellow tower, which is the technical crux (5.7, at 6000 meters elevation). I was able to do it free in my double mountain boots, which is much harder than it sounds. It's too bad I was not leading, but just attached to fixed lines (I'll come back to that later).

Nick - climbing the yellow tower

 After the yellow tower we reached camp 2, which was wild, and disgusting. Camp 2 is perched on a narrow section of the ridge, maybe 30 feet wide and 100 feet long. There is only room for a handful of tents, which are precariously perched there.

Nick at the top of the yellow tower

Camp 2

 

Camp 2

Camp 2 was disgusting. There was shit and trash everywhere. The place has zero waste management, which is a shame. I watched a guy from another team reach out of his tent with a pee bottle to empty it, where it promptly drained towards his boots.

I had a restless night, and started to feel worse and worse. This is where the first of the viruses I contracted hit me. I think I'll let a very disappointed video I made speak -- 

Not making the summit because of a stomach bug was a huge disappointment. My guess is the disgusting, shit laden Camp 2 was my undoing. I descended the ridge again, in beautiful weather, all the way back to base camp. My first failure on a big expeditionary peak. 

Marcella and Pem, heading down.

After that, I had to deal with the disappointment, and then we headed back to Lulka, where we caught a helicopter back to Kathmandu

Helicopter exit

Tony is bummed as well.

This trip was long, and dealing with my failure to summit was a difficult emotional issue for me. I have a few thoughts about the Himalaya in general:

1) The place is magnificent. It would be wonderful to climb there again, but without a guide and with a small committed and experienced team. 

2) Acclimatization is tedious. Next time, I would climb multiple mountains to acclimate. 

3) I should stay off the popular peaks (like Ama Dablam). The lack of waste management and the trash was a huge disappointment. I can't believe how disrespectful climbers can be. 

4) I didn't think the fixed ropes would bother me, but they did. As per point 3 above, sticking to less popular peaks would mean climbing in alpine style, which I appreciate more.

5) Being sick, getting injured, and getting older sucks.

I think I'm done with big expeditionary peaks for a while. I'm looking forward to working on my rock climbing skills, and climbing smaller, but more remote and technical peaks in North America.