Ama Dablam is certainly our favourite mountain, challenging to climb and stunning to look at, the ultimate climber’s mountain. Matt Eaton and Nima Sherpa with Lakpa Sherpa (on his way to summit #19!!!) are at Camp 1 of their summit climb. They aim to summit on Nov 3. Garrett and his team are on their final acclimatisation rotation hoping to summit on Nov 7. Pat has arrived in Phakding today to guide Marguerite Lovegrove (U.K.), Atle Lund (Norway), Jaime McMullan (U.K.) and Steven Pearce (U.K.) also on Ama Dablam. They are acclimatising on Lobuche East first. And due to arrive this evening is Swiss climber, Vivien Jean, who’s climbing independent. Diane and Marty are walking back to Lukla today after their twin peak success on Lobuche and Ama Dablam.
Sumit caught up with Diane and Marty yesterday at Namche, and he reports that they are in great spirits. He and the Best of Everest group are heading up to Lobuche now. Today they spent the afternoon at Tengboche monstery for Mani Rimdu, the most important Buddhist festival in the Khumbu. The group were fortunate to receive blessings from the monastery monks including the head Lama!
Possibly due to the extreme unseasonable cold this season, our Putha Hiunchuli climbers, Leif and Erick have ended their climb on the 7246m mountain in Dolpo. They managed to get to Camp 1 (5400m) and 2 (6000m) before deciding to call it a day. Deciding to end an expedition early is always a difficult decision, but often a wise decision if the mountain conditions aren’t favourable or if you are harbouring the smallest seed of doubt. The journey to Putha Hiunchuli is remote, wild and long…even on the mountain the camps are widely spaced so the going is always tough. So despite the missed summit, Leif and Erick have still had an awesome wild trip in a region that is yet to be fully explored.