It’s still a waiting game at base camp. We’re still waiting for the wind and snow to recede to allow the fixing team an opportunity to finish the route.
Unfortunately the winds continue to blow too strongly and it’s expected to continue throughout this week. Hopefully, time will not deny our other teams a summit bid.
The fixing team will attempt to finish the route today. This is the last window before a few days of high winds. However, the team’s progress will again depend on the snow conditions up there. Base camp is still covered in snow…the summit route, even more so.
Team A of Allan, Mark, Michael, Raul and Stephen are ending their expedition and will trek to Namche today with Angkaji, Gyalgen, Malcolm, Sharon and Sumit. Everyone is looking forward to the luxuries of Namche (i.e. Illy cappuccinos).
It’s been a fun but seriously snowy 2 weeks at base camp for the team. Raul made the most of the snow and took in a Finish style snow bath…luckily we were one of the only teams at BC at the time to witness curious Finish traditions.
Jack, Noel and Tom are back from Pangbouche and are sitting out with Kate waiting for the first opportunity to head for the summit (Team B). As are now Lakpa, Candace, Christine, Greg and Pasang (Team C). Chris and his team of Charles, Christian, Jeffrey and Paul are finishing off their Camp 2 rotation, and once down will rest before the summit.
In the meantime, sky divers are landing into base camp and are keeping our climbers entertained.
Everyone is back at base camp today. Unfortunately, the snow conditions prevented the fixing team from completing the route to the summit. The risk of avalanche is still too high. To protect our climbers and guides, we’ve pulled everyone off the mountain to await better snow and wind conditions.
Although Allan, Mark, Michael, Raul and Stephen will now return without a summit this time, they have at least experienced the technical demanding nature of Ama dablam. In particular, the steep pitch on the Yellow tower and the infamous exposed campsite of Camp 2. Team A were all strong climbers, undoubtably, they would have all reached the summit had conditions been more favourable.
It’s happening for Team A! Allan, Mark, Michael, Raul and Stephen are currently at Camp 1 on their climb up to the summit. Jangbu is part of the fixing team and led the route to Camp 2.7 today.
However, the conditions aren’t too great for the final summit ridge climb. There is still too much snow on the ridge after Cyclone Phailin, in addition to some recent fresh snow. Whether the fixing team will be able to complete the route tomorrow is uncertain.
Unfortunately time is ticking for Team A with strong winds expected next week to inhibit later summit attempts. The effects of Cyclone Phailin still linger here…
Meanwhile Lakpa, Christine and Greg are at Camp 2 on their acclimatisation round. Candace will join them tomorrow, she is at Camp 1 now.
Jack, Tom and Noel returned from Camp 1 and 2 yesterday, and they will hike down to Pangbouche tomorrow. With the expected wind delays, the boys are dropping to lower altitude for 3 days of good rest.
Allan, Mark, Michael, Raul, Stephen and Sumit dropped back to base camp today to make room for our Team B of Jack, Noel, Tom and new arrival Kate McGuiness (Australia) to have their go acclimatising at 5800m, Camp 1. Jack and group will return back to base camp tomorrow.
Our campsite is humming with activity as we welcomed more friends and climbers. Canadian Chris and his team have settled in. Lakpa and crew have also arrived today. We are almost complete! Fortunately the snow at base camp is receding, it’s just a foot deep now.
Trudging through snow, it was a hot slough to Camp 1 today for our Team A, which now consists of Allan, Mark, Michael, Raul, Stephen and Sumit. Pemba the camp cook also made the climb to support the climbers.
Yesterday, Jangbu and Chirring, checked the new ropes set by another team up to the Yellow Tower. That expedition managed to set the route to Camp 2, however, due to the storm no new ropes have been set past Camp 2. This means our guides have a bit of work ahead of them to finish the rope setting for coming expeditions.
The plan will be to climb to Camp 2 tomorrow, return and sleep back at Camp 1. Fortunately there’s no wind and the snow has reduced to about 0.5m.
Below at base camp, the rest of our climbers are resting. Despite the snow around camp, the guys managed to pull off a game of snow cricket yesterday! Jack, Tom and Noel had to give up a double summit on Island Peak due to the snow and arrived early into base camp.
Similarly, Lakpa, Christine, Candace, Greg and Pasang have skipped climbing Lobuche East and are currently trekking in the region to acclimatise. Anthony Darbyshire (U.K.) arrived into camp today for his climb. Chris Szymiec (Canada) and his team of Jeffrey Previte (USA), Charles Lewinsohn (USA), Paul Hoskinson and Christian Walsh (USA) are trekking from Lukla and are expected soon into base camp. Behind them is Sharon Cohrs (Australia), who is at Monjo now and is heading up to support her husband Allan.
The Pangbouche lama has arrived at base camp to conduct our puja for the season on Ama Dablam. Finally the weather has cleared for us to move ahead with the climbing schedule, which is now slightly delayed due to the previous days of snow.
Tomorrow we will take our first acclimatisation climb to Camp 1 and will return to base camp. The next day we’ll sleep at Camp 1. The climbing conditions are tougher than usual even to Camp 1 due to the snow. Our fixing guides have considerable work ahead of them these coming days.
More expeditions are expected at base camp today. Yesterday we farewelled Cara who is continuing her trek around the Khumbhu with Deepak, and we welcomed Stephen and Jangbu. The weather came in during their planned days to climb Lobuche East so unfortunately the climb was canceled.
The weather has been brilliantly sunny till now, as Nepal including the Khumbu await a deluge of rain and snow from Cyclone Phailin as it moves inland into India. To avoid walking through the expected snowfall, the team are speedily hiking to Ama Dablam base camp at this moment to reach there by lunch time.
Yesterday they left Namche for Debouche, and along the way spent a pleasant afternoon enjoying festivities of a 5 day puja at Tengboche monastery.
Malcolm, Noel and Tom caught up with the team on Saturday in Namche. Malcolm will soon join the team at base camp after first filling up on more Illy coffee in Namche. Noel and Tom are doing an independent trek exploration of the Khumbu before meeting up with Chirring and Jack to climb Island peak.
Lakpa, Chris, Candace and Greg have reached Namche today and will continue to trek to Lobuche base camp during the coming week to acclimatise on this peak before Ama dablam.
The first Amadablam expedition team have just arrived in Lukla under blue skies with no winds, a perfect day to fly to Lukla. Sumit is leading this first team, which includes Mark Ayrey (New Zealand), Allan Cohrs (Australia, on his second summit of the mountain), Michael Hansen (Australia), Raul Helander (Sweden) and Jack Scott (Australia). Cara Jacobson (USA) is trekking with the team to Ama dablam base camp before exploring the rest of the Khumbu with Deepak. They are reorganising loads in Lukla and will soon begin the trek to Monjo.
Anil, Pasang, Mingma and the other base camp support guys have already arrived into base camp with 5 porters and 12 yaks. They have a big task establishing base camp for the coming weeks, which will be used by other teams arriving at different times. We have a good season planned on our favourite mountain. Other climbers include Malcolm Jones (Australia) who is currently trekking around Gokyo with Chirring, and Stephen Smith (Australia) who is climbing Lobuche East first with Jangbu. Thomas Rogerson (Australia) and Noel Clough (Australia) arrived into Kathmandu last night.
They have a day to shop and get organised before their flight to Lukla tomorrow joined by Ang Kaji (remember he has just returned from 2x 8000m summits, legend!). The boys are climbing Island Peaks before Ama dablam. Lakpa is leading Christine Burke (NZ/Australia), Candace Coughlan (Australia/Canada) and Greg Lemarche (Belgium) on Lobuche East and Ama dablam in the next few days.
The team arrived back at base camp at lunchtime. As they rest, eat, wash and think about packing, the crowds are starting to develop above. Groups are beginning to prepare for a summit push over the next few days.
This includes about 120 climbers planning for a May 19th push for a May 20th summit!
