The first summits of the season have come from Ama Dablam. A local team, led by Pasdawa Sherpa, fixed ropes to the top and returned before the coming storm engulfed the country’s mountains.
The giant hanging serac known as the ‘dablam’ is well-covered in snow this year. Photo: 8K Expeditions
Long climbing season
Ama Dablam is one of the most coveted peaks in Nepal, thanks to its strikingly beautiful, sharp pyramid shape. It is climbed mainly in the autumn after the monsoon, but a few expeditions take place in spring and even in winter. The peak’s relatively low altitude (6,812m) and its accessibility in the middle of the Khumbu Valley, on the way to Everest Base Camp, make it a popular goal from September to December, and again from early April to May.
The normal route includes technical sections on mixed terrain, rock, ice, or snow, so commercial expeditions fix the entire route with ropes. Most climbers, even guided ones, use no supplementary oxygen and so need a preliminary rotation up to a higher camp or to climb a trekking peak to acclimatize.
A member of the Sherpa team on the summit of Ama Dablam last weekend. Photo: 8K Expeditions
For 8K Expeditions, it was a great chance for some of their best Sherpa guides to get some early-season practice before moving on to Everest and other 8,000’ers.
According to the Department of Tourism, 34 foreign climbers have already applied for a permit to climb Ama Dablam.
Pasdawa Sherpa now heads for Makalu. The veteran guide has summited nearly 30 8,000m peaks. He was one of the two Sherpas who guided Kristin Harila of Norway in 2022 on her first attempt to climb the 14×8,000’ers faster than anyone. Together, they topped out on 12 of the 14 peaks in 147 days.
Unfortunately, that year, they couldn’t get permits for the two Tibetan peaks, Cho Oyu and Shisha Pangma. The following year, Harila completed the feat with a different team.
