Alls well that ends well

Back in the UK: safe, sound and between us we still have 30 fingers and 30 toes, have some amazing memories and we’re still friends!  Mission accomplished!!

Between us as a team we have 4 summits of two different mountains.  Unfortunately having the glory of standing on the summit of Ama Dablam for a few minutes remains an outstanding goal for us all.  But the mountain will be waiting when we’re ready to attempt it again.  However the months of hard training in the UK hills and endless logistical preparation before the expedition and a month’s trekking in the Kumbu; meeting new people, eating new foods and experiencing new cultures has been a right ball!  It is these memories that stick with you more than a few minutes stood about feeling cold, tired and slightly nervous for the decent off a summit.

So now time it’s time to return to the reality… but not before all the un-packing, seemingly endless piles of washing and attempting to summit the mini mountain of letters and bills pushed through my front door over the past month (which at the moment, is seeming like a harder task than any Himalayan peak!).

What what’s next?

Christmas, New Year, the winter climbing season…  Expedition wise, for John, it’s off to the Cirque of the Unclimbables in the Northwest Territories of Canada to climb The Lotus Flower Tower in August 2015 and Ros and Rem are talking of unclimbed peaks in Greenland.  So there’s more on the horizon, watch this space…. http://jmclimbing.blogspot.co.uk/

So to end the blog, we hope it’s been informative and thank you for your interest and support in raising money for the two great charities, on the last count, we have raised over £1,000! A great help.

Ready for the next adventure



A Tough Call

John and Rem went up to camp 1 with a view to getting on the mountain to have a closer look at the Serac. Camp 1 was all but empty so there was plenty of choice for tents to sleep in. A view over the ridge to the main base camp showed that most of the expeditions had packed up and gone home.

View along the ridge from above Camp 1

Looking back down to Base Camp.

The decision was made to get on the route but not to go for the summit. The serac could go at anytime, and the route is in the firing line for a couple of hours, with no real opportunity to get out of the way. It was a tough call but they decided not to go for it.

However the ridge to the yellow tower was immaculate climbing.... Lots to come back for.......

Ama Base Camp view of the Dablam

We've arrived at Ama Dablam Base Camp feeling well. The legendary Tim Mosedale base camp hasent disappointed; a mess tent with heaters, crisps, olives, sweats and enough tea to drink to make your eyes bleed. Amazing.

After hearing rumours about the stability of the Dablam this year, we finally got our first view of the dablam through the spotting scope; the prospect of summiting doesn't look good.

On summit day you have to climb in the line of fire from the unstable seracs for about 1 to 2 hours. Couple this with the fact that each time we look through the spotting scope new impact craters have emerged on the climbing route below. We don't have confidence that the odds are in our favour of winning a game of Russian Roulette with the Dablam ' s seracs.

There have been a number of independent climbers running the gaulnet of falling ice, but in the current state the risk seems unjustifiable. Additionally the large cracks surrounding the main serac seem to be slowly joining up by the day.

View of the Dablams unstable seracs overhanging the route (climbers visible just above the bergschrund)

So whats our plan? To continue as planned and hope the seracs overhanging the route seem to stabilise to give us a chance of safe passage. And if they don't stabilise?  Looks as if our high point will be the shoulder of the route before we enter the firing line of the Dablam.

Island Peak from two perspectives

John Mason on the Summit of Island Peak

Ros:
In all honesty I probably shouldn't have set off. But being a climber I thought I'd have a look. Two days earlier in Chukkung I wasn't in a fit state to get IP base camp. Anyway we set off at 0130hrs with Kumar the cook, who wanted to show us the way to crampon point.  As we got stuck into the climb I got slower and slower and my cough worse and worse. At 5778m after a major coughing fit and vommiting I decided to call it a day and retreat before I ended up  a causality or caused someone else to get into trouble.  Rem gave me lots of warm clothes and came back with me. After a brief discussion John carried on to solo the mountain.

Ros and Rems' time to go down.

John:
After Ros and Rem made the wise call to decend.  Myself and Kumar continued to crampon point. For me this was the hardest point of the climb. Near running to get back warm we arrived just at the point you could see a glow of the sun behind the mountains behind us.

Crampon point was the furthest Kumar was coming. We shook hands and he decended to catch up with Ros and Rem. For me I had my own decision to make: to continue solo and unroped or to decend as well. Not knowing the mountain or the character of glacier; I made a calculated risk based on the snow conditions, aspect of the glacier and the 'motorway' path created by the trekkers before me that the risk was driven by me slipping into a crevasses or off the mountain rather than the ground opening up underneath me. So getting into the soloing mindset took it steady. Moving solo meant I was able to make fast progress to the summit and spend a quick two minutes on the summit for a photo and decend before the sun heated the snow.

First light on Island Peak

All in all it was a great mountain well worth the effort and now time for the main event... Ama Dablam. 

Ama Dablam from the Cho La Pass

Arrived Safe and Sound in Chukhung

After leaving the Gokyo valley going up and over the Cho La Pass, we have now emerged in Chukhung.

From the Gokyo side of the Cho La it's a stiff hike straight after an early breakfast and the terrain changes from something resembling a valley in the English Lake District up to the first col to feeling very Himalayan as you scramble up to the second col at 5,420m. As you walk down the other side you're looking into the Kumbu and get some amazing views of Ama Dablam.

Prayer flags at the top of the Cho La Pass looking back towards Gokyo

So today we have a well needed rest day after each one of us has managed to contract some uber cold. But it seems to be being slowly shaken off and it's onto Island Peak base camp tomorrow.  We will make an attempt on its summit on Sunday.

Anyway the Internet is about to expire so will try and update in a few days time...

Remeberance Day

The splendour of Mount Everest behind one of our poppies that we placed up on Gokyo Ri (5,340m) with all the prayer flags, having observed a two minute silence.