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.

Arrived in Gokyo

So after leaving the main Everest trail we have been slowly trekking and acclimatising for the past three days and yesterday arrived at the village of Gokyo (4,800m).
If anyone is thinking of trekking in the Everest region the Gokyo valley is worth a visit: the scenery is fantastic, it feels like you're entering the mountains and you escape the crowds heading backward and forward to Everest base camp.

On the way up to Goyko we stopped at a village called Machhermo. This village has a Rescue Post and Porter Shelter manned by volunteers from International Porter Protection Group and Community Action Nepal. Certainly worth a visit. The people there are very friendly and give daily informative talks on Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) awareness.
Anyway, today is a rest day and this evening we're planning on trekking up Gokyo Ri  (5,357m) to see the sunset over the summit of Everest.
Tomorrow we head across the glacier to Thangnag before trekking over the Cho La Pass to rejoin the everest trail.
So far so good.

View of Cho-Oyu from Gokyo village.

Ama Dablam - first views

Leaving Namche and our last postcard opportunity, we followed a winding path contouring past Tenzing Norgay's memorial and a few Yak trains to the Ama Dablam View Lodge. Here we stayed for a rest day at 3650m but made a day excursion to Kumjung (3950m) for more conditioning. Our first views of Ama and Everest are breathtaking but we are feeling ever more confident about technical aspects of the climb.

Arrived in Namche Bazaar

We had a lovely walk up to Namche through pineforests and along the river. Last night we stopped in Monjo.  We had an exciting flight to Lukla, though we spent an hour stood out on the tarmac waiting to get on the plane.  Lukla has a very short runway and I'm sure the pilot did a handbrake turn at the end!

Good morning from Kathmandu

Arrived safe and sound. Bags all present and correct and only £80 in excess luggage charges.
Today we have been sorting out with the Sirdar and the agent...... which has involved handing over large bundles of cash (all a bit gangster) followed by shopping (and shedding more cash) and soaking up the Kathmandu vibe.
Kathmandu is pretty chilled with a mountain town atmosphere ....but watch out for the motorbikes running over your toes,snakes' wedding power grid and sunken manholes....

Fundraising target reaches 10%

Firstly a big THANKYOU to everyone who has kindly donated and supported us to raise money for Help for Heroes and The Cumbria Legacy Group.  We have recently just reached 10% of our target to raise £6,856 for these two great causes!

If you would like to help us support these charities, please visit our just giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/teams/amadablam14

As training for the event is starting to come together; I (John) entered the Rab Mountain Marathon over the weekend to rack up two good hill days in the final rundown before we set off on the expedition.  A two day race where competitors carry everything they need to be self-sufficient in the hills and an overnight camp for two days of running between a series of checkpoints.  Overall it was a cracking weekend with friends and the weather just about held off.  The most reassuring thing being my legs feeling reasonably fresh on Monday morning (or as fresh as they can be), giving a fair bit of confidence in the amount of training gone into preparing for the trip.

 

Now onto the last bits of prep pulling all the kit together, jabs and sorting the visas…

The Itinerary

As our departure date of the 1st November is fast approaching, our plans are also beginning to come together. Below is a draft of our itinerary we are intending to follow. However as with most plans, this is what we are aiming for, but of course this is flexible to allow for: weather, acclimatisation, conditions, etc.

• Day 1 (2nd November) = Arrive KTM
• Day 2 = Sightseeing / last minute prep
• Day 3 = Fly to Lukla. Trek to Phak Ding or Monjo
• Day 4 = Trek to Namche
• Day 5 = Acclimatisation walk. 2nd night at Namche or around the corner at Kyanjuma
• Day 6 = Trek to Dole
• Day 7 = Trek to Machermo
• Day 8 = Trek to Gokyo
• Day 9 = Acclimatisation day. 2nd night at Gokyo
• Day 10 = Trek to Tagnag
• Day 11 = Trek over the Cho La to Dzongla
• Day 12 = Trek to Dingboche
• Day 13 = Trek to Chukkung
• Day 14 = Trek to IP BC
• Day 15 = Ascend IP
• Day 16 = Spare day
• Day 17 = Trek to Dingboche
• Day 18 = Trek to Ama BC
• Day 19 = Rest day
• Day 20-26 = Period to climb Ama Dablam
• Day 27 = Trek to Kyanjuma
• Day 28 = Trek to Lukla
• Day 29 = Fly KTM
• Day 30 = Depart KTM

Well thats the plan anyway...

Thanks for your interest...

We're hoping to use this blog to keep people up to date in the lead up to and during the expedition so people can keep track on how we are doing…  So watch this space and feel free to browse the pages on this blog.

As part of the trip we are planning to raise £6,856 (£1/meter of the mountain) for two charities: Help for Heroes and The Cumbria Legacy Friendship Group.  For more information on this please visit our Fundraising Tab above.

Feel free to give us a shout if you wish to know more information.

Thanks for your support.