Mountain Ama Dablam

Mountain Ama Dablam 

Ama Dablam, Mountain

Ama Dablam is a mountain in the Himalaya range of eastern Nepal. The main peak is 6,812 metres (22,349 ft), the lower western peak is 6,170 metres (20,243 ft). Ama Dablam means "Mother's necklace"; the long ridges on each side like the arms of a mother (ama) protecting her child, and the hanging glacier thought of as the dablam, the traditional double-pendant containing pictures of the gods, worn by Sherpa women. For several days, Ama Dablam dominates the eastern sky for anyone trekking to Mount Everest basecamp. Ama Dablam was first climbed on 13 March 1961 by Mike Gill (NZ), Barry Bishop (USA), Mike Ward (UK) and Wally Romanes (NZ) via the Southwest Ridge. They were well-acclimatised to altitude, having wintered over at 5800 metres near the base of the peak as part of the Silver Hut Scientific Expedition of 1960-61, led by Sir Edmund Hillary.

Ama Dablam is the third most popular Himalayan peak for permitted expeditions. The most popular route by far is the Southwest Ridge (right skyline in the photo).Climbers typically set up three camps along the ridge with camp 3 just below and to the right of the hanging glacier, the Dablam. Any ice that calves off the glacier typically goes left, away from the camp. However, a 2006 avalanche proved that this is not always the case. A climbing permit and a liaison officer are required when attempting Ama Dablam. As with Mt. Everest, the best climbing months are April–May (before the monsoon) and September–October.A representation of Ama Dablam was originally used by Invesco Perpetual as its branding logo within UK. It has since been adopted by the INVESCO group of companies as its worldwide signature. For its soaring ridges and steep faces Ama Dablam is sometimes referred as the "Matterhorn of the Himalayas." In September 1997, Bear Grylls, a British adventurer and television presenter became the youngest Briton to climb Ama Dablam.

The singer/songwriter Nick Harper has a track on his 2010 album The Last Guitar entitled "Ama Dablam."

Notable ascents

• 1961 Southwest Ridge (VI 5.9 60deg 1500m) FA by Mike Gill (NZ), Barry Bishop (US), Mike Ward (UK) and Wally Romanes (NZ).
• 1979 Southwest Ridge SA by Martin Boysen (UK); Tom Frost, David Breashears, Greg Lowe, Jeff Lowe, Peter Pilafian, Jonathan Wright (all US), and Lhakpa Dorje (Nepal) reached the summit on 22 April in blizzard conditions, as part of a well-financed climb-and-film expedition. Doug Robinson and John Wasson (both USA) reached the summit the next day.
• 1979 Lowe Route on the South Face (VI AI4 M5 1200m), FA Solo by Jeff Lowe, 30 April 1979.
• 1979 North Ridge (VI 5.7 70deg 1600m) by a large French expedition led by Raymond Renaud and Yvan Estienne (fr) placed 14 Frenchmen and 4 Nepalese Sherpa in three groups on the summit over three days, 21-23 Oct 1979.
• 1981 Northeast Spur to North Ridge (VI 5.7 70deg 1500m) by Tim McCartney-Snape, Lincoln Hall, and Andrew Henderson (AUS).
• 1983 East Ridge (VI 80deg 1500m) by Alain Hubert (Belgium) and André Georges (fr) (Switzerland).
• 1984 Southwest Ridge solo by Naoe Sakashita (JP).
• 1985 Ariaki-Sakashita on the west face (VI 5.7 65deg 1400m) by Masayuki Ariaki and Naoe Sakashita (both JP).
• 1985 Northeast Face (VI mixed 90deg 1400m) winter ascent by Michael Kennedy and Carlos Buhler (both US).
• 1996 Stane Belak Šrauf Memorial Route on the northwest face (VI 5.7 AI5 A2+ 1650m) by Vanja Furlan (sl) and Tomaž Humar (both from Slovenia), which earned them the 1996 Piolet d'Or prize.
• 1996 North Ridge Austro-German alpine-style ascent by Friedl Huber, Max Berger, Louis Badengruber, and Roman Dirnbok.
• 2001 Northwest Ridge (VI Scottish 7, 2000m) by Jules Cartwright and Rich Cross (both UK).
• 2012 Southwest Ridge Jon Gupta (British) summitted Ama Dablam three times in one week.