OVERVIEW

One of the renowned mountains in Himalaya is Ama Dablam (6,856m), 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 as the dablam, the traditional double-pendant containing pictures of the gods, worn by Sherpa women. Ama Dablam is also known as one of the most impressive mountains in the world.

It’s not an 8,000 m mountain, but the mountain is very technical and dangerous because of the hanging glacier. That makes climbing Ama Dablam can be very hard. The most popular route is through Southwest ridge. Like Lobuche East, Ama Dablam located next to Everest Base Camp trek. The trek starts from Lukla and will turn at Pangboche that go straight to base camp. Though it’s still a long climb, require couple weeks going up and down for acclimatization and on to the summit.

Ama Dablam is not for novice climber. Great physical fitness needed and also good rope skills. We also require experience on high mountains before. Several climbers climb Ama Dablam as a training for K2 (second highest mountain in the world), and sometimes Everest.

ITINERARY

DAY 1

Fly to Kathmandu
Arrive in Kathmandu. Transfer to hotel in Thamel

DAY 2

Kathmandu
Gear check in the morning and if necessary, you can go shopping in Thamel to complete your gear list. Sightseeing in Kathmandu and after that final packing.

DAY 3

Kathmandu
Briefing about Ama Dablam at Ministry of Tourism.

DAY 4

Kathmandu–Lukla (2,800m)–Phakding (2,650m)
Early in the morning, flight to Lukla. Continue trekking 3-4 hours to Phakding. Stay in lodge

DAY 5

Phakding–Namche Bazaar (3,440m)
Trekking to Namche Bazaar, around 6-7 hours. Stay in lodge.

DAY 6

Namche Bazaar–Everest View Point–Syangboche–Namche Bazaar
Acclimatization day. We go to Everest View Point hotel at 3,800m via Syangboche and acclimatize there. Back to Namche. Stay in Lodge

DAY 7

Namche Bazaar–Tengboche (3,870m)
Trekking to Tengboche, around 6-7 hours. We might stay overnight at Tengboche or Debuche (10 minutes from Tengboche) in the Rhododendron forest. Stay in lodge.

DAY 8

Tengboche-Upper Pangboche
Today, we will head to Upper Pangboche. We will meet the Lama at Pangboche to get a blessing for climbing Ama Dablam. Stay overnight at Upper Pangboche.

DAY 9

Upper Pangboche-Ama Dablam Base Camp
We head for Ama Dablam Base Camp today. It’s situated on a large grassy meadow with a wonderful view. Stay overnight.

DAY 10

Base Camp
We do Puja Ceremony today. A custom ceremony at Base Camp to ask for blessing and safety during the climb from the god before we start.

DAY 11

Base Camp
Rest day. Better maximize the day to acclimatize, hydrate and rest properly. Wait for the Sherpa to set the camp.

DAY 12

Acclimatization day
Climb to 4,900 m and back to Base Camp.

DAY 13

Base Camp-High Camp
Today we move to High Camp (5,330m). Carry our climbing equipment to High Camp and stay overnight there for acclimatization.

DAY 14

High Camp-Camp 1
Climb again to Camp 1 (5,800m) for another acclimatization. Stay overnight at Camp 1. We can drop some of our load at Camp 1.

DAY 15

Camp 1-Base Camp
Back to Base Camp.

DAY 16 - 17

Base Camp
Rest day and wait for good weather forecast to attempt the summit.

DAY 18

Base Camp-Camp 1
To Camp 1: Your first real camp is only one and a half hours walk above Yak Camp. This section is marked by rock cairns and involves boulder hopping and some easy scrambling. You sometimes fix a couple of sections with a rope to be use as handrail.

DAY 19

Camp 1-Camp 2
Move to Camp 2 (6,000m). This route mostly involves rock climbing. You follow a narrow ridge, switching back and forth on each side of the ridge. This is the hardest rock climbing of the entire route. In places the exposure is extreme and you will be grateful for the fixed ropes in place. You can also use your Jumar to help you over the odd spots of difficulties. Most of the climbing on this section is traversing on rock, so good rock-climbing skills will help you move efficiently and quickly over this terrain.

DAY 20

Camp 2-Camp 3 (6,440m) or Camp 2.7
Now, for the hardest snow and ice pitches of the route, we follow a system of steep snow and ice gullies up to join a feature called the Mushroom Ridge. Whilst the ridge itself is not as technical as the gullies leading up to it, the exposure here is palpable. It is a narrow, windy, snow mushroom like ridge with giant Himalayan peaks in the background. This feature leads us up onto a small plateau at 6,300m, which serves the purpose of camp 3. As the alternative we will make a camp on 2.7 on the Mushroom Ridge, in order to avoid any serac danger from the Dablam.

DAY 21

Camp 3-Summit-Camp 2
Summit day. The initial route is to the right of the huge ‘Dablam’ (ice cliff), up a moderately steep slope. Once past this feature, we move toward the center of the face. The angle eases slightly and a couple of tough hours later we emerge on the summit (6.856m). The summit is the size of a tennis court and allows us to move around and take pictures. Five of the world’s six highest peaks are clearly visible, with many other 7,000m and lesser peaks filling the gaps.

DAY 22

Camp 2-Base Camp
Descend to Base Camp.

DAY 23 - 26

Base Camp
Rest day before trekking back and also spare days in case of bad weather.

DAY 27

Base Camp-Namche Bazaar
Trekking back to Pangboche and stay overnight in the lodge.

DAY 28

Namche Bazaar-Lukla
Go back to Lukla. It’s quite a long trek back to Lukla from Namche. Estimation time is about 5-6 hours. Stay overnight in Lukla.

DAY 29

Lukla-Kathmandu
Fly back to Kathmandu in the morning. You can take another sightseeing tour as an addition or just wandering around Thamel for shopping

DAY 30

Kathmandu
Rest at Kathmandu

DAY 31

Fly back home
Fly back home. End of expedition

PREPARATION

Ama Dablam is a very technical mountain. You need to have good rope skills. Practice using ascender and descender several times before going on this expedition. Even if you already used to, it’s always good to refresh your skills. Rock climbing training also needed. Aim to climb routes at 5.8-5.9 grade using your mountaineering boots. You can do these training at the rock-climbing gym in your hometown.

You also required to have great physical fitness. The height is almost 7,000m. We recommend highly you have an experience on high altitude, at least above 5,000m.

Training should focus on cardiovascular capability. you can do running two to three times a week for 1-1.5 hour per session. Running on a route that have elevation gain will be a lot better, or use treadmill if there’s no such terrain in your hometown. You can change one of your running sessions in a week with cycling or swimming and especially you need to do also stair climbing with at least 10kg pack and up to 20kg. It will be a good cross training. Besides that, muscle training is advisable. Strengthen your upper and lower body muscle, as well core muscle. You can do it at the gym or do your own set of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, plank, etc.

In addition, go weekend hiking regularly. It’s highly advisable for you to be able to walk with 20kg pack in a long time. It can be started with 8 km round trip hike with roughly 10kg pack, ascending and descending 600m, in less than 2.5 hours. The aim is to ascend 900m carrying an average pack of 20 kg in 3 hours. To reach it, try to increase the difficulty of your training in some way, either by adding weight to your pack (no more than 10 percent per week) or by completing the hike in a shorter amount of time.

The capability to acclimatized are different for each person. So, building up your fitness even more will not be a waste. Just make sure you don’t injure yourself by overtraining and always have enough rest. You need to train 6 months before, not less. Besides these conditioning, we require you to have experience on high mountains.

GEAR LIST