Ama Dablam Autumn 2002

Dan Mazur and his Autumn 2002 Ama Dablam Team

Dispatch Index

Dispatch One: We are still in Bangkok! At the gate yesterday, approx 5 mins before the plane was due to leave, we were informed the airport at Kathmandu was closed. Apparently a helicopter had crashed on the runway. Click here for more....

Dispatch Two: We have arrived in Katmandu - Dan, Jay and Rex. We have checked in to the Nepal Hotel and met with the owner, Bidya. Murari from Parivar Trekking, our agent, helped us start preparations for the trip.... Click here for more....

Dispatch Three: Today, Murari Sharma of Parivar Trekking and Dan and Rex and Jay did a training walk to Swaymbunath, the Monkey Temple. Kathmandu was quiet and peaceful. Dan bought an inexpensive suit and tie and went to the British Embassy to enquire about obtaining a visa for one of the staff at the agency... Click here for more....

Dispatch Four: The weather was beautiful and sunny all day today. With the airport at Lukla re-opened after a day of rain, Jon, Andy and Ian flew out this morning. They'll be trekking to Everest Basecamp before meeting us on the 7th at Ama Dablam Basecamp.... Click here for more....

Dispatch Five: Two more Team Members arrived today - Stuart Maccrimmon from Liverpool, England, and Cardiff, Wales, and Patrick Bernier from Quebec, Canada. They were met by Dan and enjoyed dinner at Fire and Ice Pizza with Jeff and Dave, two friends from Seattle, who just came back from a harrowing climbing trip on the Nepal-Tibet Border, where they apparently were shot at by Chinese border police! Click here for more....

Dispatch Six: The Team Members are starting to trickle in more frequently now. Tom Taplin from the USA arrived today. Tom plans to make a home movie of our expedition to show his family back in the states. He's forewarned us that we may be waking up with cameras in our faces! Click here for more....

Dispatch Seven: We had a busy day today with the arrival of 5 Expedition members - Tom Boydston from Boston, Clayton Kuhles from Arizona, Tom Lannamann from Connecticut, Marc Serravezza from Colorado Springs and Brian Rolfson from Colorado... Click here for more....

Dispatch Eight: Today our expedition members arrived: David Cooper from England and Colorado, Roland DeBare from Belgium and South Carolina, Michael Hale and Wendy Larson from Alaska, Andrew Hilton from England, Michael Long from Ireland, Paul Mitterbacher from Austria, Randy Murphy from Colorado, Christian Rodenbeck from Chicago, Markus Staehelin from Switzerland, Ken Stalter from New York, and Charles Winger from Colorado... Click here for more....

Dan took all the members onto the roof of the Hotel Nepa for an official greeting, and went through the equipment we all need for both the Climb, and the trek to Base camp. Most of the members' gear was very good and only a few had to buy some extra.... Click here for more....

Wow! What a day today! We were up at 4.00 this morning in order to transport us and our remaining gear to the airport, for our flight to Lukla. We survived the chaos of the Domestic Terminal and soon were boarding a De-havilland Twin Otter..... Click here for more....

After staying in Phakding last night, today we got our first real taste of altitude, with the safe arrival of the team at Namche Bazar. The climb from 2400m to 3600m was long and tough, but we took it slow, drank plenty of water and arrived in good health...... Click here for more....

We had a busy rest day in Namche. Wendy and Marc seemed to feel much better this morning. Markus and Andy and others awoke early and walked along the trail to Everest for ten minutes to catch a glimpse of the fantastic views of Mt Everest, Ama Dablam, Lhotse, Nuptse, etcetera. It is a stunning and even frightening view...... Click here for more....

Several Updates from Dan's team are below. First let's start with a note from Andy and Ian Prentice. Andy and Ian Prentice, as well as Jon Briggs, set off from Kathmandu a few days ahead of the tem, in order to acclimate and spend more time trekking rather than in the urban environs of Kathmandu. Here is their story...... Click here for more....

Today we made the trek up from Deboche to base camp. After a short walk along the main trail up the valley we broke up right away from the line of villages. We quickly climbed above tree line and had a brisk windy walk over some beautiful open country..... Click here for more....

Today, after a big breakfast of eggs, pancakes, porridge and juice, we got ourselves organized and spent the day doing training. A group of 11 yaks, whose drivers Pasang Tsering and Dorjee, had slept in borrowed sleeping bags in the storage tent overnight.... Click here for more....

The Team awoke with the anticipation of climbing to ABC today, only to find 10cm (4 inches) of snow on the ground - and still falling heavily..... Click here for more....

The weather was beautiful and sunny today. The group are now traveling between base camp and advanced base camp at regular intervals shifting heavy loads of personal gear including climbing equipment, food, warm clothing and sleeping systems...... Click here for more....

The weather this morning was sunny and calm and beautiful. We are sorry to report that Clayton Kuhles left us today, escorted down to Lukla together with the cook boy Phurba. He said that he was happy to see Ama Dablam again..... Click here for more....

Today was probably the best day of the expedition, weather-wise. The group of climbers who spent last night at Advanced Base Camp (ABC) at 5400 meters had an early breakfast of coconut porridge..... Click here for more....

Ken, Stuart, etc. headed up to Camp 1. Great view of them on the ridge, silhouetted against Kantega and Malanphulan, the peaks to the south of base camp..... Click here for more....

Charlie took some pulse oximeter readings from people at ABC. Andy and Tom B went to Camp 1 and helped set up the kitchen area and returned to ABC. Paul and Mick went up to Camp 1 to spend the night..... Click here for more....

Today, Andy, Tom B., Tom L., Christian, Markus, Paul, Mick, Rex and some of our Sherpas climbed to Camp 2. The route is for the most part, an airy traverse over rock and snow, culminating in a climb of the 25m Yellow Tower, which is where the real climbing begins. There is already one tent at Camp 2 and we hacked at the snow and ice for several hours to make platforms for three more tents. Hard work at 6000m..... Click here for more....

Today, Daniel, Patrick, Roland and Tom T., climbed to Camp 2 from ABC, carrying super-heavy loads, including ropes, tents, stoves, and gas as well as their personal equipment. The ropes will be used to fix the route between Camp 2 and Camp 3 and the tents, stoves and gas will be set up at Camps 2 and 3..... Click here for more....

Patrick, Roland and Dan returned from C1 to BC in the afternoon. Tom Taplin returned from ABC in the morning. Jay, Randy and Dave moved up to C1. Wendy finally departed for a 5 day Everest Base Camp excursion. Mike, Ken and the Prentice brothers initiated their summit bid by moving up to ABC..... Click here for more....

Today was a fascinating day. In the morning there was some discouragement. The Germans thought that there was no way to finish the route to camp three and announced they were retreating off the mountain. Then the French called two hours later to announce they had pushed the remaining 100 meters and arrived at camp three by 1:00 pm. This was good news for us and all the groups waiting anxiously in the other camps..... Click here for more....

We carried the telecomms equipment to camp 1 at 5700 meters. to try and fit in dispatches around our climbing, as we are in desperate need of a person who would be in charge of writing these dispatches everyday from base camp. This is a temporary dispatch made between summit bids. The positions of the team members are as follows.... Click here for more....

We are proud to report that fifteen of our twenty five members have reached the summit of 6856 meter Ama Dablam. We set up five camps along the South West Ridge. Base Camp on October 4th at 4575 meters, Advanced Base Camp on October 6th at 5400 meters, Camp 1 on October 14th at 5750 meters, Camp 2 on October 17th at 6000 meters and Camp 3 on October 20th at 6300 meters..... Click here for more....

An extremely triumphant day today, with the safe arrival of Randy, Tom Taplin, Roland, Patrick, Ken, Dan and all the Sherpas and gear in Base camp...... Click here for more....

Ama Dablam international expedition 2002 finishes, the new route begins.

Hi and thanks to all the friends and members and everybody and you and Jay and everybody that helped us do this.  We're at the base of the North Ridge of Ama Dablam and there's a memorial to a couple of Brits who died. One who's name is Fraser and another Montgomery in 1959 climbing this route, and that's right where we camped last night..... Click here for more....

After our return to flat ground, there has been time to reflect. Well, after climbing together with 15 members and 5 Sherpas to the 6800 meter Ama Dablam's summit, via the south west ridge (normal route), several of us decided to try something harder, and we guessed that the next most "climbable" route would be the north ridge, as it is called. Our four person team went back to Kathmandu to say good bye to our normal-route-friends, and then returned to the peaceful Khumbu Valley to give it a go....Click here for more....