DIRTBAGS ON THE DABLAM

AARON HALSTEAD

‘IT IS SAID THAT life is the collection of great memories — this will be one of them!' It was hard to believe this when we were freezing our butts off at 6500 m with no food left, the prospect of at least two more days up high and the possibility of it storming on us — but I knew it to be true.

Our expedition had humble beginnings, a group of individuals who got together in anticipation of climbing an interesting route on a Himalayan peak. There were orginally nine of us going on the expedition but due to a very tragic climbing accident which killed one of the team members, we were reduced to 5 after the others realigned their priorities. The rabble that finally got together on the 1^st of April in the Himalayan Lodge, Lukla were: Dave Crofts, Warren Burton, Bryan Moore, Kat West and myself. Bryan and I had met on the filming of the Vertical Limit, while the others were friends from various climbing jaunts around the globe.

Dave arrived a week early in Kathmandu to secure our climbing permit and meet with the Ministry of Tourism, an interesting exchange took place; "So Mister Crofts, the expedition is called The Spiceboys North Ridge of Ama Dablam Expedition 2000 (Dirtbags)'' — yes. "And you have how many High Altitude Climbing Sherpas?'' — none. "And how much oxygen?'' — "How much oxygen for medicinal use?'' — none. "How much oxygen for emergency use?'' — none. "How many radios?'' — none. "And how much fixed line?'' — 350 metres. "Oh!''. We were beginning to wonder if they took us seriously and therefore decided to avoid any response to "So what does Dirtbags mean?''

After securing the services of six porters we trekked to Namche Bazaar. Here we obtained more supplies and enjoyed sampling the local food and beverage before heading out on an acclimatization trip. We spent time trekking and climbing in the Gokyo and Lobuche areas with the odd high pass thrown in for good measure. This trip proved essential for moving efficiently at altitude with no one suffering from anything more serious than a reoccurring cough and slight headaches the whole trip. A couple of us took turns (not intentionally) of visiting Everest Base Camp. While there Guy from Adventure Consultants was the perfect host and we enjoyed sampling the goodies on offer that we knew would be seriously lacking at our palatial abode.

On a snowy morning of the 15^th of April we departed from Dingboche for Ama Dablam base camp (BC) with 5 climbers, I supporter, I cook, 1 kitchen boy, 7 yaks and 9 porters. The first morning did not go well owing to the fact that our highly accomplished cook Neru, had told the porters and the yak driver where he thought BC should be. After an hour of uphill scrambling they proceeded to head off in another direction. Our pleads were to no avail until we finally persuaded Neru we actually did know where we wanted base camp and it was around the other side of a minor peak. This caused some interesting body language from our porters, and our yak driver was left to navigate the yaks down a 45 degree rocky slope. We finally stumbled into BC over 5 hours later than anticipated in a full snowy white out. The next morning was spectacular, clear with the North Ridge rising straight up less than 300 m from our camp. This site was on a grassy moraine plateau at 5120 m and proved to be an excellent base for rest and recovery. There was a stream running through camp, large sunning rocks, and a memorial stone with plaques dedicated to two previous attempts at the North Ridge that ended tragically, one from 1958 (British) and the other from 1983 (Spanish). Two days later after setting up camp and scoping out a suitable line we began climbing. Easy scrambling led to reasonably difficult Granite free climbing where we fixed our 350 metres of rope (spread over 12 or so pitches) to facilitate putting in a high camp at 5850 m. Two pitches were prominent on this section (especially for Bryan since he led them), one was an offwidth which from below looked easier than it actually was and had us exchanging interesting comments about where to go next. The other lead had Bryan heading up steep, broken rock and finishing with an overhang covered in deep snow, Bryan noted that it was probably time to change out of rock shoes! Once high camp was established we spent the next few days ferrying tents and supplies up ready for an alpine style push to the summit (this process of climbing and load carrying took 6 days). Once all the gear was in place we returned to BC for a couple of days rest, both of which had snow falling heavily so we forgot about sunbathing and huddled in our dining tent instead.

Our cook, Neru was excellent and his kitchen boy Ganesh was very popular for bringing us hot drinks at 6 a.m. every morning. Together they conjured up some very ingenious dishes. After one particularly good meal Warren made the comment that it would have been perfect if only we had had a chocolate cake to finish with. Ganesh overheard this and the next night after dinner we were all bobsmacked when in came this huge chocolate cake. Warren became the "Wish Genie'' for the rest of the trip.

Visually we had divided the mountain into thirds, which we knew from below would be incredibly foreshortened. The first third was the rock section with steep Granite and finishing at about 6000 m with steep snow. The 2^nd (crux) third had razor ridges, ice towers and bulges, snow mushrooms, granite slab and intense mixed climbing (NZ alpine grade 6). The last third (summit ridge) began with razor ridges followed by a vertical 100 m serac then finishing on relatively easier snow and ice slopes. The weather also caused us some concern. It was clear most morning but by 1-2 p.m. the wind picked up and it began to snow. About every six or seven days it seemed to snow continuously for a day or two and then clear again.

On 26 April we left BC for a summit push. We had enough supplies at high camp to allow 2 attempts at the climb and also provide emergency food and supplies if we bailed back down the route. We reached high camp in 8-9 hours and split into two teams of 2 and 3 people. We actually found that once we started climbing it was easier to climb together as one large team. It was a little slower but proved to be safer, and allowed us to comiserate each other for how cold it was on the route. Because we were climbing Alpine Style unlike previous ascents of the route, we had to travel light. As such we had few clothes, fuel or food, and had a miniscual amount of tent space each, so much so that if one person turned in the night so did the others!

After leaving high camp we climbed a couple of steep snow pitches to reach the main ridge of the "middle third'' of the route. This crux section proved to be long and exposed with few places to rest or relax. One place that was particularly user friendly was a place named the "Captain Crunch Cave'' by a previous expedition on the route. This undercut rock ledge was perched 80 metres up a rock face at about 6100 m. It had space for two tents with enough area to spread out and relax. One of our most memorable evenings was spent on this ledge, telling stories around a fire we had made from old splintered wooden snow stakes.

From the ledge bivy on, the climbing became more intense. A quote from a previous expedition also came to mind, ".. .the climbing got harder and the weather became worse''. We held these sentiments strongly as our regular weather pattern up high consisted of clear weather in the morning followed in the afternoon by strong winds and snow. This situation got worse once we reached the high ridge and at about that point we had a two days snowstorm descend on us.

The only real incident of note was when Dave had just led off past a very steep, exposed face and Bryan and I were hunkered under a large snow mushroom sheltering from the wind. We heard some bizarre noises coming from Daves direction and looked down to see Warren skittle back down the way he had just come up. As this was happening we were engulfed by flying snow and ice on each side of the mushroom. This debris continued to fall a couple of thousand feet down each side of the steep ridge we were on until settling somewhere far out of sight, when we climbed up to Dave, we saw what all the noise was about. A large section of the snow ridge (that Dave had been climbing on at the time) no longer existed. The climbing on this section of the route was particularly difficult with what we called spooky sections, either unstable snow on rock or very thin ice on granite slab. This section was also the most exposed and credit should be given to Dave and particularly Bryan for a couple of very interesting leads of this section.

To reach the high ridge (or, the top third) which led to easier ground, it became necessary to venture onto the North Face. This face consisted of large and very steep ice towers and flutings. Finding bivy ledges on this section was incredibly difficult. In fact bivy sites on the whole route were at a premium — especially when you are trying to optimise how much climbing you get done each day. Generally we selected the lowest angled ice slope we could find and spent the next hour or two hacking a tiny ledge just big enough for the tents to fit on (well normally the tents fitted!). It also became Warrens mission to find a comfortable bivy spot. His daily comment usually took the form of "Anybody seen a good campsite round here anywhere?''

One of Bryans infamous pitches had us following him like the Pied Piper up, around and over some very steep ice sections, with a culminating last section of overhanging ice climbing. Wisely we decided to pack haul this last bit. After this section we finally reached the high ridge and could see the summit snowfields rising in the distance.

Two things had begun to become abundantly clear by this stage. One was that the severe cold was beginning to affect some people quite badly and secondly, that we were nearly out of food and fuel. We had planned for the climb to take around 5 days from high camp and as such took just enough food and fuel for this length time. Due to bad weather and the length of the route, it took longer than anticipated so we began to get quite hungry near the top of the mountain. Our last hot meal consisted of instant noodle flavouring mix with hot water. Needless to say that food was on our minds quite a lot over the next couple of days.

Up to this point it still became an option to retreat if necessary. However from high ridge position it was going to quicker to go up and over rather than go back down the route. After spending the night on the ridge we had only "The Guardian'' standing between us and the summit.

This huge serac rose 100 m straight in front of us and had bulletproof ice for the first 30 m. Kat remembers this section well because she managed to get upside down on this very solid ice and experience a unique view down the west face!

After this serac we climbed easy snow to what became our last bivy before summitting. The next morning we all left in high spirits to climb 350 m of ice gullies and snow ridges to finally reach the summit at 11.30 a.m. on the 4^th of May. It was fantastic with a beautifully clear day and incredible views everywhere (Everest, Kachenjunga, Tibet, the Terai, Makalu). We spent over an hour just hanging out and relaxing a little. After climbing more than 40 pitches to the 6856 m summit of Ama Dablam it seemed strange to have no more ground to ascend.

We decided to descend the South West Ridge (Normal route) and spent the next few hours abseiling down to camp 3. Here we met some very determined Russian climbers who were shocked to see us and told us we were the first team up Ama Dablam for the season. We learnt a few days later that after 2 pushes from camp 3 they did make the summit very late in the day. Subsequently one climber lost all the fingers on his hand to frostbite. It was to be big season on the Normal Route of Ama Dablam with over 10 teams trying to reach the summit. Most had already departed the SW base camp for home when we came down off the mountain. Many teams attributed their lack of success to bad weather, poor conditions or team illness. We all felt quite privilleged to have summitted after learning this.

While heading down the mountain, about an hour from SW base camp, we were met by three Austrians running up the track towards us. They were really ecstatic and had heard we summitted so decided to come and welcome us with hot soup, biscuits and chocolate. That went down particularly well! Once at SW base camp we met two good friends who were also in Nepal climbing and had a wonderful night eating, drinking and yarning with them and our new Austrian friends. The next morning we all headed off in an exhausted state for our base camp to pack up and head down the valley. Dave "posh spice'' wasn't looking quite so posh at this stage and he had to move even faster to catch a flight (he already missed one) back to New Zealand. As Dave was the only one of us with a confirmed job to actually get back to, the rest of us took our time a little.

Back in BC we stripped the camp and sent most equipment down the valley by yaks. Three of us went up to pull down the ropes and fixed protection. This task ended up taking a lot more time than anticipated and with the weather and darkness approaching, Kat and Warrent spent the night at a bivy up high to continue in the morning. The next day we all headed down the valley at different times but all managed to meet that night in Namche to sell some fixed rope and feast on pizza and beer. After flying back to Kathmandu and settling minor affairs we all headed off in different directions around the globe.

The North Ridge of Ama Dablam really is a spectacular climb and we were happy after 8 days climbing — plus 2 descending — that we had achieved the 6^th ascent of the route (The first Alpine Style Ascent). Kat also became the first woman to climb the route, and our sources in Nepal tell us that no body has achieved a full north-south climb on Ama Dablam before.

SUMMERY

A successful ascent of the North Ridge of Ama Dablam. The team discussed down the SW Ridge completing a north-south traverse.

 

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