jaee Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 A Mazama expedition to Ama Dablam has put 4 climbers on the summit. Monty Smith and Chris Cosgriff summitted on October 28th and David Byrne and Nancy Miller on October 30th. The full roster of the expedition can be seen here Please join me in congratulating these folks on a great climb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducknut Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 Congrats to the team. Is there a website with updates? I heard the weather has been marginal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaee Posted November 6, 2004 Author Share Posted November 6, 2004 We've been receiving transcribed phone calls from Monty to his fiance. If anyone is interested I could post a digest of those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelle Posted November 6, 2004 Share Posted November 6, 2004 Very cool. It sounds like they were an independent team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barkernews Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 Dude!!! Let's see some pictures! Nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaee Posted November 7, 2004 Author Share Posted November 7, 2004 I just know most of the folks on the trip. I'll try to get some pictures up when they return. As far as I know they're on the way back to Lukla at this point. They didn't take any 'real-time' gadgetry so we'll have to wait for them to make it to at least an internet cafe to get any shots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaee Posted November 8, 2004 Author Share Posted November 8, 2004 Enjoy a few pics from the trip. Appreciate that these were uploaded over a screaming 9600 baud modem from Namche. The crew passed thru on 11/5 on their way to Lukla. Chris ascending Chris at summit w/ Monty 10/28/04 Everest in the background Chris descending Nancy Miller on the way up. She summitted 10/30/04 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 so is the climb actually technical or are the pictures misleading to the overall character of the climb? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barkernews Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 That is BAD ASS!!! u guys rock! Looking forward to the TR... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snafflehunter Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 so is the climb actually technical or are the pictures misleading to the overall character of the climb? Notice the ascenders. The climb is technical, but most parties elect to ascend via fixed ropes which takes a lot of the technicality (and in my opinion, fun) out of it. Nevertheless, an awesome achievement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chriznitch Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 looks pretty technical to me, at least for whoever fixed the ropes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaee Posted November 8, 2004 Author Share Posted November 8, 2004 It's a pretty serious climb. However, it gets enough traffic that lines are usually fixed. The party elected to use existing fixed lines but were prepared to fix their own. I believe the hardest rock climbing is 5.6 or so and there's quite a bit of steep snow and ice. Of course, there's obviously huge exposure off of the ridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bug Posted November 8, 2004 Share Posted November 8, 2004 Take me next time! How many rupies does it cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snafflehunter Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 looks pretty technical to me, at least for whoever fixed the ropes The ropes are fixed by Sherpa or guides, but they use last year's ropes to fix the current year's ropes. In 2003, a German guide was climbing less than 500' above me while on the SE Ridge of Ama Dablam when one of the lines he was jugging on suddenly broke in half. The guy was trying to fix lines for the season (this was ~October 20th) when he fell. It turns out the line he was using was placed seasons prior, and it had been severely deteriorated by wind and blowing ice/snow. As for the technicality part, I didn't find jugging up the fixed lines was very difficult, but after witnessing that accident it became more of a mental thing for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snafflehunter Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Take me next time! How many rupies does it cost? It really depends on who you go through to get your permit. 1 permit allows 10 or so climbers (could be 12), so if you can find someone who hasn't filled the max, then you could get on for ~US$500 per person. Add to that the cost of a liaison officer (US$2000 per team) and a garbage deposit (US$2000 per team - refundable after your expedition), and you can do the math from there. I would encourage you to look at getting on someone else's permit to save money obviously, but it isn't always possible. Try Henry Todd, or Dan Mazur -- those guys have teams up there every year. Do a google search. I think my entire trip (as a member of an independent team) cost about US$5000, but that included RT airfare to KTM, hotel accomodations in KTM, the round trip to Lukla, nightly stays in tea houses, sherpas, and porters. I was in the Khumbu region for just over 5 weeks total. If you need any more info, feel free to PM me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snafflehunter Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 It's a pretty serious climb. However, it gets enough traffic that lines are usually fixed. The party elected to use existing fixed lines but were prepared to fix their own. I believe the hardest rock climbing is 5.6 or so and there's quite a bit of steep snow and ice. Of course, there's obviously huge exposure off of the ridge. Matt Anderson and co. climbed it free and they rated the crux rock at 5.9 (if I remember correctly). But I don't think they were wearing rock shoes and it's all above 20,000 ft. Yikes! Something to add: Don't count on lines being fixed if you plan on summitting prior to ~October 28th. Sometimes they are fixed as early as October 15th, sometimes as late as November 1st. It's all going to depend on the weather and how motivated the Sherpas feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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