Ama Dablam 2015 – Update #1

Our 2015 Ama Dablam team is deep into their expedition as we write this first update. The whole team arrived in Kathmandu healthy and happy on October 19 into a somewhat strange setting. Due to a fuel shortage coupled with the depressed tourism sector after the earthquake, there was very little tourism traffic. Normally bustling transportation hubs and public markets were eerily quiet. While the fuel shortage certainly caught our attention and created some concern, our incredible logistics team in Nepal was able to get the fuel needed for our expedition to have a successful attempt on the jewel of the Himalaya. We can’t say enough positive things about our in country logistics team headed up by our friend Jiban and how hard they work for us to create the best experiences possible.

During the trek towards basecamp our lead guide Brian Warren reported the same eery quiet as the trails were not filled with their usual hustle and bustle. The team is loving the solitude but it’s breaking our hearts here at Alpenglow to know that in their greatest time of need, the Nepalese people are not getting the support from the international tourism sector that they so desperately need. Brian visited all of our friends in the villages along the way and relays that while they are still needing to rebuild a mind boggling amount of structures, they are as happy and resilient as ever. Always gracious and filled with deep gratitude, our friends in Nepal are doing great but still need our constant support.

Over the past week the team has reported some weather coming through that has hampered their communications a bit but appears to be setting the mountain up perfectly for a clean ascent. The sun is back out and they have been working through an acclimatization cycle that had them tagging camp two yesterday before heading down to base camp for a few days of rest. The team has fixed ropes and put in the route up to camp two and word is that the climbing is amazing.

We can’t wait to hear more from our team as they move through the next days and weeks. We’ll post more regular updates as information is sent to us. In the meantime you can head over to our Facebook or Instagram pages for photos and updates that are a little closer to real time.

Cheers to another #AdventureDoneRight,

Sean