Author: Timur Gainullin, Tyumen. Ascent to Ama Dablam peak (Himalayas) High-altitude Cup FSR 2013

Report

of the Tyumen Regional Alpine Federation team on the ascent to Ama Dablam peak (6812 m) via the Southwest ridge 5B, (k)

from May 14 to 19, 2013.

Coach: Gainullin T.T., CMS. Leader: Gainullin T.T., CMS

Participants:

• Karpenko A.A.
• Yablonskikh O.A.
• Ivanovsky P.

Table 11

Table 11.1

Ascent Passport.

1. Himalayas

2. Peak name: Ama Dablam, 6812 m

3. Route: Southwest ridge (classic)

4. Route type: combined

5. Height difference: 2500 m. Route length: 5000 m. Length of sections: V cat. sl. 300 m., Average steepness: main part of the route — 75° (6000–6500) total route 47°.

6. Pitons left on the route: total 15, including bolted 0. Pitons used on the route: 80, chocks: 115. Bolted pitons not used. Total artificial protection points (APP) used: 0

7. Team's total hours: 6 h

8. Leader: Gainullin Timur Talgatovich, CMS

Participants:

• Karpenko A.A., CMS
• Yablonskikh O.A., 1st sports rank
• Ivanovsky P., 1st sports rank

9. Coach:

Gainullin Timur Talgatovich, CMS

10. Departure to the route: 10:00 May 14, 2013.

Reached the summit: 13:30 May 18, 2013. Returned to Base Camp (Pangboche 4000 m): 20:00 May 19, 2013.

11. Tyumen Regional Alpine Federation, CSP, Department of Sports and Youth Policy TO. Photo of the route

Fig. Pre-summit ascent. Above the "Dablam".

1995

1995

Fig. Rope to Camp 1 5800 m

Fig. ABC 5400 m

Fig. Team on the summit of Ama Dablam. Photo by Pavel Ivanovsky. May 18, 2013.

Fig. Route profile on the right

Fig. Photopanorama of the area SCHEME OF THE ROUTE IN SYMBOLS UNAA M 1 : 2000

• • sections not to scale

    | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | | :--: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :--: | | | | | | | | | | | 16 | | - | - | - | 8 | | | | | 240 | 22 | | 2 | - | 4 | 2 | | | | | 70 | 68 | | 4 | 3 | - | - | | | 8 | | 25* | 68 | | - | - | - | 1 | Total hours — 9.5 | | | | 30 | 65 | | - | - | - | - | | | | 7 | 30 | 20 | | - | - | - | 2 | | | | 40 | 60 | 10 | | 7 | 6 | 5 | - | | | | 120 | 70 | 9 | | 3 | - | 2 | 1 | | 7 | | 40 | 70 | 8 | | 3 | 3 | - | 1 | | | | 111 | 150® | 15 | | -86- | | | | | | | | | | | :--: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :--: | :--: | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | | | | | | Total hours Summit (with processing) — 39. | 12 | | | | 24 | | - | - | - | 18 | | 11 | Σ | 320® | 55 | 23 | | - | - | - | 6 | | | 12+ | 120® | 45 | 22 | | - | - | 1 | 1 | | | ∑+ | 25 | 62 | 21 | | - | - | - | - | | | ∏ | 40 | 25 | 20 | | - | - | 2 | 2 | | | | ∑+ | 50 | 55 | | - | - | 4 | 1 | | | | ∑+ | 60 | 65 | | - | - | 3 | 8 | | 10 | ∑+ | 200® | 55 | 17 | | - | - | - | - | | | I | 150® | 15 | 16 |

    Description of the route by sections

Cargo delivery was carried out under the route with the help of yaks and by the participants themselves. Equipment was carried from Lukla 2800 m to Pangboche 4000 m — Ama Dablam Base Camp, to reduce the cost of the permit. The delivery was made directly to 5400 m in High camp.

After passing the Pangboche settlement — turn right, cross the river and 3 hours to a flat grassy meadow near Mingbo. This is the Ama Dablam Base Camp.

Ap­proach to the route is along a wide grassy ridge to the right of the Mingbo glacier, which leads to the SW ridge of Ama Dablam. Up the small and medium scree on the eastern slope to 5500 m — this is ABC or High camp. From BC it takes approximately 4–5 hours.

Ta­ble of the team's movement by days

During the ascent days from 14.05 to 19.05 there was no weather. There was snow and fog. Evenings the weather improved, but in the morning it worsened again.

The tem­pe­ra­ture on the day of the summit was approximately −15°C to −20°C.

Some per­ils on the route were duplicated, for this 400 m of rope was taken, and the following were used:

• snow pitons,
• rock pitons,
• ice pitons.

Above the third camp, the ropes were hung by the team independently, as this year no one reached the summit before us due to bad weather and, possibly, lack of equipment for route preparation.

Spring 2013 was low in snow, in that the entire summit area was covered in ice, and all the ropes were buried.

The team faced a difficulty — lack of water, as per photos and descriptions starting from ABC — snow is melted everywhere, in our case there was no snow, and we didn't bring water. We looked for old snow in the shade, collecting it in bags grain by grain. This continued until the second camp.

De­scrip­tion of the route by sec­tions

Sec­tion 0–1 Ridge. Snowy sec­tions al­ter­nate with rocky walls, slabs. Sec­tion 1–2 Gla­ci­ated chimney, lead­ing to the top of the 1st gendarme. Sec­tion 2–3 Ridge be­tween the 1st and 2nd gendarmes. Sec­tion 3–4 Rocky wall on the right (by the route) side of the ridge Photo 5. Sec­tion 4–5 Ridge be­tween the 2nd and 3rd gendarmes. Sec­tion 5–6 Easy ridge, end­ing in a rocky bastion. Sec­tion 6–7 Rocky bastion. Move­ment in the lower part — left up, right and straight up. In the upper part — small relief (Photo 6). Sec­tion 7–8 Com­bined ridge to the second bastion. Here is the first night's bivouac for one tent, the second tent is on sec­tion 13–14. Sec­tion 8–9 Tra­verse right at the base of the over­hang­ing grey wall with a fissure (Photo 7). Sec­tion 9–10 By­pass of the over­hang­ing wall on the right along gla­ci­ated rocks (Photo 7). Sec­tion 10–11 Steep snowy ridge, lead­ing to the pla­teau of the bastion (Photo 7). Sec­tion 11–12 Knife-edge ridge — a bridge to the shoulder of the bastion (Photo 7). Sec­tion 12–13 Steep as­cent of the bridge to the foot of the Upper Step of the bastion. Sec­tion 13–14 Tra­verse left along the bor­der be­tween rocks and firn. Here is the second tent's bivouac (Photo 8). Sec­tion 14–15 By­pass of the Upper Step rocks of the bastion along ice, firn (Photo 9). Sec­tion 15–16 Knife-edge ridge — top of the 2nd bastion. On the ridge there are small but nu­me­rous cor­nices, snowy "mush­rooms". Ba­lan­cing on the sharp ridge (ice axe helps lit­tle), dan­ger of cor­nices or snowy "mush­rooms" col­lapse phy­si­cal­ly and psy­cho­lo­gi­cal­ly ex­haus­ting. Sec­tion 16–17 "Cush­ion" — the upper part of the han­ging gla­cier, the only place on the route not re­quir­ing mu­tual pro­tec­tion. Sec­tion 17–18 "Christ­mas tree" snow — cha­rac­te­ristic for the Hi­ma­la­yas steep snowy re­lief, re­pre­sent­ing an al­ter­na­tion of snowy ridges and gullies, ari­sing on a rocky wall. Snow con­di­tion — coarse-grained, poorly com­pac­ting. Snowy ridges are of­ten tor­tu­ous, their top can over­hang. When mo­ving along such snowy ridges the term "cli­mbing" is ap­pli­ca­ble — as on rocks or ice. Pro­tec­tion is dif­fi­cult. For pro­tec­tion, firn pitons, ice axes and their com­bi­na­tions were used (Photo 10). NOTE: here and be­low under the term "Christ­mas tree snow" un­der­stand the de­scri­bed form of mountain relief. Sec­tions 18–19, 19–20 Ice slope — the la­te­ral part of the up­per han­ging gla­cier. Sec­tion 20–21 Gen­tle snowy slope in the upper part of the han­ging gla­cier. Sec­tion 21–22 Bergschrund, hin­der­ing the as­cent to the ridge □