Ama Dablam

Melanie from The Netherlands

Wild Yak Expeditions truly exceeded my expectations in every way. The entire team is heartwarming, and they provided me readily available support in preparing for the Ama Dablam expedition up until the very successful end. The Wild Yak Expeditions staff is technically highly knowledgeable and very professional. I felt very safe with the technical sherpas during the expedition and I felt trusted for my skills. I highly appreciate it that they made sure I received the very best, every day. Wild Yak Expeditions’ outstanding service and organisation enabled me to realize my dream of climbing the Ama Dablam and reaching the summit safe and sound! Thank you so much to the entire Wild Yak Expeditions team.

Gregory Lesperance from USA

Namaste,
Still trying to find the right words that describe the trip. This trip has moved me on a Personal and Spiritual level that I had no idea existed. The entire WILD YAK Team from the Kathmandu team, Climbing Sherpas, various Lodge personnel (cooks, wait staff & lodge managers ) & the front office staff were all phenomenal.
The time spent trekking from the different villages (Dole, Goyko, Pangboche etc. etc.) before heading to the BC of Ama really was remarkable. Our Sherpa guide did everything he could to ensure the logistics were arraigned well in advance of our arrival.
The climb of Ama itself was such a wild experience. Between safely climbing the yellow tower and grey couloir along with the hours of planning discussions that took place to ensure a successful summit day just accented the attention to detail the WILD YAK Team gave.

Looking forward to another successful expedition!!

Vincent from Valais, Switzerland

Attitude matters more than altitude 

The first-timer experience in Nepal 

You cannot ignore the majesty of the Himalayas like you cannot ignore the immensity of the Oceans. However, you need an immersion experience to fully understand their energy and their mystery. 

Names like Everest, K2, and Annapurna resonate familiar even if you have not been there and have not seen these mountains hearing Sherpas talking to each other in the background with that feeling in your lungs of what high-altitude really means. Far away, so close! 

I guess we feel at home with these names because we have been reading epic stories of their ascents and tragedies, looking at pictures of their endless sharp ridges and immense faces. Like many of us with mountaineering experience in the Alps, I have read about the Himalayas, and I have heard people sharing their adventures there. So many similarities I could understand and so many differences I could not appreciate. The only way to fully capture this place is to go there, experience it, feel it, and learn from it. And perhaps get addicted. 

So, let’s go to the Himalayas! Well, I quickly realized it is not as simple as deciding to go for a 4000m peak in the Alps. The main travel to Katmandu in Nepal is like the drive or train to Zermatt or the place from where you will start your ascent from. It is only more hours but remains a simple flight to organize. 

From there, when you land in Katmandu, everything is different. In the Alps, from the departure village, it takes you a few hours maximum to the hut for the night (your base camp). From that well-equipped shelter you will start the climb the next day and usually summit and get back home in one day, sometimes 2, rarely more. In the Himalayas, you are hiking for many days, sometimes weeks only to reach base camp. Then the summit is not attained in one push, you need to camp on the mountain two nights, sometimes four or more even for normal routes (the less-technical ones). For this to happen with some chance of success on your side you need to organize very well two things that are fundamentally different from your walk to the hut and the summit in the Alps: food and acclimatization. 

When you are on the road for so many days on your way to base camp and later to the summit you cannot simply carry everything yourself, especially food and cooking equipment but also all the technical gears for the ascent. I guess if you would do it all by yourself and by miracle manage to reach base camp, it would be the end of the journey as you would probably have no more energy left to keep going higher from there. Porters and yaks, cooks, climbing Sherpa, and reliable administrative support are essential. This assistance is not a comfort or a luxury to compensate for lack of physical strength or expedition experiences, it is a mandatory way to access and summit any mountains in this region of the world. 

The second extremely critical difference from my long experience in the Alps is acclimatization. You cannot simply have your food and gears carried for you and run up the trail to base camp pick up your climbing gear and continue to the summit. This is valid also if you are in great shape and used to altitude with a lot of 4000m summits in the Alps. You like it or not you need to comply with acclimatization’s principles: go slow, go high, sleep low, eat well, sleep well. It is not only about improving the efficiency of your climb, but it can be about life or death. It takes time to walk slow, go up, get back down to sleep, takes rest days, and repeat many times. More time equals more food and supplies to bring along and you need coaching to do it right if you have no experience with acclimatization. An experienced high-altitude Sherpa is essential not only close to the summit, but I would say mainly way before when you are still on the base camp approach to bring his experience regarding acclimatization and prepare you to do that process right. I think we had a good progressive and effective acclimatization method. After some days of feeling the lack of oxygen I felt and progress at 6000m like at 4000m back home. Luckily, I could adapt well this time without headaches or other side effects some people experience from time to time. Side effects can sometimes mean the end of your expeditions. You cannot improvise acclimatization, do not attempt to do it.

Another hugely different concept to have in mind is that, because of the long distances between villages, base camps, and mountains, and the logistics needed to reach these places, you cannot change your plans last minute or on the way. Like when you arrive in Zermatt and the weather or mountain conditions are not good you move to Chamonix or Grindelwald for another summit without modifying your backpack or scheduled to return home. I learned that you need to go to the Himalayas for the journey (the experience), not the destination (the summit). There is much more complexity and uncertainties there. When you take your flight to Katmandu you have no idea how the weather will be like three or four weeks later even if you choose a period of the year usually offering good conditions. You have no idea how you will feel with altitude even if you acclimatize right. You only know it is going to be an adventure. Take it as such and enjoy what it brings, day after day. 

So, even if the summit is not what makes the trip a success or a failure you need to choose one. As said, you cannot improvise on-site, change on the way. There is too much logistics (porters, food, lodges, gears, Sherpas, ascent permits) and too long distances that you can only travel on foot. As a first-timer in Nepal, I chose Amadablam at 6812m. Why? Because it is such an aesthetic mountain, looking at it is simply inspiring. And because it is not too high for a first high-altitude experience in the Himalayas. Yet still high enough to require proper acclimatization and to deal well with the cold. 

Note that, whatever the altitude I can reach, I want to go without supplementary oxygen, as a principle. I had a previous experience at 5800m with one night at this altitude, so going at 6800m sound like an affordable challenge to me. Another nice thing about Amadablam is that you can acclimatize progressively on the Everest base camp trek and the ascent of the Island Peak at 6189m. All are on the way. Ok, it is not the most remote trail in the Himalayas but for a first experience, it offers two advantages: you are so close to the highest mountain in the world, and you have a progressive immersion into the culture and the life above 4000m. I do not regret that choice. I would go back tomorrow only to see again these magnificent sunrise and sunset on Everest and Lhotse faces. And it was also nice to start the trip with cozy lodges and great food to enjoy in a heated dining room, I had later on my cold tent nights where we melt snow to eat dehydrated meals 

I did not want to climb Amadablam during the high season with many other people. Therefore, I went to base camp with Norbu Sherpa from Wild Yak Expeditions by the end of November to climb Amadablam in early December. After doing the Everest valley trek and Island Peak summit in November we spent 4 days resting in a nice lodge at a lower altitude with good food and lots of sleep. We were the only one at base camp when we arrived, hence later the only one on the mountain toward the summit. What an experience! The side effect (there is always one) was that early December winter can show its first signs, and it did. Very cold (-25 degrees C) and windy (50 km/h) below the summit forced me to turn back. The goal is to get back home not up there. With low oxygen, cold temperature, and high winds you can lose fingers or toes faster than you think. 

On the way to base camp and further up to Amadablam,  I realized how much valuable the logistic, support, and guidance provided by the Wild Yak Expeditions team were. Not only to make the trip a peace of mind and a fantastic experience in the nature and mountains but also to be as close as possible with the local culture and people. I came back home with not only a better sense of what these mountains are and how to climb them but also and mainly how different from our perspective in the Alps the local community respect their mountains and live the journey towards their summits. 

It is not about if it is better or worse there. It is not about if it is higher or lower there. It is all about learning another attitude when looking at the mountains, their spirits, their gods, and their people. Some learnings you can apply back here, some you need to be back to live it again. 

Vincent in Nepal with Wild Yak Expeditions in Nov-Dec 2017