2022 Spring Ama Dablam/Island Peak Expedition Dispatch - Namas Adventure

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2022 Spring Ama Dablam/Island Peak Expedition Dispatch - Namas Adventure

2022 Spring Ama Dablam/Island Peak Expedition Dispatch

2022 Ama Dablam Expedition

2022 Ama Dablam/ Island Peak Expedition tracking (Active from 2nd May)

ID Name: Namas GPS 1 Adventure

Link: https://share.garmin.com/Namasgps1

24th - 25th April

We have total of 6 climbing members for Spring Ama Dablam Expedition. 3 members arrived on 24th April. After final gear check on 25th, everyone went on a city tour to explore the culture, history of Kathmandu on our Temple run 1 day tour.

26th - 28th April

All team members safely arrives at Lukla on 26th and began their trek to Monjo village. 27th April arrival Namche Bazzar and acclimatization day set for 28th April.

April 29th - May 1st

Team members head towards Tengboche - Chukung and Island Peak base camp, preparing to take on Imja Tse 6189M as further acclimatization/training.

May 2nd - 3rd

Ama Dablam Base camp at 4529M is set up for team members’ arrival. 3 members are climbing Island peak 6189M for pre-acclimatization/training. Clear weather window. And rest of the climbing team members will follow soon to BC.

3rd April, Ama Dablam group reached successfully summits Island peak 6189M. They are now back to Chukung village and descend down to Ama Dablam BC in 2 days time.

May 6th

Puja ceremony at Ama Dablam BC today.

May 7th - 8th

Camp 1 rotation.

May 9th - 10th

Rotation completed and all members are back in BC. We will attempt another rotation to camp 2. Our team has been seeing snowfall every day for the past few days. Weather shows signs of improvements on 15th - 17th our lead guide has mentioned that is most likely the date we will attempt the summit push.

Images Guide - Dawa Sherpa

May 12 - 13th

Further rotations for client members and rest day.

May 14th - Summit push

Camp 1, our team arrived well and is ready to push ahead. It had been snowing high up in the mountains for 7+ days.15 climbers returned with failed summit bids as the fixed-line rope to the summit was frozen and buried deep in the snow. Our team still decided to push on despite the news and try our luck.

May 15th

Camp 2, arrival. All rested and ready for summit push staright on.

May 16th - Summit push

Summit push-started at 12:30 am. All team members reached up to 6500M (where camp 3 is set up). Fixed-line ropes were nowhere to be found as informed. We tried to find it reaching up to the small crevasse opening and had to abandon our summit bid.

We return to Ama Dablam again this fall.

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2022 Spring Baruntse/Mera Expedition Dispatch - Namas Adventure

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2022 Spring Baruntse/Mera Expedition Dispatch - Namas Adventure

2022 Baruntse Expedition tracking

ID Name: Namas GPS 1 Adventure

Link: https://share.garmin.com/Namasgps1

Conclusion 2022 Baruntse Spring expedition, Namas Adventure team finally assessed the crevasse opening at 6900M first-hand, our team has concluded that we will need to take ladders (3 -5) and to safely cross the crevasse. Additional climbing days may be required since the crevasse opening will delay while fixing the rope to the summit. (Weather permitting)

We will be returning to Baruntse again next fall with a new strategy and support to safely achieve our summit at Baruntse. Here is to explore the new possibilities.

4th - 7th April

Drive from Kathmandu to Patale and Khari Khola. Trekking beings from 8th April to Pangoma village. Everyone is in high spirits after sharing some bumpy rides 🙂.

8th April

Finally, bumpy ride ends at Kharikhola village and our group has arrived at Pangoma village.

April 9th - 11th

All team members have arrived well at Kothe village 3600M. Weather looks promising for Mera Summit on 16th April but we will keep a close eye to any changes in weather. Images of the trek from the team members.

April 12th - 13th

Baruntse team has arrived well at Khare village 5000M. Acclimatization and training day tomorrow. Our team head to high camp 5500M on 15th April and early morning 3 am start for the summit push on 16th April. Weather looks on our side for the 16th with our aim to be at the summit by 7 am or 8 am. Photos by - client member.

April 14th

All team members have rested well and did a short acclimatization hike of 200M - 250M above Khare village. Tomorrow is game time to beautiful Mera high camp at 5500M and then an early start to summit push.

April 15th

Team departs to Mera High Camp. GPS map shows the team arriving near Mera La Pass at 5250M and then message received that they have arrived well at Mera high camp. All the best for Summit push to Mera peak 6476M.

Baruntse Expedition 2022. Mera high camp GPS signal.

Arrival at Mera High Camp.

April 16th

Our team summited Mera Peak at 6:47 Am this morning. The team started the summit push at 2:00 Am in the morning. 🙂. Congratulation team and now 3 days away to Baruntse BC. Then we aim for our objective to Baruntse 7129M. Praying weather stays on our side for this spring-safe summit.

April 17th - 18th

Our Baruntse team has arrived at Baruntse Base camp today. This will be home for the next 10-11 days, as we plan accordingly with the weather window. Hopefully the mountain gods will allow our team a safe passage here onwards. All the best team 🙏🏼

19th - 20th April

Baruntse Expedition 2022 Spring updates

Team dropping supplies above West col at camp 1

On 19th April all our team members rested and recovered for our Baruntse climb. 20th April rotations/supplies were dropped off to prepare for higher camps and summit push. We are seeing a good weather window from 23rd - 27th April. Hopefully, it stays on our side for our summit bid and the team arriving back safely to lower camps.

📸Image courtesy from. - Olof ‘22 Baruntse team

April 21st - 22nd

Puja ceremony was conducted today (21st April) praying and asking the mountain gods for safe passage to the summit and keeping the entire team safe and sound. Few puja celebrations and rest and preparations for tomorrow. Routes to camp 1 have been set already and tomorrow all team members move to camp 1 and sleep there further acclimatizing and our team will open the route to camp 2 and then aim toward the summit.

23rd April - 24th April

23rd Rest day after camp 1 rotations and preparations for the summit push. 24th of April, our team arrived at camp 1 with climbers. 3 Guiding members have headed to camp 2 already to set additional camps for climbers to arrive tommorrow.

25th April

A bit windy way with 30mph - 35mph max but a clear day to stay at camp 2. Our team has arrived safely at Barutse camp 2, 6450M. Tomorrow early hours we push for the summit 🙏🏼.

26th April

We plan for the Summit push during the early hours. The weather looks very good. We wish our team all the very best, a safe Baruntse summit 7129M, and back to camp 1 or 2. 🙏🏼

2022 Baruntse summit push weather window.

26th April - Baruntse Summit Push report

Our team started around 2:30 am in the morning along with 2 other smaller teams. After pushing through for 4 -5 hours, everyone was able to reach up to the point of 6900M, where all teams came upon a (big)crevasse. After assessing the crevasse, the other two teams decided to return back. Since we had the numbers our team tried finding a way around it for 2 hours but seemed impossible and decided to call off the expedition. So close yet so far, we were 219M short of our summit success and our Sherpa guides did their absolute best.

Our mission to the Baruntse summit does not end here. We will further assess the situation with the team once they are back in Kathmandu and discuss ideas to find the solutions to this particular objective danger. Images will provide further evidence and we need to be creative and find a way to tackle this particular issue when we are back to the mountain next autumn (2022). Ladder crossing!! Guided mixed climbing!!?

After we discuss and conclude, if it is safe to climb the crevasse section with other safety ideas, then giving up is not an option. Every team had insufficient information. Now that we know, we can restrategize and plan additionally moving forward.

More details to follow….

All our team members are now at Baruntse Base camp. They will rest there for 1 day, recover, enjoy base camp’s good food, and some time for reflection. On 28th April we will pack up and move towards Amphu Lhabtsa base camp, then head towards the Khumbu region to finally end the expedition.

This is the nature of big remote expeditions, where there are fewer climbing teams and success rates. Data/information are insufficient and as we venture to explore raw-remote regions, these types of expeditions will allow us to collect more information, tackle the issues that can be overcome, and pave a way for oncoming future expeditions. The quest remains.

We are thankful to our super strong and joyful Local Sherpa guiding team. Congratulations to all the team members for Mera Peak 6476M summit and climbing Baruntse up to 6900M.

2022 Baruntse Guiding Members:

  • Lead Pemba Tenjin Sherpa

  • 2nd lead guide Nima Tenzing Sherpa

  • Pemba Gyaltsen Sherpa

  • Kiran Baniya Sherpa

  • Dawa Sherpa

27th April - 28th April

Rest day at Base camp on 27th April. On 28th April our team packs up and heads towards Amphu Lhabtsa base camp.

Keep exploring. Go - Live Your Story.

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Baruntse & Mera Expedition Dispatches - Autumn 2021

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Baruntse & Mera Expedition Dispatches - Autumn 2021

Baruntse 7129M seen during autumn.

Baruntse 7129M seen during autumn.

1st - 2nd October.

Team arrives in Kathmandu and are resting well in our hotel. Next day team briefing for our Baruntse fall expedition, gear check day and finally day ends with a welcome dinner with our lead guide and team members. Everyone is well and on high spirits.

Baruntse 2021 fall.JPG

3rd - 4th October

The expedition begins. We take a different approach via land to get into Makalu region as our team did not want to get stuck in Kathmandu with Lukla flight delays and cancellations. Our team departs via jeep to Patale village (6 - 7 hours) and has arrived well.

Baruntse 2021 fall.JPG

Kaushik (Team member) posts on his Instagram, arrival to Patale.

Road conditions are were rough from Patale village to Boong due to heavy monsoon rainfall, however slowly and steadily team arrives in Boong village. Porter and the assistant guide catches up with the rest of the team and around late afternoon team hiked to Khiraule village.

Images courtesy: Pega Sherpa (Lead guide)

October 5th - 6th

Arrive in Chalem Kharkha Village after trekking for 7 hours. The team is resting well.

(6th)The team arrives well at the village past Panch Pokhari.

Tomorrow they set out to Kothe village 3600M .

7th October

Enjoying a wilderness, sherpa heritage and remote trekking route our team has arrived well at Kothe village at 3600M. 2 days until everyone reached Khare 4800M. Some of the images from our client member of the journey so far.

October 8th

The team arrived well at Thagnang village. It has stopped raining and the weather is starting to get better with clear days. We are seeing a clear weather window for the next 7 days which is good news for our team as we push higher to the next village Khare 4800M then to Mera High Camp (11th October) and Mera Peak summit (scheduled on 12th October).

October 9th - 10th

All team members have arrived well at Khare 5045M. They will rest and acclimatize here for 1 day and do a rotation acclimatization hike gaining a further 200M - 300M and training.

October 11th

Our team has arrived in Mera high camp at around 1:00 PM. The weather was clear today and tomorrow they head to the summit of Mera Peak 6476M and then descend down to high camp.

October 12th

WOOHOOO 🙂 🏔✅Mera Summit was a success with clear visibility. Our team has safely descended back to high camp and then descended further down to Kongma Dingma 5000M.

Mera Peak 6476M Summit views

Mera Peak 6476M Summit views

13th October

Our team has arrived well at Seto Pokhari 5035M today.

14th October

The team member has arrived well at Baruntse BC. We have a great weather window for the next 2 days 15th and 16th. Tomorrow our team will conduct Puja ceremony early in the morning and head to fix lines in west col and set up camp 1. Update follows.

18582901978_9292b81a8e_h.jpg

October 15th

The team dropped supplies at camp 1 and returned back to BC. All our climbing team members will climb to camp 1 tomorrow and then decide again whether to move to camp 2 or return back (Depending on the weather window)

October 16th - 17th

Climbing team members headed to camp 1 stayed overnight. Beautiful day to climb on a clear open day with minimal wind. The next day (17th) our team made it to camp 2 as an acclimatization rotation and have headed back to base camp as we are seeing bad weather for 2-3 days. (18 - 20th) . An unusual post-monsoon storm forming on the bay of Bengal has will bring in the snow and wind for the next 2 days.

October 18 - 19th

Light to heavy snow shower weather is expected for the two days. We expect to see the weather improve from the 20th afternoon to the evening. Awaiting further assessments.

October 20-21

Heavy snowfall in the region has completely stalled the expedition. The team is seeing 3ft of snow even at Baruntse Base camp. Lead guide Pega has decided to let the snow settle and start climbing to camp 1 tomorrow to analyse snow conditions, gears, and avalanche risk tommorrow.

October 22nd - 23rd

After 3 days of heavy snowfall, guide members departed for route inspection to camp 1 (23rd October). There are 5ft of snow at 6000M level and our guides were able to break the trail up to camp 1 where all our gears were stored. Our lead guide reported that due to deep snow it took them a total of 6 hours trail blazing to camp 1 where normally it would take them 2-3 hours. Team members descended back to base camp with further reports.

October 24th

All our team member decided to move onto camp 1 with client member again to see how the client would feel about the situations. Snow conditions are still the same and wind speed has been picking up to 25-30mph at 6200M level. Weather situations does not seem to improve for another 4-5 days with wind speed picking upto 50mph at 7000M level. After reaching camp 1, sadly we have decided to call off the expeditio. Our client team members cannot extended the expedition days anymore and decide to descend back t camp 1 late.

October 25th

Rest day. Upon analysing situations at Amphu Lhabtsa pass 5800M, there is a substantial risk of snow and high wind at that altitude. Considering the risk our lead guide (Pega) have decided to descend back the same way to Lukla which is much safer given the condition of snow and wind situations.

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