Nepal wrap-up Im back in civilization! Back to the land of electricity, running water, showers, beer, TV, money, beds, cars, etc... Ill be in Kathmandu today and will be taking off this afternoon for an overnight in Dubai. Our summit push was over before it began. We woke up on 11/3 to find out there had been icefall from the dablam (the giant overhanging glacier or serac just below the summit). We had been analyzing the dablam since we got to basecamp (BC) and notice the massive crack on the right hand side directly under the route (will post pictures later). This day our own satellite team of Mike and Kat were supposed to go for the summit from camp 2.7. We found out that the icefall had hit a team of Swiss climbers and seriously injured a few of them and killed one Sherpa. I had just met the Sherpa and team two days before while we were finishing our rotation. This was horrible news, and my condolences go out to Dendi Sherpas family. We are so lucky Mike and Kat decided on not going for the summit that morning otherwise they would have suffered the same fate. This was not the first death on the mountain since I had been in BC, but the 3rd. I had already seen a body plucked off the mountain and flown into BC before this day. But today we took a timeout to pause and gather data. As we sat in BC, the rescue/recovery choppers worked furiously to pluck the injured Swiss climbers off the mountain. One by one they were dropped into BC and attended to by ground staff. The final chopper brought down the lifeless body of Dendi. He was bent/twisted in a way that you could tell he was not alive anymore. Horrible!!! We had just me this guy on the mountain a few days before, he was so happy, offered our team tea, and seemed like a very lighthearted type of person. I felt really bad for this guy and more so for his family. ekantipur/2014/11/04/top-story/3-mountaineers-die-in-khumbhu-region/397212.html The accident scene had quieted down and we had an afternoon to look at the route through binoculars, analyze pictures and data. As climbers we all know the dangers involved with what we do. We are all willing to accept some % of risk in our sport. We now had to determine if this was an isolated incident on our route, or was this going to be an ongoing problem. Over the previous week there had been multiple incidents of icefall and avalanches coming from the dablam. While going for the summit, we are exposed to the dablam for multiple hours (both up and down the mountain). We unanimously agreed that the route was too dangerous to continue our summit bid. The next morning another event happened from the dablam early in the AM. These early hours are exactly when we would be climbing under the dablam for our summit push. To my knowledge no other teams/expeditions have continued up the mountain after 11/3. In roughly 1 week span there was more than 50% of the days where there was some form of icefall or avalanche from the upper mountain. These ice blocks can be the size of a baseball or up to the size of a pickup truck or even a house. Tens of thousands to millions of pounds of ice. It wasnt hard at all for us to make our decision. Everybody was disappointed, but we all knew we made the right decision to pull the plug. It took me all of 30 minutes of being bummed to get over it.... I sat in BC and thought of how amazing my trip to Nepal was. I had the trip of a lifetime regardless of standing on the summit of Ama Dablam. Ive met some great new friends/climbing partners, hung out and befriended some of the local Sherpa (who are amazing people), seen the tallest peaks on the planet, heard some amazing climbing trips to all corners of the planet, got a full dose of the Nepali culture, and spent multiple weeks climbing on and at the mountain of my dreams. We had plenty of climbing up to camp 2, which is actually the crux of the route and best climbing on the mountain (the yellow tower). The most important thing of all was everybody on our team was alive, healthy and going back home to our families and loved ones. Ive seen some amazing stuff in my life, and am still blown away at the beauty of Nepal. I still consider Ama Dablam to be at the top of my list of the most ascetic and beautiful mountains on the planet. I wish I could have come back with some amazing shots of the summit to share with everybody, but rest assured there was no shortage of adventure on this trip. Thank you to all my family and friends who msgd me, wished me well, supported me on this trip. I am truly humbled and grateful to have had the opportunity to embark on such an amazing journey. Climbing is not saving somebodys life, or curing cancer, just something that I find special and love to do. I work with a great group of people who support each other and allow ourselves to purse our goals and dreams. Thanks guys. Thank you to my wife A for always being there for me and supporting me no matter what hobby I may be into at any given moment. You are the most important person in my life, the reason I make halfway sane decisions (like not climbing under crumbling seracs), and the person who I thought about nonstop while away. Thanks babe, I love you... So thats it from Nepal. I will be posting up additional photos and going through countless hours of video footage to post up once I get a moment. Until next adventure.... Namaste, -C
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 01:47:55 +0000
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