Due to a strong mix of emotions, it took me a little more than a year to decide to write my story of climbing Ama Dablam. Now that I’ve decided, it took two days to type out in a way I feel did the trip a justice. Here it is.

The usual warning for my posts on here: This was written with art and story telling being the main goal, there is plenty of useful information here if you're interested in climbing Ama Dablam, but you will have to search for it.

Ama Dablam is known as “the most beautiful mountain in the world”. There are a handful of mountains with this moniker, and while all are stunningly beautiful, they’ve been boosted onto the pedestal with swarms of internet-based hype and AI edited photographs. There are seemingly endless oceans of mountains, so many of which are outrageously beautiful. As someone who generally avoids 100% definitive terms to acknowledge the presence of outliers, Ama Dablam is one of the most beautiful mountains I’ve ever climbed!

Ama Dablam stands tall at 22,349’ above sea level. Compared to the nearby giants such as Mt. Everest, 29,035’ and Mt. Lhotse 27,940’, Ama Dablam is nothing on paper. But when I walked into the Khumbu Valley and got my first views of Ama Dablam, Everest was barely an afterthought! The shock of the sight literally took my breath away as I was so enthralled with the aggressive steepness and technicality of the mountain that I momentarily forgot to breathe. I stood on the trail, next to my new friend Ryan Kushner, muttering expletives about the beauty and the fact that we were here to climb it!

I met Ryan from a post I made on 14ers.com looking for someone to share a Kyrgyzstan expedition with. A year after I made the post, he asked if I was still looking for a partner. I am always looking for partners who are fun, kind people and whose personalities I enjoy. Ryan immediately came off as a nice guy who was very motivated. After having a partner for a trip fall through shortly after he reached out, we started discussing potential trips together, eventually landing on an attempt to climb Ama Dablam!

But before committing to an expedition together, we obviously needed to climb something and hang out in person to make sure we actually jive. So, I drove from Salt Lake City, where I live, to the Front Range where Ryan lives to climb something together! After talking on the internet for so long, I am always excited but nervous to finally meet in person. I sat in my car at the Lawn Lake Trailhead in Rocky Mountain National Park reading a book and relaxing looking at the forest. Every car I wondered if it was finally going to be him until eventually it was! He got out of the car and was way taller than expected but I reached up on my tippy toes and gave him a hug anyways, stoked to finally hang out! We cracked a few beers and sat around chatting and eating for a few hours until it was time to go to bed. The next day, we woke up at midnight to beat the classic afternoon thunderstorms but in the end the climb didn’t go well and we bailed. But that trip wasn’t about climbing, it was about a new partnership and Ryan showed characteristics that I appreciate in a partner. He apparently felt the same. 2 months later we were on a plane to Nepal!

It was mid-October when we touched down in Kathmandu, Nepal and we were beyond stoked! I had climbed in many places around the world but never in the famed Nepalese Himalaya! I had an idea of what to expect from Kathmandu but it was still mind blowing! The first major victory came when we arrived at the airport and all our gear arrived as well! Losing a bag in travel is a tough way to start a trip but fortunately we were off to a good start. Customs and the airport were a breeze and we were greeted with flower necklaces by our logistical support contacts with Makalu Adventure. Mohan (the owner of the company) and his driver whisked us away from the airport, through the hectic city streets to his hostel where our jet lagged bodies had a chance to eat breakfast and rest for an hour before jumping into tasks. It was about 8am.

Mohan guided us through some chores in the city and then after we went to the government building to get our climbing permits. It was a room full of important government officials, plus me, Ryan and Mohan. It felt like special treatment as they blessed us with prayer flags, beautiful hats, and had us sign some documents, all the while, sipping delicious tea. Afterwards, we reorganized our gear for the next leg of our journey and Mohan took us out to dinner. It was not only delicious but also a cultural experience, with traditional music and dancers! Mohan was endlessly kind and helpful, always making us feel welcome and like VIPs! After dinner, we were exhausted and ready to sleep but had a 3am wake up to start the drive. It was a crazy way to start an expedition! In the end we weren’t even in Kathmandu for 24 hours before we finished chores and started driving to the Ramechhap airport!

When we arrived, the Ramechhap Airport was an absolute mob scene with hundreds of people speaking all different languages. Ramechhap is a tiny airport that pretty much just services flights to Lukla as far as I know. October is also peak trekking season in the Everest region, where we were also headed, so there were A LOT of people trying to get in. For the week before our arrival, due to bad weather and prioritizing safety, all flights had been on standby and only the day before had started to go out again. The crowd was overall unruly and inconsiderate. Fortunately, our Makalu Adventure representative was there to assure that we got on the right track. Despite the chaos of the crowd, he respectfully and calmly communicated with the airport workers to assure we had a spot in line and would be seen in the correct order. Makalu Adventure's organization and respect worked well and eventually we progressed to the next phase of the airport. After going through security and waiting around for a while, we were set to board our flight with promises that our bags would probably make it on the next one.

The flight to Lukla has a reputation. Partially from being beautiful, but also from being dangerous. The terrain that the planes fly over and very susceptible to weather and the runway in Lukla is one of the shortest in the world. It is also surrounded by steep cliffs resulting in an alarming number of plane crashes. Furthermore, there didn’t seem to be any electronics in the airplane. No GPS or navigation, simply a large go cart in the sky! But I trusted my pilot, he was a professional and I thought logically about the situation. Thousands of tourists a year take these planes to Lukla and have been for a very long time. Much more than the amount of planes that have crashed. The odds were in my favor, so I tried not to worry about our luggage arriving and enjoyed the experience!

It was cloudy in the air and slightly turbulent, but the pilot didn’t seem concerned, I was sitting right behind him. The plane was small, about 16 seats if I remember correctly with lots of windows. The steep vegetated topography below us got farther away as we climbed in altitude. Ryan and I were so excited we continually glanced at each other and then back out the window. We saw some mountains, but it was overall too cloudy to see very far. After about 20 minutes we were ready to land. I saw the 1,700’ long runway with steep cliffs lining it as the pilot squared up towards it. We fluctuated up down and side to side until we were lined up perfectly at the base of the steeply inclined runway and touched down. It seemed like we lost speed instantly and had plenty of buffer room before rolling into the parking area. We unloaded to find that our bags were not on this plane. After holding our breath for many hours, our bags finally came on the last flight of the day as the rain started to fall! We made it to Lukla with all our gear!

In Lukla, at 9,383’ we met our trekking guide Casi along with our two porters. The trekking guide was included in the logistical support package that we paid for. He would act as a handler for the porters, making sure they had everything they needed, as well as helping us navigate checkpoints and help with logistics of tea houses, we would be staying in along the trek. Casi spoke little English, he was soft spoken and kind but seemed to be respected and well known by people we encountered along the way. We barely got to see the porters as they would pick up our stuff in the morning, then drop it off and go hang out by themselves.

We hiked several miles in the beautiful rain and mud to get to our first tea house in the town of Phakding that day and it felt so good to finally move! With the storm, there were no views, but we didn’t care, we knew we’d have our fill later in the trip. This time would be all about rest and getting our bodies adjusted to our new schedule. After all, we only arrived in Nepal yesterday!

The tea houses were comfortable, and the food was good. We were so hungry, we would often order 2 lunches and 2 dinners each. Not because they were particularly small but because we were particularly hungry! However, there are a few issues with the tea houses. The first one is the risk of sickness. Most of the trekkers seemed to be unaccustomed to any kind of primitive living hygiene and as a result we were very concerned about getting sick from them. When considering this issue before the trip, our plan was to sleep in our tent outside to avoid any kind of sickness while acclimatizing. That turned out to not be a practical solution as most of the tea houses didn’t allow tents close by. We did our best to avoid excess contact with people, but it was hard. A large number of trekkers we encountered, primarily lower in the valley, were unaware and inconsiderate. It felt like a continuation of the behavior I saw at the Ramchhap airport. At the airport, I could have some sympathy because I know people could get stressed when they are antsy to get to the mountains and dealing with logistical issues but what was the excuse now? Sure, we all have an agenda but what’s the point of going on a trekking vacation if it’s going to add stress to your life? In a roundabout way, it is hypocritical of me to say this, but that kind of behavior deeply bothers me. Ryan and I commiserated on the annoying disrespect of many of the trekkers but overall didn’t let it occupy too much of our minds. Ryan is better at that than me.

The next day of trekking brought new views and more excitement as we moved deeper into the most famous part of the Himalaya. It also was the first time since our attempted climb in Colorado that we got a chance to hang out together in person without much to do. We asked each other questions, talked about life, passion, relationships and dreams. We talked some crap to each other and laughed a lot as good partners do. Every time Ryan took out his camera to get a picture of a plant or river (seemingly thousands of times), I got a picture of him doing it! Casi started doing it too and Ryan would turn around to see two cameras pointed at him! We all had a good laugh about it. Most of the days were full of exclusively type one fun!

It was exciting to soak up the atmosphere and terrain of a place I had dreamed about for more than 14 years as a climber. Each day would start crystal clear and, in the afternoon, moist clouds would accumulate and ascend up through the lush jungle valley. They rarely provided precipitation, but it felt reminiscent of a maritime layer, crawling in from the ocean on the coast of Washington state. Despite the altitude, the air was thick and more humid than I thought. A fun change of pace to someone who spent most of the last two years in the Rocky Mountains where the humidity is so low! It took a long time for clothing to dry out after each day and often it didn’t fully dry overnight. Some locals told me that in the winter, when they do laundry in the river, it can take up to a week to fully dry things out.

The vegetation in the jungle was lush and happy. It was primarily Rhododendron which I was pleasantly surprised to see. It was the same plant that I was always surrounded by when I was living primitively in the Appalachian Mountains of Georgia. I can’t see Rhododendron and not think about how its branches make the perfect bow drilling bow. But I contained myself. It was nice to see a mountain range thriving.

During our second day of the trek, on our way to the town Namche Bazaar, we got our first glimpse of Mt. Everest! It was a special moment for us, and we soaked in the view for about an hour. I had always wanted to see and climb Everest and now here it was, distant but very present, looming 20,000 feet higher than where we stood! I was extremely happy to be sharing the moment with a friend like Ryan.

Namche Bazaar is the largest town in the Khumbu Valley and sits at an altitude of 11,284’. We woke up there on the third morning of the trek for a planned rest/acclimatization day. We were feeling fresh and comfortable, but the name of the game was to be slow and steady. This rest day would assist in acclimatization and help our bodies adjust once the altitude gets extreme. We spent the day walking around, drinking water and eating a lot of food. Namche was a huge town for the area. If you showed up there naked, with enough money, you could buy everything you need to climb Everest. So far, we were not roughing it at all which was a good thing but somewhat disappointing to be around so many people.

The next day we continued our trek through the Tengboche Monastery, in route to the town of Pangboche at 13,074’. It was on this leg of the trek that Ama Dablam dominated the views. It was by far the most striking mountain in the area. From the trail we walked, there was a deep gorge to our right and standing high above on the other side was Ama Dablam. It had a commanding presence over the entire valley since it was sharply in the middle. All the mountains around seemed to revolve around it and it was clearly deserving of respect. Magnificently steep from every angle with sweeping granite walls, smeared with hanging ice and snowfields, smattered with dangling seracs over every side. It was an imposing and extremely impressionable scene! No wonder people call it the most beautiful mountain in the world. It certainly was one of the most beautiful I had seen. I couldn’t wait to climb it, and Ryan felt the same!

Our next day was to the town of Dingboche at 14,469’ where we planned to have 2 rest/acclimatization days, including a day hike up to Nangkartshang at 16,676’. However, we got there early and feeling fresh so after a nice second lunch, we opted to hike up Nangkartshang then descend and have two full chill rest days in Dingboche. The views of the Everest region were absolutely stunning, and we saw 4 different 8000 meter peaks that day! Everest, Lhotse, Cho You and Makalu! But as always, Ama Dablam stole the show, flaunting its burly north ridge and plenty of first ascent potential on its north face. We felt strong and confident and after hanging out on the summit for an hour, we started our fast descent. Much to the dismay of Casi, we were sprinting down the trail! It was so much fun, Ryan and I laughed and played as we navigated the crowds of people ascending and descending. We ascended so slowly to not overexert ourselves but now that gravity was on our side we could finally cruise! Casi eventually became hilariously distressed by our running and it was hard to listen to him as he demanded we don’t run. He must have been thinking “these stupid, crazy Americans” hahaha. We felt bad and complied with his protests but still had a good laugh about it. Later he joined us in our laughter at the silliness of the situation!

Trekking towards Ama Dablam.

We both slept well that night and felt strong. Our acclimatization strategy had worked well so far, and it looked good for the next step. Our plan was to try and see as much of the area as possible by going to the famous viewpoint of Kala Patthar at 18,519’, then trying to climb to the true summit of Lobuche East at 20,075’ over the next week before moving to Ama Dablam and climbing in alpine style. We spent another 2 full rest days feeling healthy, eating, drinking and soaking in the Himalaya. But on the morning we were supposed to continue trekking up the valley, we both woke up feeling sick. It happened quite literally overnight, and we could tell it wasn’t altitude related but we figured we should rest another day to let it go away since moving up in altitude never helps those things. Over the course of the day, we both rapidly declined. Each developing a cough, heavy congestion and fever type aches accompanied by weakness and fatigue. Casi was flexible and content waiting another day, and it was no problem with the tea house. We had some extra days built into our plans, and we were still ahead of schedule, so we weren’t concerned about using a day or two more to feel healthy before continuing. This is the part of high altitude climbing where patience and thinking outside the box is a game changer. The next day we felt even worse and started to get concerned. We both felt truly awful and couldn’t imagine hiking up. I had never had Covid before, but Ryan had and he said it felt like this. Now, as we entered the meat of the expedition, we both had undiagnosed Covid.

We waited one more day in hopes of improving health but to no avail and made the sad but conservative decision to descend back towards a lower altitude to allow our bodies more oxygen and the chance to improve. We descended back to the town on Pangboche at 13,074’, exhausted and with low morale. With that move we knew we had to re plan our itinerary. Three more days of feeling truly awful, waiting in Pangboche, eased into a manageable suffering. Ryan was starting to regain some of his strength and his cough was gone and my cough was slightly improved although I developed a nasty sinus infection that left me constantly nauseous and erupting yellow, green and black blood covered stuff from my nose. It was as good as it was going to get here. We decided to cut out all low altitude, non rest days from our plan and move straight to Ama Dablam for the rest of our acclimatization. The next day, with a pace set according to how miserable we felt, we moved up to Ama Dablam base camp at 15,000’. We took our time, continually checking in with each other about how we felt and discussing options, this one felt right. We still had a chance to climb Ama Dablam. Casi and the porters left us at base camp, and we sent them on their way with a hefty tip each which they seemed very grateful for!

Base camp was pleasant, and we enjoyed hanging out there and licking our wounds. We stayed at the Ama Dablam Base Camp Lodge, which we highly recommend. The owners were extremely kind, hard working, fun to be around and helpful. It also felt good to finally be at the bottom of our main objective and one of my dream climbs. We talked to people who had summitted and conditions seemed good from what we could tell. Soon we were feeling up to our first acclimatization round. We needed to be extra aware of pulmonary symptoms because there is a higher likelihood of people getting HAPE at altitude after Covid. Due to the gentle terrain, we were able to set a pace that would allow us to not exert ourselves too much and comfortably/safely day hike up to camp 1 at 19,000’. I wore a mask because the cold air would irritate my esophagus and make me vomit, but luckily my lungs felt ok. The dizziness and nausea from my sinus infection persisted and I had to do a lot to manage it. Ryan had to be patient, constantly hearing me spit up crap! Ryan's energy was starting to come back as well. We set an extremely conservative pace, like the way anyone would going to extreme altitude for the first time in a trip, but more cautiously. We took plenty of breaks and eventually made it up to camp 1! We were actually making it happen! The views were outrageous, and we finally got our first glimpse of the upper mountain. It looked really good and once again, I couldn’t wait to climb! We thoroughly enjoyed the packed lunches that Ama Dablam Base Camp Lodge sent up with us before heading down! With gravity on our side, we made quick work of the descent and planned two rest days back at base camp.

The two rest days were full of managing our bodies and of course eating and drinking a lot. But we also got the luxury of hanging out with friends! Two friends of Ryan and new friends of mine! Jomah from the Front Range and Jason from Montana. It was comforting to have more friends around and get to know them. We even had a movie night where we pushed the beds together in Jomah’s room and all of us watched a horrible war movie that was high quality and enjoyable but stressful for me because I’m a sap haha.

After two days of rest, we were ready to sleep up higher! We brough gear for two nights on the mountain, with the intention of leaving a stash at camp 1. With the first sizeable loads of the trip, we hiked up slowly and as always, I continually ogled at the steep walls and endless first ascent potential. Ryan and I felt like a tight knit team at this point after getting this far together. The weather was incredible and consistent, cold and clear with clouds coming from the valley in the afternoon.

Our plan was to sleep at a flat spot lower down than camp 1 to allow ourselves more gradual acclimatization. There was no water or snow to melt so we had to carry extra water, but we slept in a nice flat dirt spot at 17,800’ in the talus and tundra slopes leading up the mountain. We both slept decently. I slept outside the tent because I try to always fall asleep under the stars when its comfortable to. And whenever I opened my eyes, I could see Ama Dablam. Much better than the nylon tent walls!

We woke up, ate breakfast and started hiking up towards camp 1. It felt so good to be staying on the mountain finally! The way to camp 1 is obvious and straight forward hiking with a little scrambling at the end. However, someone irresponsibly fixed ropes through some of the talus making for extreme rockfall danger. Any time someone pulled on the fixed ropes which were totally unnecessary, it dislodged choss and knocked it down the slope towards people. The terrain was spots of class 3 and only a couple moves at a time. It was also susceptible to rockfall from the tent platforms above it when people would carelessly knock rocks down onto where people are hiking. Having seen this human created hazard, we took a slightly more scrambling option that was shorter and overall better that completely avoided this entire area and made it so that if we did accidentally dislodge a rock, it wouldn’t fall on people who were using the fixed rope. We watched several people almost die from easily avoidable rock fall in this section. Which was especially messed up considering we were the only non-guided party on the mountain! I wouldn’t have expected most of the clients to think outside the box when it comes to assessing the terrain, but I was disappointed with the guides for leading them into danger that was so easily avoidable.

Our plan was to set up a tent at camp 1 and then climb up to camp 2 for further acclimatization and to scope out The Yellow Tower which is the technical crux of the route. I wanted to try free climb it while the sun was out and it would be warmer than on our summit push. While above camp 1, we would gather snow to melt that night then come back and sleep at camp 1. We searched around for a tent platform but there weren’t many options. There were about 100 tents, almost all unoccupied and belonging to guide companies, that were taking up the tent spots. After walking all around for an hour, we found a nice flat spot that wasn’t exposed to rock fall and started to set up. While we were setting up a Sherpa who identified himself as the “manager” of the area said we were not allowed to camp there because that is the spot where his clients drink tea. I explained that there were no other spots and that we only had one tent, and he had 100. He insisted that it’s not allowed and that he is the manager, his clients always stop to drink tea in that spot and we are not allowed to camp there. We had words back and forth, I was furious. Jason who was about to make his summit attempt with his guide the next day came over and talked me down. He told me “These guys are thick as thieves, they’ll throw your shit right off the mountain when you’re gone”. I knew he was right, and I hate confrontation so much. I apologized to the Sherpa and told him I didn’t understand, he accepted my apology.

I was fuming as we found an exposed perch in a radically uneven pile of rocks covered in human feces. It was the best option we had to set up without descending a significant distance or sleeping in an area under constant rock fall caused by his clients and guides. To ensure the safety of our tent and to smooth over the whole conflict we planned to bring snow down for him as a peace offering. With no snow or water in camp 1, it was a hot commodity.

We stayed in approach shoes and started scrambling finally on the upper mountain! The route was like a giant via ferratta. Mostly class 3, 4 and 5 with some sections feeling to be around 5.6, all fixed with rope. We were having fun! There was fixed ropes everywhere and we just slid our protection along with us. Sometimes a jumar, sometimes just a locking carabiner. Around 20,000’ we were just below The Yellow Tower when a large cluster of people moving extremely slowly started to rappel over it. Not feeling like getting caught in their mess was worth it, we descended back towards camp, satisfied with our acclimatization. We both filled our backpacks to the brim with snow to melt and I strapped a large block of ice to the top of my pack as a gift for the Sherpa who I argued with. We rappelled down quickly back to camp and immediately stopped at the Sherpa’s tent. We offered him the ice block along with another apology to ensure there were no hard feelings and he offered us to come in for tea. We very much appreciated the tea and further appreciated knowing that our tent would be safe when we descended to base camp the next morning.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WRLwvFdI3Jk

Here is a link to a video of camp 1. Ryan put dramatic music over it because he never wants to hear me cough again.

Our tent was horribly uncomfortable due to being so uneven and rocky. I was able to get some sleep, but it sucked a lot. The copious number of vacant tents added insult to injury and I’m embarrassed to say, I don’t know what kept me up more, the rocks stabbing into my back and legs or my anger and the situation. That’s on me.

Before this trip, I was exhausted by society. It’s always worse in cities where people are forced into a lifestyle that’s so fast paced that they can’t even take the time to look a stranger in the eyes. The consistent stimulation is unhealthy. It’s unnatural to live in such a proximity to so many people, in a concrete jungle that is so out of touch with the heartbeat of the planet Earth. Most people are so used to it, they don’t even notice the negative effects it has on their brains and bodies. Societal norms further the issue and the result is people being generally inconsiderate and unaware of the way they take up space, affecting others. Furthermore, in a congested area, people have so much to pay attention to that they don’t pay attention to detail making them constantly in my way when I try to do anything, and I’m sure that I’m constantly in their way. Not the way civilization is supposed to work. I came into this trip expecting and desiring a wilderness experience but the way people were behaving and the “too many people” factor felt like the same problems as in the city. I knew there would be people but not like this. No doubt that a large part of my frustration at the people and situation stemmed from situations at home. It is wrong for me to put that energy out into the world in a place where it doesn’t belong. By doing that, I am part of the problem. I am unintentionally pushing the angst of the city onto the people around me, exactly what I try so hard to avoid.

I am aware of the perspective and how much of a first world problem this is. I am embarrassed by it but it’s how I felt at the time. If I'm embarrassed by it, that's all the more reason to be honest about it publicly. Learning and evaluating yourself is one of my favorite parts about expeditions and climbing in general. I want to put positive, helpful energy out into the world. I want to be an island of peace and safety to all living things that I encounter. I don’t want to be part of the problem.

Down in base camp, we rested for two days, and I thought on all of this. I kicked myself for choosing to climb such a famous mountain by a well-established route. I worked hard over the course of my climbing career to develop the skills, so I don’t have to be dependent on others to have certain experiences in the mountains but on this trip, I fell into the trap of 90% of the people being on 10% of the terrain. I was so disenchanted by the situation up there, if I hadn’t had a tent full of gear on the mountain and a partner depending on me, I would not have gone back. I vowed that unless I was guiding, I wouldn’t be back on such a commercially guided route.

But Ryan was as even keeled as ever. He was pretty much unaffected by this all. Obviously, he was annoyed by the trekkers rudeness, the tent situation and the amount of incompetent people on the mountain but he was able to compartmentalize it. That’s what I had too. I stopped obsessing about the things that were frustrating me and leaned into the beauty and all the fun we were having. Despite feeling ill, there was a lot of it! Ryan and I laughed consistently each day. We met cool people at base camp. We ate delicious food and even did a little bouldering around camp. Over the entire expedition, Ryan and I never had an argument. A beautiful thing after spending a month together! After two days in base camp relaxing, we were ready for our summit push!

The owner of the base camp tea house held a beautiful puja ceremony for us, and we started walking up the hill. We were feeling confident, but I still had a bad cough and horrible sinus issues, but decently high energy. I kept my mask on to help with my coughing in the cold air. Ryan said he felt about 80% energy which was good compared to how he had been feeling.

There were a lot of people coming off the mountain and we saw people summiting that day. Our weather forecast looked perfect, and moral was high. We really felt like, despite our weakened state, we had a chance to pull it off. We continued with our slow, comfy pace and eventually got to camp 1 once again. We were happy to find our tent untouched and were in a position for a summit bid! We decided that it wasn’t worth the energy to try to move to camp 2 or 3 and especially with fixed ropes, there is no reason why pushing from camp 1 to the summit and back wouldn’t be reasonable. We planned to leave early enough that we’d beat the crowd coming out of camp 2 on their summit push.

I didn’t want to sleep in the rocky tent again, so I found a nearby perfect, flat coffin sized bivy spot between some talus. It was a perfect spot and probably more comfortable for Ryan to have his space in the tent. It was awesome to fall asleep looking at the stary sky and Ama Dablam’s steep walls protruding above camp. I was very happy to be there and excited to get a shot at the main objective of the trip. I felt gratitude.

Our alarms went off and after a quick breakfast, I threw my sleeping bag in the tent, and we started moving. Slow but steady. Wearing approach shoes, we were very comfortable and no one was around. We controlled our excitement and moved without wasting too much energy. Although Ryan would inform me that sometimes when it gets rocky, my excitement gets the better of me and he must remind me to slow down for a better pace!

Ryan and I cruised up easy technical terrain and eventually regained our high point from our previous acclimatization mission. Still, we didn’t see any headlamps leaving camp 1, that’s good. Soon after, we arrived at the base of The Yellow Tower. I free climbed it at around 5.8 in my approach shoes, Sliding my jumar above me for protection. At the very top my fingers got cold, so I pulled on my jumar to not waste time. Ryan quickly followed and we continued a short section to the bottom of camp 2 at 19,685’.

Camp 2 was the most repulsive thing I have experienced in the mountains. It is painted in such pretty light on social media in all the drone footage of people staying there but it is disgusting. Truly unsanitary and I was very glad we skipped staying there. There was barely any ground visible through the massive piles of frozen poop and trash. We hiked through all the carnage left by humans and did our best to clean off the bottoms of our approach shoes after. Luckily, on the other side of camp 2, it was time to switch into our 6000-meter boots. I love my G2SMs. They are the most comfortable mountain boots I’ve ever worn and I do all of my ice and mixed climbing in them so they feel like home when I’m on big mountains!

The unfortunate thing is that as we passed through camp 2, many very slow parties had left on their summit bid within an hour before we showed up. We saw them ahead of us and hoped it wouldn’t be too much of a traffic jam. It was. We set an extraordinarily slow pace but unfortunately caught up to them quickly and were unable to pass. We were patient and made sure to not negatively impact the clients experience who we were waiting for. Then once we had an opportunity, we quickly passed. But once ahead of them, we quickly got stuck behind another team and realized this is how it would be for a while. We got cold going so slow and frustrated watching guides unclip their clients from one rope and clip them into the other because they didn’t know how. We watched as they hung, trying to ascend ropes over 4^th and 5^th class terrain. The climbing itself was very fun when we were able to move at our own pace. The granite was solid, and the snow and ice were in good condition! A very nice guide who we were climbing next to had a freak stroke of bad luck when his brand new crampon toe bail broke! Fortunately, in my repair kit, on every expedition I’ve gone on, I have a small piece of bailing wire for this exact reason but never had to use it! I happily handed it to Ryan to handed it to the guide, who then was able to repair the crampon on the spot! We made progress slow but steady as I tried not to equate a traffic jam here to a traffic jam in cities… At least people here were stoked to be here and so were we! We passed many people when we could but most of the time we just had to wait. Many people didn’t want us to pass either because they didn’t think we’d be faster or they just were unaware of us behind them.

Eventually, after many hours of waiting in line to climb a short section at a time, we arrived at camp 3 at 21,000’. Camp 3 is situated in an important spot on the route where the rocky walls gave way to a large snowy platform with the final 1,349’ headwall of snow above. We were sick of waiting in line and thought it would be a better use of our time to rest for a little while as people climb over each other. There were a few abandoned tents in camp 3 so we crawled in one of them and took out our stove. It was windy out, so we put on all our layers and hunkered in for nap and some hot water. We were officially suffering but it felt nice to brew some water, eat and rest. Pretty soon we fell asleep hard.

I woke up alarmed as I noticed the sun was up. We took a few hour long nap! Awesome! But without sleeping bags, my left foot got very cold, and I took some time to warm it back up with my hands. Ryan was also awake now and we decided to start moving again since there were no traffic jams nearby above us. We started moving and Ryan was feeling strong. I was feeling ok but nauseas and even wearing my mask, my throat was so irritated I couldn’t help but cough and spew green and black bloody chunks out of my sinuses as we climbed. It felt how you would imagine Covid at 22,000 feet would feel. I set a pace that I knew I could sustain to the summit, but I think Ryan could have safely gone faster. He looked strong and said he was feeling good.

There were a few parties coming down as we were going up and it was easy to allow them to pass without inconveniencing them. We both suffered but I felt physically awful. The position on the headwall was unbelievable. Every time I stopped to breathe, I stared behind me at the steep mountain sweeping below my feet into the Khumbu Valley 10,000 feet below. I could feel the space that the mountain occupied in the atmosphere, and I could see the depth in which we were in the Himalaya. Vast expanses containing millions of mountains and all of them wild, savage, powerful and pure, including the one that I was on right now.

Summit headwall of Ama Dablam.

As soon as my head was level with the summit, my eyes welled up with tears and I held them back enough to see where I was going in the last few feet. It was November 6 when I stepped onto the 30 square foot summit, unclipped from the rope and moved to the side so Ryan could join me. I hugged him tightly as soon as he was there, and I felt so much love for him in that moment. I turned away and dropped onto my knees so I could cry loudly in the privacy of my large hood. Between sobs, I stared at Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse directly in front of me. Looking to the right I identified Makalu, Baruntse, Chamlang and the other peaks of the Makalu Barun zone. To my left the magnificent peaks of Tibet tapering from 8000 meters on Cho Oyu and Shishapangma, down to the high desert of the Tibetan Plateau. I recognized them all from my obsessive research as a child, which seeped into my adulthood. Ryan and I embraced more and took a frenzy of pictures. It dawned on us that we had the entire summit to ourselves! I felt ashamed of my bad attitude when it came to the clusters of people related problems and I knew I would use this experience to be better.

An important part of this summit was symbolized by a patch on Ryan’s backpack. The patch was a drawing of Homer Simpson, decked out in mountain climbing regalia, standing atop a mountain. Next to him, an ‘EX’ flag and a ‘KUSH’ flag. The artist of this drawing was a man named Barrett Seller, who was one of Ryan’s best friends in college. Unfortunately, Barrett passed away in his mid 30s, far too young. Barrett always dreamed of seeing Mt. Everest in person but never had the chance. This was Ryan’s opportunity to honor his friend’s memory, and, in the end, Ryan felt that he had done just that.

Summit video for Barrett Seller.

A totally different, less sentimental, shout out that was made at the summit was to the dentistry office of Comfort Dental. The first thing they numb, is the pain of making appointments! Which is not only a clever slogan but also true from my experience so far. They’ve got offices all over the country, but to the readers of this story, it’s important to note that they have an extremely high concentration of offices in Colorado’s Front Range. They are convenient and affordable, and without their support for this trip, it may not have been possible. Thank you!

The descent went quickly overall and it was easy to pass people. The loss in altitude helped my sinus issues so I felt a bit better, but Ryan suffered more on the descent. We stopped at camp 3 so I could poop. My memory of the events are hazy but I believe I brought my backpack over to poop thinking that the poop kit was in it. After I had already pooped, I realized that the poop kit was not with me... I pleaded for Ryan to bring it over. He didn’t help me wipe, but he did bring me the poop kit like the wonderful partner he is.

We continued our descent, and exhausted people were littered all over the fixed lines, hanging or laying on the route where we had to climb over them. Overall, the traffic jams were easy to pass through on the way down and with fixed ropes, it was a safe and easy descent aside from being tired. Our original plan was to continue all the way to base camp but once we arrived back at camp 1, we didn’t feel the need to continue. Ryan took the tent, and I went back to my beautiful bivy spot and fell asleep under the stars, relieved and proud of what we had done!

We woke up casually, packed up camp and started hiking down. And upon returning to base camp, we celebrated with a lot of food! We even received a celebratory Himalayan cake that I had always dreamed of in my climbing fantasies! It said, “Congratulations Ama Dablam Summit!”

Our new trekking guide named Tek and our porters showed up the next morning and we were excited to move down the valley. Our plan was to move all the way to Namche Bazaar today, then all the way to Lukla the next day. It was long but not a huge deal. Tek was a 19 year old kid but his knowledge of the area was incredible! Instead of taking us down the crowded main trails, we all ran down a small system of lightly used trails that he clearly knew like the back of his hand! It was a lot of fun! His English was very good, and he taught us a lot about Nepal and the lives of the locals. I tried to retain as much of the precious local information as I could but in the end just enjoyed the moment and tried to make the kid laugh and have a good day.

The next day we trekked to Lukla and in our tea house dining area, everyone that we worked with on the trip showed up! The whole team was there, and we bought them all dinner. It was a ball. The weather in the morning was superb and we knew we would have incredible views from the plane. The incredible word is an understatement!

As the plane hurdled down the short runway, it gained speed exceptionally fast! Less than one second before reaching the end of the runway, the plane lifted off. No room for error! It was thrilling to say the least! The views quickly opened, and we could see well into the Langtang region and the Rolwaling Himal. From the sky I developed love at first sight with one of the most formidable mountains I have ever seen, Menlungtse. I knew I would be back.

A plane taking off from the short runway in Lukla!

Mohan and his driver picked us up and despite feeling incredibly nauseous and ill from my sinuses, he took us to one of the best meals I had ever had in my life. He treated us to a special trout curry restaurant that pulled the fish out of the water to weigh it for us before cooking it to perfection in a unique concoction of flavors. Ryan and I were riding a serious high! We continued the long drive back to Kathmandu and booked flights using our phones on the way. Kathmandu was a blur and by that night, after dinner, we had said our goodbyes and boarded flights.

More than a year after the trip, I finally sat down to write this, and I could not be more grateful for my experience. As time went on, I forget more and more my frustrations with the crowding on Ama Dablam and just remember the beauty, adventure and cool people we met. We counted on the hike out and we spoke with people from a total of 26 different countries on the expedition. I continue to work through my moral qualms with humanity, myself and what it means to exist in modern society.

It took several courses of steroids and antibiotics to get my sinuses to return to normal but even now they are not 100%. Ryan got back to normal after returning home and was feeling so strong that he even decided to get Covid again just to rub it in my face! We talk consistently and are always plotting our next climb. I still love him for his wonderful partnership and who he is as a person.

We were extremely happy with the services of Makalu Adventure. They are well organized, have a lot of local connections, affordable and ethical. Everyone who works for them seems to be taken care of and treated well. Mohan had excellent communication every step of the way, well before the expedition and everyone was extremely flexible during our entire time there. I highly recommend them for trekking or climbing in any part of Nepal. Next time I need anything in Nepal, I will 100% go with Makalu Adventures.

I am still obsessed with Menlungtse and sporadically text random people pictures of it, trying to get them stoked. Mostly on the fact that its summit has only seen one ascent ever (in 1992) and the whole area rarely has visitors, a wilderness experience for sure. It’s a stunning mountain with lots of first-ascent potential and if anyone reading this has any interest in it, or something like it, reach out.

Crowd sourcing is a weird way to end a story like this so instead, I will leave you with a generic but still probably beautiful thing that people stereotypically say at the end of climbing stories. I’m so grateful for everything I learned and was able to experience on this trip, the good, the bad and the ugly. I’m grateful for Ryan, all the people who supported us physically in Nepal and all the people who supported us emotionally in the United States. I have so much love for humanity as a whole but it may not be obvious from reading this, so I’m writing it now. Thank you for reading, love you all!