Amadablam, one of the most beautiful mountains in the world, is popular for the most beautiful alpine rock climb of its kind and is considered one of the Himalayas most spectacular ascents. Although the height is only 6812m it requires steep ice, rock and snow climbing. The ascent on Amadablam not only offers the panoramic view of four of the world’s highest peaks: Cho Oyu, Lhotse, Everest and Makalu but also justifies the highes level of climbing artisty. Normally, three camps are set in the approach above the base camp (4,570m), however, only two camps are used to spend the night. The normal route for climbing is South-West Ridge.
From the base camp we move up through old grassy moraine ridges passing through a saddle and then turning to north climbing up rocky ground and through boulders to the ridge where camp I is set up at an altitude of 19,070 feet. From camp I, we cross a rocky bowl and climb the ridge frequently alternating the sides along the fixed lines to the camp II. Climbing the ridge involves severe rock climbing which leads to the top of a yellow tower. The climbing route here from camp II changes significantly with the steep mixed gully’s of rock, ice and snow. The route leads to the ramp and climbs to an amphitheatre and then passes through steep snow and ice runnel and finally, along the snow ridge to reach camp III at 20,750 feet . The summit from camp III requires steep climb on snow and ice to the right of a huge hanging glacier. The final pitches of the route are on the perfect 50 degree snow and ice face above Camp III.
Experience Required: The Amadablam expedition is one of the most technically difficult expeditions. The climbers need to have good skills on rock and ice climbing and technically competent. On most parts of the routes there will be fixed rope, however, the climbers should posses skills to climb through steep rock and hard water ice.
