Ama Dablam | 2002 SW Ridge

A USA expedition to Ama Dablam in 2002 via SW Ridge, led by Damian Benegas. Summit reached on 31st October 2002. 4 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 4114
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID AMAD02311
Peak ID AMAD
Year 2002
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Damian Benegas
Sponsor Mountain Madness Ama Dablam Expedition 2002
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 387
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach Via Dingboche and Pangboche
Basecamp Date 2002-10-22
Summit Date 2002-10-31
Summit Time 1248
Summit Days 9
Total Days 12
Termination Date 2002-11-03
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 6814
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 2
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 3
Summit Members 3
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 1
Summit Hired 1
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used False
O2 None True
O2 Climb False
O2 Descent False
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC(22/10,4700m),ABC(26/10,5400m),C1(27/10,5700m),C3(30/10,6400m),Smt(31/10)
Route Notes * Klima and Benegas on top at 12:48, Chappell and Lama Zangbu at 13:45 - Chappal going very slowly. Lama Zangbu had summit Everest many times, is brother of Lhakpa Gyalu. Damian Benegas - Nov 5, 2002 Oct 16 - Fly by Shangri La air lines at 8:30 am KTM Lukla, walk for 3 hrs to Phakting. Stay at the Namaste Lodge. Oct 17 - Phakting to Namche. Walk for 2 hours to Monjo checkpoint and have lunch across the bridge. Continue walking to Namche. Total walking time. Stay at the Himalayan Lodge at the care of Onu Sherpa in Namche. Oct 18 - Namche->Dingboche. Stay at the Ama Dablam Lodge. The clients departed early with Lama Zangbu and I departed later. Total hours hike for me 2:10 hours. Clients felt great. Oct 19 - Dingboche->Pangboche. Rain in the night but awesome in the morning. Hike with the clients and have an awesome photoshoot. Total time hours was 1 hours. First exposure to Ama Dablam and high altitude 3900m. Stay at Paradise Lodge - at the care of Ang Nuru. Oct 20 - Rest day at Pangboche. I run to Namche in 1:59 hours and return with some fresh bread and croissants in 2:35 hs. Of course that I check email. The weather is getting better by the day. Oct 21 - Walk to Henry's base camp. Return to Pangboche. 3900m to 4700m in 2:00 hrs stay and have dinner. Oct 22 - Move to BC Oct 23 - Client are feeling great - rest at BC, organize gear, bouldering, very nice weather. Get report of condition on the route. Many work in the lines are needed from C1 to C3. Fix lines school day. Work on 2 short clips and on taking advantage of short clip on traverses. Oct 24 - Carry load to ABC at 5400m - and ascent of 700m in 2 hrs. Bill took 2:30 hrs little headache. Set up one tent and return to BC Oct 25 - Puja - rest day, organize gear, supplies and awesome bouldering Oct 26 - Move to ABC - 3 hours. Clients are feeling great and the weather is still holding. For how long? Oct 27 - Move to C1 5700m. 2 hrs having a great time. For high altitude we had bags of cooked rice and pasta with tomato sauce, also some potatoes. Oct 28 - Work up the ridge. Lama Zangbu carries to C3. Replace and fix lines from C1 to C2. Almost 6 hours of hard work, pound more pins than on a route on el Camp. Return to C1. Clients performed fine on the lines. After return to C1, I return to BC Zangbu stay on C1 with the members. Oct 29 - Rest day on C1, I return to C1 with more pasta, some cake and some more gas. Oct 30 - Move to C3. Sun hits C1 at 6:24, so we get ready for a 8 am depart time to C3. Have a replace a 40m of rope on the first tower. We get crampons on C2 and then I replace 100 ms at the base of the the grey tower, repair another 50ms. Get to the mushroom ridge and have a difficult time - is getting late. Zangbu stays with Danny and Bill goes ahead. Total time for that day. Weather is very good but very cold. Oct 31 - Some how the good weather of the past 10 days changed to a very windy night at 3. Gust of intense wind all night. Wake up at 6 am and wait to what will happen, once the sun hits the valley - no clouds, so maybe will pass by. By 7:30 am the wind is still very strong. Decided to go for it. Very cold cold! Departed at 8 am. Bill almost quit on me, so I had to get down 100 to talk him out. Just where very very cold. Shit my toes were numb. Members were very slow. Past the Dablam and the wind was less strong. Danny and I and Zangbu and Bill. Bill is going very slow this time. I think the mountain is getting to him. I summit at 12:48 and Bill and Zangbu summit at 13:45. Time to get out of here. Shots and down. Hit C3. Nov 1 - Very strong wind during the night, but not wind in the morning. Walk at 6:00 am at get ready for 8 am departed time for C1 to BC. Took 7 hours to get down - what a nightmare to get to C1 at 15 pm. As soon as we get back we departed to BC. Arrived at 19:30 pm with Danny. A very long day. Nov 2 - Rest at BC and packing Nov 3 - BC -> Namche Nov 4 - Namche -> Lukla Nov 5 - Fly out -> KTM Nov 6 - Leader flys out Nov 7 - 2 members fly out Notes: Also same day summit other members under Henry Todd permit: Mr. Simon Piper Robin Marriott and two Henry's Sherpas. The mountain was very clean, but we took about 50 lbs of old ropes. Refixed all the ridge with better ropes and anchors.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Mountain Madness
Commercial Route True
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2457101
Year 2002
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) sw ridge

Members

4 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Damian Benegas M 1968 USA Leader Berkeley, California Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
William (Bill) Chappell M 1973 USA Climber Bellevue, Washington Computer consultant Details Other expeditions
Danny J. Klima M 1959 USA Climber Omaha, Nebraska Civil engineer Details Other expeditions
Lama Jangbu Sherpa M 1964 Nepal H-A Worker Kharikhola, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.