Ama Dablam | 2004 SW Ridge

A USA expedition to Ama Dablam in 2004 via SW Ridge, led by Jeffrey Witt. Summit reached on 17th October 2004. 4 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 4785
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID AMAD04335
Peak ID AMAD
Year 2004
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Jeffrey Witt
Sponsor Independent team
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries Germany
Approach -
Basecamp Date -
Summit Date 2004-10-17
Summit Time 1530
Summit Days 0
Total Days 0
Termination Date 2004-10-19
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 6814
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 120
Total Members 4
Summit Members 2
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 0
Summit Hired 0
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired True
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 ABC(11/10,5334m),C1(13/10,5700m),C2(15/10,6035m),C3(16/10,6400m),Smt(17/10)
Route Notes Rope fixed in the technical section in halfway between C3 and summit. Email from Jeff Witt - Nov 04, 2004 We arrived in KTM on Sept 26th, stayed at the Hotel Thamel and flew to Lukla on the 29th. As we did some trekking prior to going on the mountain, we didn't get to Ama Dablam until Oct 11th - then we went straight to Advance Base Camp (our base for the climb) at 17,500 ft. We spent two nights there, moved to Camp 1 (18,700 ft) fro three nights there, moved to C1 (18,700ft) for three nights (storm came in), bumped up to C2 (19,800 ft) for a night, and then to C3 (21,000ft) on the 16th. On the morning of the 17th, Matthias Richter and I went for the summit - apparently the first bid of the season. Unfortunately Kyle Traub had a poor night from feeling pretty bad - possibly the altitude, and he and Drew Birnbaum went down to ABC that day. Matt and I pushed hard for the top, fixing some line along the way, and swapping leads with a 60 meter rope - fine weather allowed us to go on longer that we hoped, good since there was no trail or lines to follow. We summited at 3:30 pm on Oct 17th, first summit of the fall season in 2004. After the summit, we returned to C3 for the night, and dropped down to ABC on the 18th. Drew and Kyle met us just below C2 to congratulate us and help us carry our things down. That night we spent at ABC, and the following day (19th) we moved down to Pangboche, flying back to KTM on the 23rd and leaving on the 25th. In the end we managed to make the mountain in a loose alpine style. It was a single push up, and we more or less free climbed all the terrain. In many cases we used fixed lines below C3 for protection, and all of us except Matt managed to use a jumar to ascent a few rock short sections (mostly to get up the steep ice/rock gully above C2). Matt never ussed the fixed lines for aid going up (we all rappelled them) and we did not use any oxygen for the climb. We had one Sherpa-guide on our team, Ang Lhakpa Sherpa, and he stayed at ABC for the duration of our climb. We also had to porters that helped us get our gear to ABC. From ABC above, it was just the four of us climbing. No accidents or injuries to report, short of Kyle not feeling well that day. We were all struggling a litte with the alitude, and Matt and I both had bad coughs.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Sherpa Alpine Trekking
Commercial Route True
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2457820
Year 2004
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) sw ridge

Members

4 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Andrew (Drew) Birnbaum M 1973 USA Climber Jackson, Wyoming Carpenter Details Other expeditions
Matthias Richter M 1973 Germany Climber Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany Physician Details Other expeditions
Kyle Traub M 1970 USA Climber Jackson, Wyoming Chef Details Other expeditions
Jeffrey Gordon (Jeff) Witt M 1974 USA Leader Moose, Wyoming Alpine guide Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.