Ama Dablam | 2019 SW Ridge

A USA expedition to Ama Dablam in 2019 via SW Ridge, led by Alexander Goldfarb Rumyantzev. Summit reached on 2nd February 2020. 3 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 10379
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID AMAD19402
Peak ID AMAD
Year 2019
Season 4
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Alexander Goldfarb Rumyantzev
Sponsor Gurla Mandata Ama Dablam Expedition Winter 2020
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 Hungary
Approach Lukla->Namche->Lobuche->Ama Dablam BC
Basecamp Date 2020-01-27
Summit Date 2020-02-02
Summit Time 1027
Summit Days 6
Total Days 9
Termination Date 2020-02-05
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 6814
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 2
Summit Members 1
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 Climbed Lobuche East (24 Jan)
Campsites BC(27/01,4700m),C1(30/01),C2(31/01,5950m),C3(02/01,6250m),Smt(02/02)
Route Notes Translated from www.russianclimb.com/amadablam_winter_2020.html On the 24th, under the leadership of Ngawang Sherpa, we went to the upper camp of Lobuche East, about 4-5 hours from Lobuche, set up a camp, took things apart and the next morning 1/25 started climbing Lobuche East around 4 am in the dark. Climbing this mountain was a difficult test, to which added cold and wind (although the weather was generally suitable). We started at 4 in the morning, and a few hours later reached the summit. It was a tiring climb, cold and windy. Returning to the high-altitude camp, we relaxed for 15-20 minutes, then turned the camp and in a couple of hours reached Tukla. The next day (1/26) from Tukla to Pangboche, and another day (1/27) to Ama Dablam base camp. At that moment, Ngawang Sherpa went home, and Pemba Sherpa joined the group. In the morning 1/28, we left the abandonment just below C1 and returned to the base camp, the next day - rest. At 1/30, we started our climb to the top, moved from base camp to C1, the next day from C1 to C2, the main difficulty was the “yellow tower”. On February 1, we got from C2 to C3, A very steep climb, a thin ridge and a strong wind. At this moment, Zoltan decently blew the wind on the ridge, as we moved rather slowly, he really fell ill in the evening, he began to have chills, and he could not keep warm. Since the assault attempt was scheduled for the next morning on February 2, leaving the camp at 4 am, it was unfortunate, but he could not take part in it. Pemba Sherpa and I (Alex) got up at 2:30 in the morning and started from camp around 4. This is a steep climb with a strong wind, plus cold. We were on top at 10:27 in the morning, very windy, we took a few pictures and hurried down. After spending another night in C3, we got up on the morning of February 3, rented a camp and went down to base camp. It was a very long day, we went down to the base camp in the dark, it’s good that we finally returned to a safe place. We took a rest day on February 4 to dry and take things apart, repack, and on February 5, we started the descent into the valley. Report from Alex Goldfarb - 9 Feb 2020 Final update on Winter Lobuche-Ama Dablam Expedition Dear friends, we are on the on the way to warmth and civilization, arrived to Kathmandu yesterday. Our adventure is over to the most extent. This expedition idea was conceived in a warm office, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Winter climbing being an additional step up to usual challenges to high altitude expedition. It always interesting to me how the idea that initially is called crazy, all of the sudden attracts attention, gets traction, expands, gets involved more people and all of the sudden the wheels are rolling, people are involved, the definition "crazy" is pushed to periphery and things are moving ahead. At some point even if you want to jump the train - it is too late. Winter climbing introduces more difficulties, mostly cold and weather related, but also lack of usual infrastructure in the winter, different condition of snow and ice, different physiological demands of the body. Last year a group of climbers including some of my friends planned to climb K2 in the winter, unbelievable project, that is yet to get materialized. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to try climbing in the winter. Winter Ama Dablam popped up in my head, and the more I thought about it, the more I got fascinated. Also, when I thought about a partner, I immediately contacted my friend Zoltan Szlanko and within minutes received enthusiastic "Yes!". Than it was time to figure out our strategy, logistics, dates, talk to people at work, etc. Now our expedition is pretty much over, we are now back in Kathmandu; it is hard to imagine it has been over three weeks in the mountains, although thinking of some of the events - they seem very far in the past, like in another life. It was a successful, aggressive and relatively fast climb. We started by walking up the Khumu valley from Lukla on January 16. On 1/19 we got to Thyangboche, next day we went to Dingboche, weather improved, became clear (after we had lots of rain/snow at the beginning). On the 1/21 we got to Lobuche, it was way colder there than down in the valley. We thought we would need a little more acclimatization before attempting the summit of the Lobuche East and decided to trek up to the top of Kalapattar (5550m) on 1/22 and then back to Lobuche, where we spent the next day for rest. On the 24th, led by Ngawang Sherpa we walked to Lobuche East high camp, about 4-5 hours up from Lobuche, set the camp, sorted out things and next morning 1/25 started climbing Lobuche East at about 4 am in the dark. Climbing this mountain was a challenge, added by cold and wind (though generally the weather was reasonable). We started at 4 am and got to the summit few hours later. It was a tiring climb, cold and windy. After coming back to high camp we relaxed for maybe 15-20 minutes, then broke down the camp and hiked to Tukla for a couple of hours. Next day (1/26), from Tukla to Pangboche, and the day after (1/27) to Ama Dablam base camp. At this point Ngawang Sherpa went home and Pemba Sherpa joined the group. On the morning on 1/28 we took a load to slightly below Camp 1 and went back to base camp, next day - rest. On 1/30 we started our summit push, went from base camp to Camp 1, next day from Camp 1 to Camp 2, main challenge being the "Yellow Tower." On February 1 we got from Camp 2 to Camp 3, very steep climb, thin ridge and a lot of wind. At this point Zoltan got a lot of wind exposure on the ridge as we were moving pretty slow, he got really sick in the evening with shaking chills and could not warm up. Because the summit attempt was planned for the next morning February 2 starting out of the camp at 4 am, it is very unfortunate that he could not participate in it. Pemba Sherpa and I (Alex) got up at 2:30 am and left the camp around 4. It is a steep climb with lots of wind and cold exposure. We were at the summit at 10:27 am, it is very windy, we took a few pictures and hurried down. After spending another night at camp 3 we got up in the morning of February 3, broke down the camp and went down to base camp. It was a very long day, we came to base camp in the dark, it feels very good to be back to safety. We took a day of rest on February 4 to dry and sort out things, repackage, and February 5 (happy birthday to me!) started going down the valley. We want to thank many people who made our expedition a success. First and foremost, Gurla Mandata Trekking, and personally to Pasang for incredible organization of the logistics, supplies, and every other aspect of this project. We are incredibly grateful to Pemba Sherpa, our unbelievable guide to Mt. Ama Dablam. We are grateful to Nepalese Ministry of Tourism for support and motivation. We very much thank our sponsors (see lists of sponsors below), financial support was crucial for this project. We were very lucky to overlap on the mountain with Alex Txikon's expedition and to meet him briefly. The fact that their team fixed the ropes on the mountain was critical to our success, we never had a chance to say thank you in person, since they left to climb Everest by the time we god back to base camp. I (Alex Goldfarb) personally want to thank Miguel Fernandez (of the same Barcelona team), who, after my down suite fell off the mountain for 2000 meters; let me use his. Without this warm full body down suite one should not even attempt to climb Ama Dablam in the winter. And of course a huge thank you to our families, kids, parents, all relatives and friends, who let us do these crazy things. We are very grateful to those who provided information support (Elena Laletina and Laszlo Pinter) and those who followed our climb, without your interest and attention things would be completely different. Everything was happening we hope, with the help and support of G-D, and we observed small miracles on the daily basis, we are grateful to G-D for our success. And few final words. I will try to be deep and profound :-). I think it was Edmund Hillary, who said something to the effect "We do not conquer the mountains we conquer ourselves." Mountain is a piece of rock, it is indifferent to you, it does not care, if you feel like you conquer anything, you are fool. Similar to running marathon or an ultra, the whole point is - you want to know what YOU are capable of, learn your limits, and move them outward. You conquer yourself of yesterday, yourself that is weaker, that is what you want to conquer and leave in the past. And also, paraphrasing Walter White in the last episode of "Breaking Bad" - All that I did - I did it for me, I liked it, I felt alive, I thought I am really good at it (not a direct quote, I have no way to verify right now). What we do in the mountains - we mostly do for ourselves, it is a great feeling of direct visible goal, of personal expertise, challenge, tapping into personal experience, feeling of freedom, clear personal identity beyond artificial social layers and bullshit, feeling alive, young and capable. Of course we want to impress girls, of course public interest and attention are exciting. But ultimately, if you don't realize that climbing mountains is done for yourself - you might be missing on the most important part of it. We now come home with many stories, pictures and videos, but how can you transmit the whole experience to someone who is asking "how was it?" How do you explain cold and wind, and altitude and fear, and desperation, and giving up and at the last moment not giving up, and tears, and crying, and pain, and dehydration, and feeling sick, but also friendship, joy, beauty, and sense of accomplishment, strength, and warm sleeping bag at the end of the day, relationships free of bullshit, freedom, feeling strong, young and alive. This is something that will be left with us, as any other life experience, it makes us the men were are.
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Gurla Mandata
Commercial Route True
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2462341
Year 2019
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) sw ridge

Members

3 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Alexander Stanislavovich Goldfarb-Rumyantzev M 1963 USA Leader Brookline, Massachusetts Physician Details Other expeditions
Zoltan Gabor Szlanko M 1968 Hungary Climber Szolnok, Hungary Manager of company working on high buildings Details Other expeditions
Pemba Ongdi Sherpa M 1987 Nepal H-A Worker Yaphu-9, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions

References

1 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
AMAD19402 - - http://www.russianclimb.com/amadablam_winter_2020.html - - -