Ama Dablam | 2025 SW Ridge

A USA expedition to Ama Dablam in 2025 via SW Ridge, led by David Watson. Summit reached on 26th October 2025. 28 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Change history — how this expedition, its members and references have changed between database releases.

Field Value
ID 1391
Imported 2026-11-04 22:32:23.994980
Expedition ID AMAD25324
Peak ID AMAD
Year 2025
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders David Watson
Sponsor Furtenbach Adventures Ama Dablam Expedition 2025
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 Austria, Canada, Ecuador, Germany, UK
Approach -
Basecamp Date -
Summit Date 2025-10-26
Summit Time 0900
Summit Days 0
Total Days 0
Termination Date -
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 6814
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 2
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 16
Summit Members 10
Member Deaths 0
Total Hired 15
Summit Hired 12
Hired Deaths 0
No Hired False
O2 Used True
O2 None False
O2 Climb True
O2 Descent True
O2 Sleep False
O2 Medical False
O2 Taken False
O2 Unknown False
Other Summits -
Campsites BC,C1,C2,Smt(26-27/10,17/11)
Route Notes Report from Davd Watson: BC 21/10 4530m C1 25/10 5800m C2 26/10 5950m Smt 26/10 by Emma Griffiths and Nima Tashi at 9 am Smt 27/10 by Watson, Parkinson, Fry, Mertin, Samuel Hitzinger, Hauser, Guerra, Mingma Dorje, Da Rinji, Phurni, Dawa Jangbu, Tashi, Tenji around 9 am. Summit on 26/10: Griffith and Nima Tashi had climbed Cho Oyu a few weeks earlier and as Griffith is very strong, she asked whether she could try to climb Ama Dablam in one day from BC. The pair left BC at 9 pm and summited at 9am. They were both acclimatised due to their Cho Oyu climb. On the way down, they descended to C2 to have a break and then descended all the way to BC. Summit on 27/10: Samuel Hitzinger, Hauser, Fry and Guerra left from C1 at 9 pm; Watson, Parkinson and Mertin left from C2 at 11:30 pm. They team more or less climbed together as their paths merged. All in all, straightforward climb, however, according to Watson, the rope-fixing was very poor. Anchors were failing. Snow pickets were bent and not safe. The rope was often just clipped through the carabiners and not tied off. Poorly fixed also on the Yellow Tower. Too much old rope from previous years. “It looked like a Kathmandu electricity pole with all the cables.” Parkinson, Watson, Guerra, Alexander and Samuel Hitzinger descended to C1 where they arrived at 7:30 pm. Everyone else descended to BC. Oxygen: Fom C2 to top to C1 by Parkinson, Mertin. From above C3 to C2 on the descent Hauser due to his incident. Hauser was hit by a piece of ice at the back of his head just above C3. His helmet was shattered. He took oxygen from that point as he was feeling dizzy. Members who did not summit: Stahl reached C1 but he felt that his heart rate was too fast and abandoned. Cox reached C2, spent the night and when he woke up the next morning, he decided that it was not for him and went down. Brunt reached C1, but developed HACE. He spent one night there and was put on oxygen the next day and descended. Price reached C1 and decided that he did not feel good. Hitzinger reached 6600m and when his son Samuel came down from the summit, he turned around to descend with him. Sauer did not quite reach C1, but decided that this mountain was not for him. Left BC: some by heli on 27/10; some walked to Shyangboche on 28/10. Watson’s observations about Ama Dablam: “Camp 2 is a complete mess, worse than the South Col. It is like a garbage dump. There was so much snow on the route that C2 had snow mushrooms which had clean snow to drink. Every day people were being rescued from C3. On 27/10, a woman was pulled off C2 who did not want to walk down. Lots of face rescues"
Accidents -
Achievement -
Agency Iceland Trekking
Commercial Route True
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2463810
Year 2025
Summit Success True
O2 Summary Used
Route (lowercase) sw ridge

Members

28 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
David John (Dave) Watson M 1975 USA Leader White Salmon, Washington Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Paul Alberto Guerra Rodriguez M 1981 Ecuador Deputy Leader Pasaje Santa Martha, Ecuador Alpine guide Details Other expeditions
Nigal Edward Robert Brunt M 1967 UK Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Damian Cox M 1975 UK Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Ines Alison Maria Fry F 1988 Germany Climber Goetzens, Tyrol, Austria Dentist Details Other expeditions
Emma Madison Griffiths F 1993 USA Climber Georgia - Details Other expeditions
Patrick Hauser M 1984 Austria Climber Wels, Upper Austria, Austria Developer Details Other expeditions
Alexander Hitzinger M 1971 Germany Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Samuel Alexander Hitzinger M 2007 Germany Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Roland Reinhold Mertin M 1963 Germany Climber - - Details Other expeditions
James Parkinson M 1976 UK Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Martin Bradley Price M 1984 USA Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Jerome Turcotte Routhier M 1986 Canada Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Bernhard Sauer M 1987 Austria Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Thorsten Rainer Stahl M 1973 Germany Climber - - Details Other expeditions
David Frederik Von Rosen M 1976 Germany Climber - - Details Other expeditions
Dawa Jangbu Lama M 1987 Nepal H-A Worker Beni-3, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Da Rinji Sherpa M 1995 Nepal H-A Worker - - Details Other expeditions
Guru Ngima Sherpa M 1994 Nepal H-A Worker - - Details Other expeditions
Lhakpa Sherpa M 1989 Nepal H-A Worker Jaidu, Salleri-5, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Mingma Dorchi/Dorje Sherpa M 1980 Nepal H-A Worker Tashigaon, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Ngima Tashi Sherpa M 1999 Nepal H-A Worker Makalu-2, Makalu-Barun - Details Other expeditions
Ngima Tenji Sherpa M 2002 Nepal H-A Worker - - Details Other expeditions
Phuri Sherpa M 1992 Nepal H-A Worker Patle-4, Okhaldhunga - Details Other expeditions
Rinji Sherpa M 1980 Nepal H-A Worker Khijidemba-8, Okhaldhunga - Details Other expeditions
Sange Sherpa M 1992 Nepal H-A Worker Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions
Tashi Sherpa M 2000 Nepal H-A Worker - - Details Other expeditions
Mingmar Tamang M 1988 Nepal H-A Worker Salleri, Solukhumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.