Ama Dablam | 1979 W Face

A New Zealand expedition to Ama Dablam in 1979 via W Face, led by Peter Hillary. Summit reached on 24th October 1979. 5 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 2115
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID AMAD79302
Peak ID AMAD
Year 1979
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Face
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality New Zealand
Leaders Peter Hillary
Sponsor New Zealand Ama Dablam Expedition 1979
Success 1 False
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 -
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach Lamosangu->Khumbu Valley
Basecamp Date 1979-10-15
Summit Date 1979-10-24
Summit Time -
Summit Days 9
Total Days 12
Termination Date 1979-10-27
Termination Reason 6
Termination Notes Abandoned at 6100m due to fatal accident
High Point (m) 6100
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 1
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 4
Summit Members 0
Member Deaths 1
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 Attempted Kusum Kanguru (KUSU-793-02)
Campsites BC(15/10,4575m),C1(17/10,5500m),xxx(24/10,6100m)
Route Notes Peter Hillary, Airport - 27 Oct 79 Merv English helped get down and Oelz and Messner. O & M put fixed ropes up 19,500-20,000 ft from about 17,000 ft; spent just over 2 days coming down. Had accident early afternoon on Wednesday. Other 2 pretty shocked but not too bad and at Khunde - Geoff rope burn. Avalanche: a hanging glacier, blocks of ice screaming down. Merv had extremely good belay, but couldn't hold Peter Hillary who went 150 ft down, Ken Hyslop and Geoff Gabites came down after Peter and Ken went over bluff right to bottom at 17,000; Austrian put Hyslop in crevasse. All Austrians carried gear up to 17,500 ft and stocked and keep liquids ready. M & O exceptional - very steep ground. Planned to spend night 2/3 way up face at left hand ice cliff; about 250 feet below it, avalanche hit 5 secs after heard great crack and saw green ice coming down. No frostbite anyone. Came from 17,500 ft today; dropped other 2 at Khunde for 1 week. 10 days rest "I'm bashed about basically, broken left arm, sprained ankle." Got to 17,500 at 6:00 pm. Pilots - 26 Oct 79 2 helpless at 18,000 feet 1 dead, 1 serious 17,200 landed today and dropped 1 Austrian and tents and sleeping bags and from NZ BC. Peter Hillary - 18 Aug 79 Kusum Kangru Hope to put BC at 18,500 feet on Kungsamba Glacier, a camp on small plateau 8.9 rope lengths below summit. Peter and 3 others, who arrive 1 or 2 Sept, will climb KK as acclimatization and practice for Ama Dablam, which all will climb. Leave KTM about 5 Sept on walk in to Lukla. Four KK, 1 sirdar and 1 cook. Peter Hillary - 18 Aug 79 NZ Ama Dablam Expedition. Start climb about 15 Oct, whenever French finish. 1 sirdar Phu Tenzing of Thami 1 cook Approach via Pangboche and Mingbo village, with BC at Mingmo airstrip where Americans had their BC Spr 1979 at about 14,500-15000 feet. Up West Face, 4000 feet right. C1 or ABC at about 17,800 feet, 200 feet below base of West Face Probably 2 more camps above BC. Hope to climb in 3-5 days alpine-style last part from top camp Shailendra Raj Sharma, Tourism - 4 Feb 79 Hillary's expedition can begin climbing Ama Dablam after 15 Oct, or when Coudray's expedition returns earlier to KTM. As soon as Coudray's letter received French embassy, permit will be granted, Sharma believes. Report from Peter Hillary - 7 Nov 79 On the evening of 22nd of October we left base camp and proceeded to our high camp. That night we stretched and climbed on the West Face of Mt Ama Dablam. We climbed on into the day of the 23rd and set up our camp on a very steep snow arete. The following day we proceeded to the left-hand ice cliff where we planned to spend our second night. It was just a short of this objective that the accident occured. A huge ice avalanche engulfed our party resulting in the death of Ken Hyslop and the miraculous survival of the other three members who sustained a variety of injuries. An epic descent followed by the remaining three injured members to the high camps from where we were evacuated by helicopter. Ken's body was buried in a crevasse at the bottom of the face by members of the Austrian Ama Dablam expedition. The liaison officer, Ram Shrestha, according to Wolfgang Nairz, was loathe to assist or act in anyway until he was forced to by the Austrians, during the accident. I am very disappointed in the liaison officer's performance. As this is surely an area, an emergency where the liaison officer should be of tremendous assistance. Perhaps in the future it would it would be a good idea if liaison officer were briefed in how to cope with emergency procedures and contacting other climbing expeditions in the area for their assistance. Prior to the accident the liaison officer left base camp for four days, resting down valley. The National Park has radio which could will be used to help in such emergencies.
Accidents Peter Hillary seriously injured of the three was hospitalized in KTM with broken forearm, badly sprained ankle and cracked rib; Geoff bad rope burn; Hyslop killed by avalanche
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route False
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference False
Primary ID -
Checksum 2448985
Year 1979
Summit Success False
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) w face

Members

5 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Geoffrey Vernon (Geoff) Gabites M 1952 New Zealand Climber Ravensburne, Dunedin, New Zealand Mountain equipment manufacturer Details Other expeditions
Mervyn (Merv) English M 1954 New Zealand Climber Dunedin, New Zealand Social worker Details Other expeditions
Peter Edmund Hillary M 1954 New Zealand Leader Auckland, New Zealand Ski instructor Details Other expeditions
Kenneth James (Ken) Hyslop M 1956 New Zealand Climber Mosgiel, Otago, New Zealand Geologist Details Other expeditions
Phu Tenzing Sherpa M - Nepal Sirdar Thami, Khumbu - Details Other expeditions

References

8 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
AMAD79302 AAJ Hillary, Peter - - 53:615 (1980) -
AMAD79302 HJ Hillary, Peter Ama Dablam, 1979 - 37:148-150 (1979-80) -
AMAD79302 - Hillary, Peter A Sunny Day in the Himalayas Hodder & Stoughton, Auckland, NZ - H327
AMAD79302 MM - - - 71:14 (Jan 1980) -
AMAD79302 MM English, Merv & Lowe, Jeff Two Sides of Ama Dablam - 72:38-43 (Mar 1980) -
AMAD79302 NZAJ English, Merv Ama Dablam - 33:93-95 (1980) -
AMAD79302 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198061501/Asia-Nepal-Ama-Dablam-West-Face-Attempt - - -
AMAD79302 - - https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/37/30/expeditions-and-notes-37/ - - -