Ama Dablam | 1981 SW Ridge

A USA expedition to Ama Dablam in 1981 via SW Ridge, led by Gary Neptune. Summit reached on 5th October 1981. 9 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 1781
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID AMAD81301
Peak ID AMAD
Year 1981
Season 3
Host Country 1
Route 1 SW Ridge
Route 2 -
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality USA
Leaders Gary Neptune
Sponsor Colorado Ama Dablam Expedition
Success 1 True
Success 2 False
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 17th,18th
Ascent 2 -
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach -
Basecamp Date 1981-09-14
Summit Date 1981-10-05
Summit Time -
Summit Days 21
Total Days 31
Termination Date 1981-10-15
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 6814
Traverse False
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 3
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 9
Summit Members 4
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 BC(14/09,5060m),C1(20/09,5945m),C2(02/10,6155m),C3(04/10,6400m),Smt(05,12/10)
Route Notes BC - 16,600 - 14 Sept C1 - 19,500 - 18 Sept 1st loads arrived and 20 Sept first occupied C2 - 20,200 - set up on 24 Sept first occupied after storm 2 Oct C3 - 21,000 - 4 Oct Summit by Tuckey, Michaud and Johnston 5 Oct and back 10 pm to C3; 6 Oct down to BC. Neptune started up with 3 to C1 on 3 Oct. Morr and Burleson went down on 6th; Morr fearful of danger, Burleson reason not known. Greene and Neptune to C2 on 6 Oct, then Greene got very sick and both went down again 7 Oct. 8 Oct all to Pangboche for rakshi party. 9 Oct all left except Greene, Simmonds and Neptune who went back to BC to clean things up at least. 10 Oct Neptune to C2 11 Oct Neptune to C3 12 Oct Neptune to summit and back to C3 13 Oct Neptune to BC 14 Oct Neptune and Greene to C2 and cleared it all and back to BC 15 Oct left BC Simmonds went only to C1 because of old knee injury that suddenly flared up. Neptune went up ropes fixed by 1st team up to C2. Above C2 ran out of rope, so nothing fixed and at "mushroom ridge" had to decide whether go on up or not: went up. Lots of loose rotten snow made tiring climbing. Route same as Frost route on 1980. All Ok except Karen Simmond's knee. Neptune - 2 Aug 81 2 on 3-5 Sept and 2 maybe later 6 now in KTM; they had hoped to leave 26th but baggage not yet here 18 days to BC Route = South Ridge, same as 1961 etc. BC 15,000 ft or higher if possible. 1 camp at start of ridge at 19,000 ft and probably 2 above that; C3 about 21,000 ft have only 900 ft of rope of all kinds. No oxygen. 2 weeks to climb mountain, but BC to top probably 4 weeks waiting for weather since have little fixed rope and also acclamatizion. No Sherpas above BC.
Accidents Greene altitude sickness; Simmonds knee suddenly flared because of old knee injury
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route True
Standard Route False
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference -
Primary ID -
Checksum 2449699
Year 1981
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) sw ridge

Members

9 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Joe Burleson M 1949 USA Climber Boulder, Colorado Electrical engineer Details Other expeditions
Ron Crotzer M 1947 USA Climber Golden, Colorado Oil-drilling engineer Details Other expeditions
Ben Greene M 1962 USA Climber Nederland, Colorado Employee in climbing- equipment shop Details Other expeditions
Scott Crump Johnston M 1953 USA Climber Boulder, Colorado Mechanical engineer Details Other expeditions
John Michaud M 1946 USA Climber Breckenridge, Colorado Carpenter & ski manager Details Other expeditions
Ken Morr M - USA Climber Denver, Colorado Oil-company production foreman Details Other expeditions
Gary Robert Neptune M 1945 USA Leader Boulder, Colorado Alpine-equipment shop owner Details Other expeditions
Karen Simmonds F 1962 USA Climber Boulder, Colorado Student Details Other expeditions
John Tuckey M 1950 USA Climber Boulder, Colorado Carpenter Details Other expeditions

References

3 recorded references.

Expedition ID Journal Author Title Publisher Citation Yak 94
AMAD81301 AAJ Neptune, Gary - - 56:211-212 (1982) -
AMAD81301 MM - - - 83:10 (Jan 1982) -
AMAD81301 - - http://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198221100/Asia-Nepal-Ama-Dablam - - -