Ama Dablam | 1985 W Face up; SW Ridge down

A Japan expedition to Ama Dablam in 1985 via W Face up; SW Ridge down, led by Naoe Sakashita. Summit reached on 2nd May 1985. 7 members recorded.

Expedition Details

Field Value
ID 176
Imported 2026-03-06 18:04:49.359634
Expedition ID AMAD85102
Peak ID AMAD
Year 1985
Season 1
Host Country 1
Route 1 W Face up; SW Ridge down
Route 2 SW Ridge
Route 3 -
Route 4 -
Nationality Japan
Leaders Naoe Sakashita
Sponsor Sangaku Doshikai Khumbu Himal Expedition 1985
Success 1 True
Success 2 True
Success 3 False
Success 4 False
Ascent 1 37th
Ascent 2 38th
Ascent 3 -
Ascent 4 -
Claimed False
Disputed False
Countries -
Approach Lukla->Khumbu Valley
Basecamp Date 1985-04-28
Summit Date 1985-05-02
Summit Time 1020
Summit Days 4
Total Days 12
Termination Date 1985-05-10
Termination Reason 1
Termination Notes -
High Point (m) 6814
Traverse True
Ski False
Paraglide False
Camps 0
Fixed Rope (m) 0
Total Members 7
Summit Members 4
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 Climbed Tawoche (TAWO-851-01) and Cholatse (CHOL-851-01)
Campsites BC(28/04),Biv1(29/04,5100m),Biv2(30/04,6250m),Biv3(01/05,6550m),Smt(02/05); Biv1(29/04,5600m),Biv2(30/04,6050m),Biv3(01/05,61000m),Biv4(02/05,6500m),Smt(03/05),Biv5(03/05,5950m)
Route Notes BC at Mingbo Glacier near Hillary airstrip Biv1 at bottom of West Face Biv2 on face Biv3 on face above hanging glacier Biv4 on SW Ridge after summit success. The seven-man Sangaku Doshikai party of Tokyo, led by Naoe Sakashita, climbed three 6000ers in the Khumbu Himal in alpine-style pushes. They were: the South Ridge of Cholatse, the SE Face of Tawoche, the West Face and the SW Ridge of Ama Dablam. Had deep fresh snow. May be possible in one day to climb face from biv at 5900-5400m to summit via face route if in good health and no deep snow. On this face climb Yagi had stomach trouble which meant low 1st biv and slow progress next day - carried 2 days food. Quick climb (contrasted with Peter Hillary's) required "an idea, a plan." Messner or Roskelley would not want to stay a week on that face. 4th May Ishibashi killed in fall for unknown reasons while descending. Ariaka some frostbite but not very serious. Was cold weather and he was weak. No avalanching - saw none at all even with fresh snow. Sakashita - 14 May 85 28th reached Ama Dablam BC. 29th Ariake and Sakashita attempted W Face; biv at 5100m; Ishibashi, Toyoda and Yagi to attempt SW Ridge same day. In this season lot of new snow on both ridge and face (20 cm), bad conditions. West Face-SW Ridge Traverse: 29 Apr - Ariake and Sakashita biv at 5100m 30 Apr - Sakashita and Ariake reached 6250m on face. Ariake had stomach trouble and ate nothing on 29th but decided nonetheless to go up face but very slow. Used no rope, no tent, no sleeping bag, joint bivy sack. 1 May - traversed face to night almost same route as Peter Hillary route, 6550m biv, no gas left, so no tea. 2 May - 10:20 am reached summit from face, beautiful day. Biv at 6050m (again no hot drink) on SW Ridge. 3 May - Sakashita and Ariake to BC via ridge. Ariake same frostbite but not serious. SW Ridge: 29 Apr - Ishibashi, Toyoda and Yagi reached 5600m on SW Ridge. Went to ridge cause face too dangerous for all to go up it. Must move quickly and need experience. 30 Apr - 6050m Ishibashi and Toyoda reached on ridge while Yagi turned back with tooth trouble and allergic. 1 May - 6100m on long difficult ridge 2 May - 6500m 3 May - summit to biv at 5950m 4 May - 7:00 am walkie-talkie contact from Ishibashi. They too had no drink and food last night because stove broken. Will start descent Ishibashi said. Used same rope for couple of pitches. Vertical rock face even overhanging 2-3m, very difficult. Ishibashi below led and suddenly he had disappeared. 2 hours after left biv Ishibashi fell. 12:20 pm Toyoda arrived BC and reported accident. Exhausted same day Yagi and Sakashita went up SW Ridge to 5600m. 5 May - 10:00 and 11:00 am reached accident point at 5900m where Toyoda had left backpack. Toyoda saw red dot on W Face icefall which was Ishibashi. 2 now returned to BC. 6 May - Sakashita Yagi, Toyoda and Dr Stefan Goldberg went to icefall (very difficult) and found big crevasses between body and selves so couldn't reach body. Snowstorm forced retreat to BC. 7 May - Up again via rock ridge and down to crevasses and found body at 5300m ond skull broken (died immediately after fall). Sakashita and Toyoda wrapped his body and carried it down. 8 May - Brought body to BC. 9 May - Cremated body with Thyangboche Lama, Sherpas, Goldberg present. Brought bones for family. 10 May - All left BC. Sakashita - 2 April 85 Ishibashi leads one team to Cholatse while Sakashita others to Tawoche. After these finished, exchange mountains. Take about 3 weeks for this. Then all 7 move to Mingbo to Ama Dablam W Face. If we pass through in just 1-2 days will be Ok. During recce last year Irawa saw avalanches. Looks risky but somehow stable I think. Hillary party stayed on that route 10 days but Japanese will have acclimatized on other two mountains and Ama Dablam will not be so difficult for us. Will not used fixed ropes. Hope for very fast alpine-style climb with no ropes (only climbing rope), no tents (3 biv sacks). On entire climb of 4 mountains, no Sherpas, no oxygen at all also on all 4 mountains. Cho Oyu only Ishibashi and Sakashita (others go home after Ama Dablam). SE Face Australian route or Poles S Pillar. "I pray to the god to find it easy, safe." We are Buddhist like Nepali and Tibetans so maybe the god will find us route? Cholatse: first try N Face but with little time, if route very hard will change to US or Swiss route. Depends on condition of route (whether enough snow or ice on face in spring - autumn best season to climb N Face). BC at Pheriche. LO and kitchen boy there (no sirdar on expedition). Tawoche: first like N Face. If not possible, maybe for route on SE Face or last year US - Sakashita route on this. All leave KTM 3 April by air to Lukla and arrive Pheriche BC in 4 days on Afternoon 6 April. Arrive MBC 22 or 23 April (only 2 hours ex-Pheriche). 5 leave BC 29 April arrive Cho Oyu BC near Gyazumpa on May 2 and spend 2 weeks on Cho Oyu. 5 climbers return KTM 1 May 2 climbers return KTM 20-23 May 2 stay at Tamkaku's house For myself it is necessary to do new things - style, way of thinking philosophy must be new. So we carry no tent, use biv sack in Bangkok airport (very cold because of air-conditioning).
Accidents Ishibashi was killed in fall on descent from summit
Achievement -
Agency -
Commercial Route False
Standard Route -
Primary Route False
Primary Member False
Primary Reference True
Primary ID TAWO85101
Checksum 2451008
Year 1985
Summit Success True
O2 Summary None
Route (lowercase) w face up; sw ridge down

Members

7 recorded members.

Name Sex Year of Birth Citizenship Status Residence Occupation
Masayuki Ariake M 1957 Japan Climber Tokyo, Japan Window washer of tall buildings Details Other expeditions
Makoto Ishibashi M 1952 Japan Climber Yokohama, Japan Engineer, construction Details Other expeditions
Kazuhiro Onomura M 1958 Japan Climber Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, Japan Electronics engineer Details Other expeditions
Naoe Sakashita M 1947 Japan Leader Tokyo, Japan Distributor of climbing equipment Details Other expeditions
Haruo Toyoda M 1958 Japan Climber Tokyo, Japan Unemployed Details Other expeditions
Kazuo Yagi M 1963 Japan Climber Yotsukaido, Chiba, Japan Student in university, geography Details Other expeditions
Hideaki Shibuya M 1963 Japan Climber Tokyo, Japan Worker, plastics factory Details Other expeditions

References

0 recorded references.