Ama Dablam is a mountain in the eastern Himalayan range of Province No. 1, Nepal. The main peak is, the lower western peak is. Ama Dablam means "Mother's necklace"; the long ridges on each side like the arms of a mother protecting her child, and the hanging glacier thought of as the dablam, the traditional double-pendant containing pictures of the gods, worn by Sherpa women. For several days, Ama Dablam dominates the eastern sky for anyone trekking to Mount Everest basecamp. For its soaring ridges and steep faces Ama Dablam is sometimes referred as the "Matterhorn of the Himalayas." Ama Dablam was first climbed on 13 March 1961 by Mike Gill, Barry Bishop, Mike Ward and Wally Romanes via the Southwest Ridge. They were well-acclimatised to altitude, having wintered over at 5800 metres near the base of the peak as part of the 1960–61 Silver Hut expedition, led by Sir Edmund Hillary. Situated at a distance of 162 kms north of the provincial capital of Biratnagar and 152 kms northeast to Kathmandu, Ama Dablam is the third most popular Himalayan peak for permitted expeditions. The most popular route by far is the Southwest Ridge. Climbers typically set up three camps along the ridge with camp 3 just below and to the right of the hanging glacier, the Dablam. Any ice that calves off the glacier typically goes left, away from the camp. However, a 2006 avalanche proved that this is not always the case. A climbing permit and a liaison officer are required when attempting Ama Dablam. As with Mt. Everest, the best climbing months are April–May and September–October.
1979 North Ridge by a large French expedition led by and placed 14 Frenchmen and 4 Nepalese Sherpa in three groups on the summit over three days, 21-23 Oct 1979.
2001 Northwest Ridge by Jules Cartwright and Rich Cross.
Accidents
Accidents involving fatalities occur on a high, steep mountain in an extreme environment like Ama Dablam. On the night of 13/14 November 2006, a large serac collapse occurred from the hanging glacier, which swept away several tents at Camp 3, killing six climbers. Eyewitness testimony indicates that Camp 3 had not been sited in an unusual or abnormally dangerous spot, and that the serac fall was of such magnitude as to render the specific placing of the tents at Camp 3 irrelevant. On November 28, 2016, highly acclaimed climbing Sherpa Lakpa Thundu Sherpa of Pangboche was killed when a 5.4 magnitude earthquake struck, triggering an avalanche and the release of a few ice blocks. Thundu was at 19,680 feet on the 22,349 foot mountain. On November 11, 2017, Valery Rozov was killed when he jumped from the mountain in a wingsuit and struck a cliff.
In popular culture
A representation of Ama Dablam was originally used by Invesco Perpetual as its branding logo within UK. It has since been adopted by the INVESCOgroup of companies as its worldwide signature. Image peak Ama Dablam is present on the label of bottled tap water Aqua Minerale, PepsiCo in Russia as well as included in the image of the trademark. In September 1997, Bear Grylls, a British adventurer and television presenter became the youngest Briton to climb Ama Dablam. In November 2009 the youngest mountaineer, 16-year-old Scottish Calum Macintyre, climbed the Ama Dablam. The singer/songwriter Nick Harper has a track on his 2010 album The Last Guitar entitled "Ama Dablam." Apple included an image of Ama Dablam by photographer Nick Meek in the set of new wallpapers included with the mobile operating systemiOS 7, released on September 18, 2013. In 2016, Ngima Gelu Lama, a young Nepali filmmaker established an independent motion picture production company called Ama Dablam Pictures. On 9 December 2019 John Sanderson-Rooney became the youngest English citizen to Summit at the age of 21 years and 6 months. Beating Bear Grylls' record. John reached the summit with his guide Jamie of Jagged Globe at 10.40am in the company of his climbing partners Charlie, Rinji, Nick and Pemba Dorje Sherpa https://www.jagged-globe.co.uk/news/item.php?id=3368 John was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne. The mountain in ;
