SummitClimb AMA DABLAM 2004: Hello to all from Ama Dablam Base camp!!

Ama Dablam copyright Dan Mazur

Dispatch 7:  Hello to all from Ama Dablam Base camp!!

Today's a rest day for most of us here - all team members and the sherpa staff came down off the mountain to attend another puja ceremony at the temple (formerly our bouldering rock) in the camp.

After last night's snow it was a beautiful morning for the ceremony - bit early in the morning for some of us to be drinking rackshi and chang, but good fun was had by all, and we now have the most impressive display of prayer flags in camp of all the expeditions!!

Everyone who's still well has been or is en route to Camp 1 so far.  3 groups developed in the week; first Wanda, Dave, Marc, Fabrice, Herve, Paul (US) and Tom went up to ABC for the night (star-gazing was a treat that night!), then on to camp1 to carry a load the next day and back down.

Coming down we met Adam, Mel, Paul (UK), Derek, Jordie, Anthony (aka T-Dog), Johann, Alan and Guan, most of whom continued to Camp 1 for a load carry, then stayed in ABC for the night.  The remaining members - Rex, Jay, Mark, Jason, Ken, Vincent and Caroline headed up this afternoon to stay in ABC.

Rest days are good - mostly spent drinking tea, reading books and making up Yak jokes (more of that later).  Jason's been buzzing the camp with his kite - no fatalities yet.  The sherpa's are playing football outside - they totally suck though so most of us can give them a game, even though we're coughing up a lung after running around for 10 minutes at 4500m!!  Jordie has a 'special' joke that he's been telling every night - unrepeatable here, but it gets better on each telling - we even got a dirty joke out of Wanda the other day!  It was Jason's birthday last night, so the sherpa cooks made him a cake which was pretty cool of them (you try getting butter to melt at minus 10 degrees and it's snowing outside!).

Adam and Dave's top three Yak jokes so far:

      3:What's a Yak's favorite liquor..........CognYAK (Cognac)

      2: What do you call a yak that wants to take over the world?.........a MegalomaniYAK

      1: What do you call a Yak bleeding to death by the side of the

trail?.........A HeamopheliYAK

.....Disclaimer: these jokes are only funny above 4000m

Going up to Camp 1 tomorrow (or ABC) - carry a load to 2 the next day then back down to BC to rest before the big push!

Alan, Guan and Mel have gone down to Pangboche for a rest day or two. Love and wishes to all of our loved ones...........

This is Dave, Adam, Paul and Paul signing off from Ama Dablam Base Camp, and the SummitClimb team.

Thanks for publishing this on the EverestNews.com website!

I was wondering if you could post this French dispatch as we have many French members, and quite a large French audience for EverestNews.com

Bonjour a tous, nous profitons d'une journee de recuperation au camp de base pour donner quelques nouvelles en francais. Nous avons fini notre premiere phase d'acclimatation apres avoir atteint le camp 1 a 5700m et passe une nuit au camp de base avance. La suite du programme: le 13 montee au camp 1 pour y passer la nuit, puis le 14 les choses serieuses commencent avec la premiere section technique pour acceder au camp 2. Le 15 nous rejoindrons le camp de base pour quelques jours de repos avant l'assaut final.

Aujourd'hui nous avons participe a notre deuxieme Puja - ceremonie tibetaine presidee par un lama et destinee a nous proteger pendant la duree de l'expedition. Cela a ete l'occasion de decouvrir le Chang et le Rakshi (bierre et whisky locaux) sans quoi un veritable Puja ne serait pas reussi.

Une mention speciale pour les yaks qui ont permis d'acheminer notre equipement jusqu'au camp de base avance. Ce sont des animaux de portage tres resistants mais qui ont tres mauvais caractere - surtout lors des chargements/dechargement de materiel. Malgre leur  force, ils sont affectes par l'altitude et tirent la langue comme tout le monde a l'approche des 5000m.

Mention aussi pour nos cooks qui ont reussi a faire des pizzas et apple pie a 4600m ce qui a permis de nous maintenir en bonne sante.

Nous esperons que le beau temps va se maintenir de maniere a poursuivre notre programme car de nombreuses expeditions vont arriver et le nombre d'emplacements pour les tentes dans les camps d'altitude est limite.

Prochain dispatch en francais dans 3-4 jours. A bientot.

Fabrice, Marc et Herve

Thanks EverestNews.com, for your fantastic support of Himalayan climbing! - Dan

Summitclimb's LAST EXPEDITION SUCCESSFULLY AND SAFELY CLIMBED AMA DABLAM, PLACING 14 MEMBERS AND 5 SHERPAS ON THE SUMMIT.

This Autumn AMA DABLAM LEADERSHIP TEAM: Dan Mazur is the expedition leader. He has recently been running Glacier Schools, working at his building design job, along with doing a bit of additional climbing and training. Dan has climbed Ama Dablam 5 times, as well as leading and organizing more than 25 expeditions to the Himalaya, with safe and succesful ascents of such peaks as Everest, Pumori, Mustagata, Cho Oyu, K2, Lhotse, Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Gasherbrum 1, and many, many others. The other expedition leader Jay Reilly has recently been climbing peak Khan Tengri in Kazakhstan. Jay has climbed Ama Dablam three times. Recently, Jay has taken on a new roll at SummitClimb.com, that of training director for our new leaders-in-training programme. The expedition will also be accompanied by our leaders-in-training and assistant leaders.

AMA DABLAM, coming Soon!

Altitech2: Digital Altimeter, Barometer, Compass and Thermometer. Time/Date/Alarms. Chronograph with 24 hour working range. Timer with stop, repeat and up function. Rotating Bezel. Leveling bubble. Carabiner latch. E.L. 3 second backlight. Water resistant. 4" x 2-1/4" x 3/4" 2 oz. Requires 1 CR2032 battery. See more here.

  Altitude pre-
   acclimatization

   Ascenders

   Atlas snowshoes

   Black Diamond

   Botas

   Brunton

   Carabiners

   CaVa Climbing Shoes
   Clearance

   Clif Bar

   CMI

   Crampons

   Edelweiss ropes
   Eureka Tents

   Featured

   FoxRiver

   Garmin

   Granite Gear

   Harnesses
   Headlamps
   Helmets

   HighGear
   Ice Axes

   Kavu Eyewear

   Katadyn

   Kong

   Lekisport

   Lowepro

   Motorola

   Nalgene

   New England Ropes

   Nikwax

   Omega

   Outdoor Designs

   Pelican

   PowerBar

   Princeton Tec

   Prescription Glacier

   Glasses

   Primus

   Rope Bags

   Seattle Sports

   Serius
   Sleeping Bags

   Stubai

   Suunto

   Tents

   Trekking Poles
   Ushba
   and more here