Ama Dablam is a mountain in the Eastern Himalayas range of Koshi Province, Nepal. The main peak is , the lower western peak is . The name Ama Dablam literally means in the Sherpa language; the long ridges on each side like the arms of a mother (ama) 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 Base Camp. Because of its soaring ridges and steep faces, Ama Dablam is sometimes referred as the "Matterhorn of the Himalayas". The mountain is featured on the one rupee Nepalese banknote.

Alfred Gregory led the first attempt to climb Ama Dablam in 1958. The first successful ascent was made on 13 March 1961, when Mike Gill (NZ), Barry Bishop (US), Mike Ward (UK) and Wally Romanes (NZ) climbed the Southwest Ridge. They were well-acclimatised to altitude, having wintered over at near the base of the peak as part of the 1960–61 Silver Hut expedition, led by Sir Edmund Hillary.

The mountain is north of the provincial capital of Biratnagar and northeast of Kathmandu. In the mid-1980s it was still considered to be "a formidable challenge" with "steep awkward sections on both rock and ice", but since then ascents have become considerably more straightforward with lines of fixed rope placed along most of the route and Ama Dablam has become the third most popular Himalayan peak for permitted expeditions. The most popular route by far is the Southwest Ridge. Prior to a 2006 avalanche, climbers typically set up three camps along the ridge, with Camp III 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, after the avalanche, climbers now prefer to set just two camps to minimize risk. Camp I is at an altitude of over , and Camp II is at an altitude of over . A climbing permit and a liaison officer are required when attempting Ama Dablam. As with Mount Everest, the best climbing months are April and May (before the monsoon) and September and October.

Notable ascents

  • 1961 Southwest Ridge (VI 5.9 60deg 1500m) FA (First Ascent) by Mike Gill (NZ), Barry Bishop (US), Mike Ward (UK), and Wally Romanes (NZ), see 1960-61 Silver Hut expedition.
  • 1979 Southwest Ridge SA by Martin Boysen (UK); Tom Frost, David Breashears, Greg Lowe, Jeff Lowe, Peter Pilafian, Jonathan Wright (all US), and Lhakpa Dorje (Nepal) reached the summit on 22 April in blizzard conditions, as part of a well-financed climb-and-film expedition. Doug Robinson and John Wasson (both USA) reached the summit the next day.
  • 1985 Northeast Face (VI mixed 90deg 1400m) winter ascent by Michael Kennedy and Carlos Buhler (both US).
  • 1996 Stane Belak Šrauf Memorial Route on the northwest face (VI 5.7 AI5 A2+ 1650m) by and Tomaž Humar (both from Slovenia), which earned them the 1996 Piolet d'Or prize.
  • 1996 North Ridge Austro-German alpine-style ascent by Friedl Huber, Max Berger, Alois Badegruber, and Roman Dirnböck.
  • 2021 by the first Arab woman, Nadhira Al Harthy Asma Al Thani was the first Qatari woman to later summit.
  • 2023 by Mathéo Jacquemoud, French mountain guide.
  • 2023 by Tomáš Otruba, Czech mountaineer.

Accidents

In May 1959, George Fraser and Mike Harris, two of Britain's finest climbers, were last seen at 6,400 metres (21,000 ft) on the mountain's north ridge, but never returned to tell whether they had reached the summit.

On the night of 13/14 November 2006, a large serac collapse occurred from the hanging glacier, which swept away several tents at Camp III, killing six climbers (three European, three Nepalese). Eyewitness testimony indicates that Camp III 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 III irrelevant.

On 11 November 2017, Russian BASE jumper Valery Rozov was killed when he jumped from the mountain in a wingsuit and struck a cliff.

On 28 April 2025, Austrian climber Martin Hornegger was reported dead after he fell during his descent from the mountain on 26 April.

A representation of Ama Dablam was originally used by Invesco Perpetual as its branding logo within the UK. It has since been adopted by the Invesco group of companies as its worldwide signature.

See also

  • Chankheli Peak, another mountain in Nepal often mistaken for Ama Dablam

References

;Notes

;Sources

  • Ama Dablam on Globetrooper (archived)
  • Ama Dablam on Summitpost
  • Ama Dablam on Peakware (archived)