20-10-2009

Back in Kathmandu!

for Marc and I adventure is over...

after having climbed the Lobuche peak we made our way to Ama Dablam base camp and spent few days trying to climb the regular route of this beautyful mountain.

i aticipate the enmd of the story...we had no luck!

As we arrived at base camp the 10th afternoon, we found few tents set in the corner, and i thought there were already too many!!!!

as we set up our "mobile home" MArc and i started to go around and make friends with other expedition teams...but apparentely they were almost all on the mountain busy with fixing ropes on the ridge...at least that is what we had been told.

ON the field we met a group of the British Army who climbed Lobouhe peak the day before us, very nice people!

So, here is the situation: an indian and an Austrian team between camp 1 and 2 (news were quite odd and different from moment to moment?!?!?!) busy fixing lines, a group of spanish who went up the same day and the Brits and us just arriving at the camp.

i must say, except for the indians, we had great cooperation and friendship from all the present groups.

But for some reason it took the indians a massive ammount of time to fix lines from camp 1 to 2, something like 3 days when old but decent fixed ropes were already in place and i took me 1h 20 minutes to free climb the same distance...

anyways, as MArc and i climbed to C1 we met the spanish group (very nice and fun guys....OLA amigos, Que Tal?)

The next morning MArc will rest and i go up to camp 2 to bring some rope somebody forgot that day at the lower camp. At C2 i meet super Robert, an Austrian Mountain Guide who tells me: "hello Enrico, nice to meet you, we have a problem here!"

my answer, since the subsequent problems the indians and them had the previews days, has been of course: "another one???"

" oh yes, the indians want to go back, and i am alone with my clients, and i cannot fixe lines to the top alone."

well, what could i do other than helping my new friend opening the route towards the top!!!!

although i was not prepared that day to go up any further they gave me 2 axes and a rope and we left towards camp 3!
the weather was hot, very hot, and the late Monson had dropped quite bit of snow on the upper part of the mountain.

we fixed about ten pitches but than the heat was turning to be to dangerous, anbd rock fall and ice fall started to....fall!

so aroud 13:00 we went back.

My idea was to sleep there and wait for MArc the next day to come up. But after a good soup kindly prepared by one of the Austrians i decided to go back to C1, keep company to MArc and check that everything was alright! and well i did!
Here something must be said: the day before, before leaving base camp i made a nice ple of material the climbng sherpa was supposed to bring to camp 1, including 200m of static rope.

As he arrived 2 days too late at base camp, he could not know what was needed and what not, so i prepared everything for him...but as we arrtived at C1 i discovered he decided we wouldn't ned the rope so he left it down.

Of course my reaction hasn't been an happy one and i sent him back to look for it...

the day after, very early in the morning i set off C1 with 2 austrians to reach Robert at C2 so we could start soon to fix lines to the top.

We reached quite quickly the point where we stopped the day before but it took us very long to fix the folowing 3 pitches.

It was hot, the snow deep, it tok me 1h30min to climb 40 meters of 60 degrees snow slope to reach the ridge.

as i got there i moved forward another 2 pitches than decided to go back: for Robert and his friends was the last chance to make it to the top as they finished their days; as far as MArc and I are concerned i decided it was too dangerous to keep going with those conditions...as at home i would have turned around so i did on Ama Dablam!

i think no team has been up yet as the temperature kept rising in the following days, but i wish best luck and safe climbs to our British friends who are still on the mountain waiting for better chance to go up: "go fo it Guy, but keep them safe!"

so now we are back in KAthmandu, eat like pigs and rest like logs...

tomorrow Anne is arriving and we'll spend 2 days all together before MArc goes back home and will leave the adventure to us....off to Nireka peak.

update will follow...