The travel from Camp 1 to Camp 2 is not all that far – however it does pack in some of the most spectacular terrain I have climbed on in Nepal. The ridge itself alternated between snow, ice and rock this year however the traverse sections were free of snow which made things easier.  For […]

Originaly, by the time we had planned to arrive at Ama Dablam we were to have slept at 5750m on Mera Peak, crossed the Amphu Labsta and also slept at 5600m on Island Peak.  This was all changed by the storm.   Instead we arrived at Ama Dablam basecamp having reached 5300m just below Mera […]

Arriving in AD basecamp (ADBC) was definatley a very awesome moment.  The walk up from Pangboche takes upto 4 hours and gains about 750m.  As you walk up the imposing bulk of Ama Dablam looms above you until you finally arrive in the amphitheatre like bowl that is ADBC. One of the more spectacular aspects […]

We needed to head back to Lukla before making our way up to Pangboche and on to Ama Dablam.  All the main passes had been closed by the storm but we were planning on climbing uop and over the Zatra Lha (4500m) from Khote (3500m).  Rumors were flying about the Zatra Lha being closed and […]

This section of the journey is quite spectacular and, at times a little daunting.  Not in the technical nature of the climb (Mera Peak) ahead of you but in the size, height and temperatures that you are about to encounter.  The Hinku Valley is a fantastic and beautiful place with amazing mountains all around you. […]

From Kathmandu to Lukland and over the Panggom Lha and into the Hinku Valley.  This section of the trek takes over a week and is a slow acclimatization process that eventually takes you over 4500m.  

The weather has not been kind. Over the next few days – out until at least the 3rd of november winds are forecast to be above 100kph above 7000m and decreasing slowly down to 6000m. Foirecast winds at 6500m are in the range of 80km. This means that there will be no fixing attempts on […]

A very quick update. The winds blowing off the surrounding summits yesterday afternoon plus an updated wind forecast from the Kathmandu Airport (wind speeds reported by mountain flights) has ment that the lead Sherpa from Himalayan Ascents (Lhakpa Sherpa) made the decision to not start a fixing push today. This is despite reports from camp […]

The last few days have been a tough slog for the team. We’ve done load carries to Yak Camp (at 5400m) back down to BC and then back up to Yak Camp to for a sleep and then carried on up to C1 (5800m) for and afternoons acclimatisation "stroll". Of course C1 was covered in […]

It’s taken us a while but we are most certainly now at Ama Dabalam Basecamp. It took some of us (me) an extra day to get here after being laid low by the gatro bug. Not much fun at all but normally at least one person on an expedition gets it. After an extra days […]

AS we sit here in Pangboche, its time to wash all our cloths – many of us haven’t had a decent chance to wash our cloths fully for almost 3 weeks now! The team is either reading, sleeping, drinking water or simply staring up at Ama Dablam. The mountain rises up almost directly above us […]

Just a very short update. Whilst the walking for the last 3 days has been fairly easy – the team have been putting in long long days. Not only are the teams legs feeling iut but we are all quite smelly! We are currently sitting in a tea house in Pangboche where we will have […]

On the Road to Ama Dablam….. Over the last few days we have crossed back over from the Hinku Valley back into the Solokhumbu. We climbed from Khote to a small town / teahouse called Thuli Kharaka. This involved dropping down from Khote at 3550m to about 3300m before climbing back up to 4300m again. […]

First off – everybody on the MIA team is very well. We were stuck in Khare for 3 1/2 days whilst it snowed consistently. When it began to clear there had been over 2m of accumulation with what I estimate to be about 3 m of snow fall. The day we were due to head […]

Here’s a very quick update from Khare, approx 5000m. We got to Khare 2 days ago in glorious weather from Thagnag. Walking up under the shadow of the surrounding peaks was simply amazing. The views of the (very gnarly looking) north facve of mera peak were simply stunning- as were the large serac avalanches coming […]

We left Panch Phokari 2 days ago and dropped down to the towen of Khote. Khote is the offical entrance to the Barun Makalu National Park and is a fairly busy place. It’s also a hub for sick and ill people. About 30 minutes after we arrived a helicopter arrived to drop oiff supplies and […]

Well after leaving Nashing Dingma and heading up towards Chalem Kharka in fine weather we were, once again clouded in as the day heated up and the wet jungle released it’s moisture. It was however only convective cloud build up and it didn’t actually rain until the evening.All Hail; the power of covering our tents […]

Big Down, Big Up, Big Rain That pretty much sums up today. The rain set in early morning (2-3 am) and the extra Tarps that we had set up over the tents saved us from the large penetrating rain drops creating extra condensation in our tents. As morning broke there seemed little likely-hood of the […]

We’ve been on the trail now for 2 days, and as is normal at this time of year, we have mostly morning cloud and drizzle. Whilst the torrential downpours of the monsoon have eased, the humidity, cloud and lite rain persist. The flight into Lukla however, was the smoothest and calmest I have ever experienced. […]

The last few days have been a busy whirlwind of shopping, taxis, meetings at the Ministry of Tourism, catch up on sleep and laughing The team is all here, prepped and ready to go with final packing and sorting of expedition food left to do. Thamel is much quieter at the moment with not all […]

To power our communications systems, radios, rechargeable batteries, laptops etc, I needed to find a reliable source of power that was going to be within my price range

  Mera Peak Island Peak     Ama Dablam   October 1st – November 10th  About Team Map Dispatches   The Post Monsoon MIA Nepal 2013 expedition is kicking off in Kathmandu on the 1st of October.  Right now our team of 6 climbers are getting ready to board their various planes for the flight to Kathmandu.  […]

It's definatley that time of year, and I don't mean Christmas. Every time I go away on expedition, in the last week before I leave the courier come knocking  – almost daily.  Sometimes it's with relief as the equipment has had to come from overseas and through customs – it's never nice getting an extra […]