Trip Report – Mountain Mahila Ama Dablam and Imja Tse 2017

Trip Report – Mountain Mahila Ama Dablam and Imja Tse 2017

Ama Dablam is the most iconic peak in the Everest region, dominating the landscape with it’s pointy summit and dramatic ridgelines. While it is a fair chunk shorter than Mount Everest, the peak requires a higher level of technical climbing. Our team of four women, including a local Sherpa woman, had set our sights on Ama Dablam, hoping to climb Imja Tse (also known as Island Peak) at 20,305 feet before tackling our main objective at 22,345 feet. A year before we de-boarded the tiny plane at Lukla airport in the Khumbu region of Nepal we had come up with the idea of making a climbing film for and about women, something that we had notice was lacking in the climbing community. As part of our project we sponsored Phurba Sherpa, an early career climbing Sherpa, to be part of our team. Hoping that by gaining experience and developing her climbing skills she will be able to break into the male-dominated climbing industry in Nepal. We included the Nepali word for women, “Mahila” in our team name; as we hope to examine how women can break gender barriers and achieve goals.

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Alpine Bivvies: Reducing weight AND staying warm

Alpine Bivvies: Reducing weight AND staying warm

Last week, my partner and I made an attempt on the Grand Central Couloir on the North Face of Mt. Kitchener.  It would be our first attempt at climbing ANYTHING in the Canadian Rockies. Among many other things, I find going to a new region to be daunting because each seems to have its own climate that requires adapting to.  The Rockies are a colder and drier range than the Cascades, Patagonia, or other places I have climbed.  We did what I am sure many end up doing – debating our layering and sleeping systems for a good half hour.

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