We Made the Summit!

We sat at camp 1 looking up at the mountain. The "a" team of "full service" members had moved up and we were waiting for our chance to use that expedition tents at camp 2 where space was limited. Ice was falling off the Dablam at at camp 3 nightly, the place of the '06 desaster that killed 6 people, so teams where jockeying for what little space was left at camp 2 to stage their summit pushes. There were no sights left, except one on the edge of the cliff where people climb up to the main ledge.
We heard this over the radio and decided that if we didn't move on that marginal spot we may get stuck with no summit bid.
We moved at around 11am to camp 2. We'd never been to camp 2 so the climbing was great. Our packs were heavy and we carried our small bibler I-tent. When we arrived everyone was surprised to see the two american boys had pushed up to the main group to summit. That night we boiled water and got ready for an early start. 2am. We needed to start that early because it was not possible to stop at camp 3 because of Ice fall. This detail made for a long day, from C2 to the summit and back in a day. HARD.
We left in frigid temps and climbed quickly to the base of the grey tower. From there we gained the mushroom ridge and then camp 3, where I didn't stay long. The summit slopes where covered in deep sugar snow and made going hard at 22,000 feet. I pushed ahead, since it was so cold, and started up toward the summit. Passing a few people on the way, the top was in perfect weather.
We could see 5 out of the 6 highest peaks in the world in front of us. The setting was amazing and with that the voice in my head said, "take pictures and get the fuck out of here." All in that order.
The way down was the true test. There must have been 50 diffrent repels to get back to camp 2. The day was about 14 hours long and took alot out of my.
The climbing was amazing. Rock, snow and ice. Ama Dablam has all the climbing to make one happy.

We made it down to base camp the next day. Tired and hungery.

Our new plan is to make our way to The other mountain and climb that as quickly as possible and then get home. We hope to leave KTM on the 6th. My fingers are crossed.


James