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Ama Dablam 2002
Just The Facts

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Ama Dablam
A beautiful view of Ama Dablam
Photo: Alpine Ascents collection
Altitude
6,854 meters (22,275 feet)

Location
Ama Dablam, located in the Central Mahalaugur Region of the Nepal Himalaya, is roughly 9 1/2 miles southwest of the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest. Geographically nestled between Tibet (China) and India, Nepal is a small country which for what it lacks in square mileage, makes up in its massive mountain ranges, or Himals. Home to the majority of the world's tallest and most difficult mountains, Everest, Lhoste, Kangchenjunga, Dhaulagiri and many more, most climbs here are a serious undertaking.

Origin of the Name
In Nepali, Ama Dablam translates to "The Mother's Charm Box" denoting the obvious overhanging ice bulge on its main prow. A mother's charm box holds special meaning in Nepali family life, as most senior matriarchal figures in a family hold stature in the mountain culture. Specific family items are secured in a mother's charm box and worn around the neck. With this practice, Ama Dablam holds a very special and holy significance to those who live in this mountain region and throughout greater Nepal.

Why Ama Dablam is So Famous
The mountain's distinctive and overwhelming features have helped it attain its reputation as the world's most beautiful and most photographed mountain. Unlike many of its neighbors, Ama Dablam's jagged ridge lines, definitive high brow and main face give its summit a defining point into the sky, rather than a typical rolling and massive ridge type build-up of most peaks in the region. Its misnomer as the "Matterhorn of the Himalaya" does not detract from its reputation as a difficult and often sought after climbing objective throughout the world.

Controversial First Ascent
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to summit Mt. Everest in 1953, was once said to have stated that Ama Dablam was deemed "impossible to climb" during an early reconnaissance mission for the Everest climb. Some ten years later in the spring of 1963, Hillary and partners were conducting physiological tests on the effects of high altitude at the south end of the mountain in the Mingbo Valley. After the studies were completed, Hillary and his team made an unannounced and illegal first ascent up the South West Ridge. The team was subsequently called to the king's palace and nearly thrown in jail. The peak was then closed to climbing for the next 18 years.