A quick breakdown in figures about the recent Ama Dablam expedition that you may, or may not, have been following:
Time planning – 18 months
E mails – in excess of 1,000
Duration of trip – 28 days KTM to KTM
Including:
Trekking – 5 days in, 3 days out
Stay at Base Camp or above – 17 nights
Including:
ABC – 3 nights
Camp 1 – 3 nights
Camp 2 – 1 or 2 nights depending on whether people slept there on the way down or continued on down to C1 or BC
Camp 2.9 – 0 nights as there wasn’t anywhere to pitch tents this year
Camp 3 – 0 nights this year due to the excessive snowfall in October
Freight from the UK – 175kg
Including:
Haglofs clothing for the Sherpas – 30kg
Meaning – they all got a pair of approach shoes and 2 items of clothing
Plus:
Fudge bars – 1 box of 60
Which lasted – 11 hours
as well as :
Tunnock’s bars (more than 5,000,000 are made and sold every week) – 48
Jelly babies, Licquorice Allsorts, Tangfastics etc – 108 packets
Beef jerky – 40 packs
Fizzy cola bottles, tangy strawberries etc – 6 boxes
Tuna sachets – 42
Beef jerky – 35 packets
Swiss Roll / Golden Syrup cake / Soreen Malt Loaf – 55
Boil in the tub jam sponge pudding – 32
and
Cheese from the UK:
Babybel- 48
Mini cheddar portions – 60
Vache Qui Ri – 72 triangles
Primula squeezy cheese – 30 tubes
Mature Cheddar – 7kg
Immature cheddar – ‘knickers’
Excess baggage KTM to Lukla – 640kg
Total loads Lukla to Base Camp – 33
Carried by – 12 yaks & 15 porters
Including:
Full (to overflowing) super market trolleys in KTM – 5 (trolleys left in KTM as the trail is a bit uneven)
Consisting of (amongst other items):
Gherkins / olives – 17 large jars
Dried fruit – 104 packets
Biscuits – 254 packets
Nuts (peanuts, cashews & pistachios) – 112 packets
Pate – 45 tins
Chocolate – 220 bars
AAA batteries – 120
AA batteries – 80
Ground coffee – 5kg
Cafetieres – 3
Total loads to Base Camp from Pangboche – 17
Including:
Kitchen tent – 1
Store tents – 2
Toilet tents – 2
Shower tent – 1
Other Base Camp tents – 27
Mountain tents – 18
Cookers – 17
Pan sets – 15
Rope – 600m
Gas cylinders – 115
Toilet rolls – 120
Blue barrels – 7 (my personal gear)
Blue barrels – 10 (expedition gear)
Kitbags – 8 (misc items)
1st aid supplies – 1 kitbag (weighing 17kg)
Walkie talkies – 30
Playing cards – 3 decks
Connect – 4
Estimate of eggs consumed – in excess of 450
Medication administered:
Paracetamol – 57 strips
Strepsils – 28 strips
Diamox – 9 strips
Amoxycillin – 7 strips
Cipro – 3 strips
Sudafed – 5 strips
Dressings – 2
Plasters – 3
O2 sats measured – 11 times
Stethoscope used – 3 times
Dex, Nifedipine, Oxygen – 0
Number of expedition members – 18
Plus – 2 leaders
From – 6 different countries
From – 6’5″ down to 5’2.5″
Number of Climbing Sherpas – 7
With – 59 Everest summits between them (& over 70 ascents of Ama Dablam)
Successful summits – 18 Western & 12 Sherpa summits
Meaning that – Jon Gupta and 5 of the Climbing Sherpas summited twice in the season
And also meaning that – The Climbing Sherpas now have over 80 summits under their collective belts
Quickest ascent from Camp 2 – 5 hours
Sirdar -1
Who I have known for – 10 years
And we have worked together on – 14 expeditions
Cook – 1 (Pasang Temba) who has cooked at Camp 2 on Everest for 19 years running)
Cook crew – 3
With – Kumar based at Camp 1 for the majority of the summit wave providing endless amounts of very welcome hot water
Tips for the crew – in excess of £1,350
Sherpa summit bonuses – over £1,500
Liaison Officers – 2
Seen – Nonce
Friends I met whilst here:
Nepali / Sherpa friends – 48
Westerner friends – 19
Not including – the group of 18 clients who I now consider to be friends (of a fashion – using the word friend in the widest possible context)
Temperature range:
Low – minus 20 (first night at Base Camp)
High – plus 27
Wind chill – down to -30
Movies watched:
Now you see me
Lucky number Slevin
And something else that I missed as I was busy
Time to get to the reception for texting and calling area – around 20 minutes (down) and 30 (back again)
Average number of showers per person – 2
Average items laundered – 7
Most memorable conversation:
Dave – ‘These binoculars are work issue.’
Carl – ‘What are they for?’
Dave – ‘Looking at things that are far away.’
Most memorable view – watching the full moon rise behind Ama Dablam
Altitudes :
Lukla – 2,850m (top of the runway)
Base Camp – 4,660m (when the tide is in)
ABC – 5,450m (middle row of tents)
Camp 1 – 5,850m (our pitch around the corner)
Camp 2 – 6,050m (it’s not big enough to differentiate between different tents really)
Summit – 6,856m
Seito on the summit – 6,858m
Summit panorama – uninterrupted for 360 degrees
Fun factor – Type 2 fun
Achievement factor 100%
N.B.
Number of people signed up for Ama Dablam 2014 – 7
Meaning – there are limited places available
So – get in touch if you are interested
On – climb@timmosedale.co.uk
Or – +44 (0) 7980 521079
Or – +44 (0) 17687 71050
In the meantime – the next expedition is Everest Spring 2014.
With updates available on – twitter.com/timmosedale
And – www.facebook.com/tim.mosedale
So – stay tuned
And – I hope that you enjoy the show.
Yours – Tim