Ama Dablam in the Post-Monsoon. Ten teams went to Ama Dablam (6812 meters, 22,349 feet), nine of them to the standard southwest-ridge route, and there were the usual problems of coordinating climbers’ movements on the narrow ridge with little space for pitching tents. Somehow they managed, and all the normal-route teams sent at least one member to the top, with Swiss Aldo Verazoli, leader of a Swiss expedition of three, achieving a rare solo ascent on October 25. The other successful groups were 5 Germans and 2 South Tiro leans led by Hans Kammerlander, of whom South Tiroleans Kammerlander, Werner Tinkhauser, Germans Michael Kobl and Günter Schweizer reached the top on October 15; 4 Americans led by Douglas Chabot put Chabot, Peter Carse and Timothy Howard on the top on October 16, along with Joe Lackey of a 2-man American party led by Todd Wells; 8 Germans led by Anton Dallmair with summiters Jörg Hanel and Paul Baierlacher on October 16, Dallmair and Michael Lindenmeyer on October 17, Karen Grünberg (f) on October 19, Wolfgang Müller and Klaus Weichert on October 20 and Gerold Sopper and Sarke Lama Sherpa on October 21; all 7 Venezuelans led by Marcos Tobia reached the summit: Tobia, Alfredo Autiero and Martín Echevarría on October 17, José Delgado and Carlos Calderas on October 19 and Pablo Borjas and Hans Schwarzer on October 20; 6 Frenchmen led by Dominique Ripoll had as summiters Jean-Michel Paulik and Yves Gueslain on November 5 and Ripoll, Christian Pellet and Cédric Pellet on November 6; 6 Germans led by Manfred Zink placed Zink, Harald Wilner, Thomas Zenz and Andreas Neudert on top on November 7; 7 Frenchmen led by Paul Grobel placed François Damilano on the summit on November 4, Françoise Denais (f) and Sonam Dendu Sherpa on November 6, Bernard Cabrol on November 7 and Grobel and Stéphane Guillot on November 9. The last team also attempted the west face, reaching a high point of 6600 meters on November 8. The expedition that attempted the northeast ridge was led by Swiss Karl Kobler and was composed of 7 Swiss, 1 Austrian and 1 Briton. They got to 6200 meters on October 4.

Elizabeth Hawley