The Expedition Trip Notes provide detailed information and background for Adventure Consultants' Ama Dablam Expedition.
You can view the trip notes online by clicking the image or download a pdf by clicking the following link:
Ama Dablam Expedition Trip Notes 2023
Team Membership
The team will have a minimum size of 3 members and 1 guide and a maximum size of 9 members and 3 guides. A small team of climbing Sherpas will assist with the load carrying on the mountain.
Our Guides
The expedition leader is generally scheduled approximately six months out from the trip start. All of our trip leaders have extensive experience at high altitude and a proven record of safety, success and compatibility.
The number of guides is determined by the team size but the normal ratio of guides to members is 1:3. You will find our guides companionable and strong expedition members with considerable power and willingness to see you achieve your goals.
Gabriel Mazur
Expedition Leader 2019
Gabriel is a fully qualified IFMGA Climbing and Ski Guide. He has spent several years as a coach for competitive climbing in the UK before joining the AC team, where he has proved a popular guide in Europe, New Zealand and the Himalaya.
Cosmin Andron
Guide 2019
A fully qualified IFMGA Mountain & Ski Guide, Cosmin has guided all over the globe, from the Alps of Europe to New Zealand, South America, and the Himalaya.
Christina Pogacean
Guide 2019
Trained as civil engineer, Cristina became a mountain guide in 2013 and fully qualified IFMGA Mountain & Ski Guide in 2018. She now shares her time between Chamonix in France, Wanaka in New Zealand and her native Romania.
Sherpa Support
A team of Climbing Sherpas will assist with load carrying on the mountain and we have a 1:1 Sherpa to climber ratio on the expedition.
Head Office Support Team
Running successful journeys and expeditions is more about experience, knowledge and strategic management than any other factors. As an organisation, we place a substantial amount of time and resources into ensuring our trips are well planned and supported. You can be assured that the AC staff will provide you with friendly advice and knowledgeable support throughout the planning stages of your trip and we will be there to provide backup while the trip is running.
Kelly McLaren, Expedition Liaison
Having worked for Adventure Consultants since 2004, Kelly has gained a vast knowledge of AC expeditions and treks. In her role as Expedition Liaison, Kelly will assist with the planning and logistics for your trip, providing useful information, reminders and answering any questions to ensure you arrive well prepared.

Your Health
Expedition members will be provided with pre-trip medical advice and a medical questionnaire and asked to visit their family physician to receive a full medical examination. This information will be sighted only by the expedition leader and our medical adviser and treated with full confidentiality.
Level of Experience Required
This climb is not for novice mountaineers. It will require members to be comfortable ascending and descending steep terrain on fixed ropes.
A high technical standard is not mandatory because primarily the guides will be leading the climb and fixing the route. However, this is not a mountain to visit and then discover that you are not comfortable with exposure. We suggest that you gain experience and the required skills for travel on exposed technical ground before joining this expedition.
Membership will be restricted to climbers with a proven list of alpine ascents. A high standard of fitness is expected. It is advantageous to be able to move over rocky terrain efficiently.
Difficulty Rating
Each of our trips is individually rated according to its physical and technical difficulty, displayed in the icons towards the top of each trip page. You can click on the accompanying question mark for additional descriptions and the full run-down of our grading system is available on our Difficulty Ratings page.
What You Carry
We have the luxury of a strong Sherpa team that will carry all the team equipment, food and ropes on the mountain. Whilst there are some instances where the Sherpas will take a couple of small items for you to the next camp, this is only occasional and you are expected to carry your personal gear. When you put all your gear into a pack it still amounts to between 18-25kg so the load is not insignificant and you must come prepared for the high level of physical output. This reinforces the need to take just the right amount of equipment with you on the mountain and to ensure you are ‘pack fit’ before you arrive on the expedition. See our Fitness Training Programs for information on how we can help you prepare for the expedition.
Specific Technical Training for Ama Dablam
We climb Ama Dablam via the SW ridge, a technical route, and considered to be the standard route. The route is considered a relatively safe route by Himalayan standards. It is a varied and interesting route with loads of superb climbing on snow, rock and ice. On Ama Dablam, the hardest pitches of technical rock and ice climbing are not sustained but tend to come in short manageable sections, all with ropes fixed in place.
One of the most energy absorbing activities, if not done properly, is ascending a steep fixed rope. Getting specific training in this area is important for not wasting energy at altitude (it’s hard enough at sea level). By practising at a local cliff or climbing gym you should be able to get all your lengths of leash attachments right and fine tune your technique.
Other skills specific to Ama Dablam include travelling along rocky ridges in your plastic mountaineering boots, camping in the snow, repelling/abseiling and general mountain movement, which can be difficult if you live in a city.
Above all, have fun, enjoy the people around you and marvel in the spectacular environment you are in!
History
Ama Dablam was first climbed in 1961 by a New Zealand and American team, and we follow their same route, the SW Ridge. A six-day trek into Base Camp (4,529m/14,859ft) via the Khumbu Valley provides great views of Ama Dablam and we experience some of the culture and hospitality of the Sherpa people.
Food
The well-trained Sherpa cooks prepare high-quality Western food as well as popular Sherpa dishes at Lobuche Base Camp and in the Ama Dablam Base Camp Lodge. On the mountain your guides will cook and a team environment means all efforts to assist with collecting snow for melting water and other meal preparation tasks will be much appreciated. Please indicate any specific dietary requirements you may have on your application form.
Clothing & Equipment
Expedition members will be sent a list detailing all necessary individual clothing and equipment to be provided.