Climbing Ama Dablam - What Skills Do You Need?

There are few 'commercial' mountains in the world which quite have the same pull as Ama Dablam - it's just stunning! There's absolutely no surprise that as soon as people see it, they want to climb it, even if at first it seems like a really far out thing to achieve for them. In an age where some expedition companies pride themselves on taking novice people up Ama Dablam, or with folks on social media not portraying the full 'sufferfest' of the experience, it is critical there are still those that head to the mountain fully aware of what is required of them, and that they have prepared in every possible way to ensure not only their safety, but also that of those around them.

Ama Dablam

Preparing for Ama Dablam involves three main categories:

• Technical Skills

• Physical Fitness

• Mental Resilience

Previous expedition experience will form the foundation of your understanding of your abilities in a similar environment. You will have learnt so much from these experiences, even if not consciously so. It's often the small things, done well, that bring the greatest success - such as applying sun cream regularly, or drinking plenty of water. The list really does go on.

Technical Skills

Campcraft

Being comfortable with the use of, packing, and carrying camping equipment is key. Your tent admin is something you'll develop throughout the trip, but the more times you've camped leading up to the expedition the better as you'll only develop better strategies or pick up key skills.

Climbing & Scrambling - Summer

You don't need to be a top notch climber, but time spent climbing will provide you with vital skills and experience that can't be gained outside of this environment. Gain experience seconding VS / HVS routes, preferably multi-pitch. Indoor climbing certainly has its place, but the changeable outdoor environment is certainly more specific. The skills you need to be proficient at are:

Getting steep on the fixed lines

• Putting on a climbing harness correctly

• Tying into a rope

• Understanding the proper use of climbing equipment, such as karabiners, slings and belay plates.

• Self sufficient Abseiling with confidence on a variety of terrain. Getting down the ropes is often a harder ordeal than getting up them!

• Being comfortable in an exposed position for prolonged periods of time.

• The ability to move confidently on broken and graded scrambling terrain, whilst wearing a large (heavy) pack.

• The use of fixed lines. You're most likely to gain this experience on previous expeditions. Our expedition package incudes training weekends, during which we will run through this skill. We will then refresh it again at Ama Dablam base camp.

Winter Mountaineering

A big chunk of the skills required for ascending Ama Dablam confidently and safely will be developed in the winter environment. Winter mountaineering demands technical skills and knowledge, will develop your physical fitness, and also your mental resilience. Through multiple winter days out you should become confident in:

• Fitting crampons to your boots

• Walking in Crampons on a variety of terrain - Snow, Ice, Rock

• Climbing in Crampons on a variety of terrain and gradients

• The use of an ice axe to arest a fall, ascend and descend

• Being proficient in personal winter administration - operating with gloves on, layering systems, nutrition etc.

Standard Scottish Winter Conditions

Physical Fitness

Climbing Ama Dablam is a long expedition with many demanding days. It goes without saying, you need to be in top physical shape to go into this trip with the confidence you'll have what it takes to keep going until the end. There are many things that influence your expedition that are out of your control, but your physical fitness is one of the things you can control. Your time leading up to the expedition should be dedicated to specific hill-based training, supplemented by cross training and resistance workouts. You should get comfortable with carrying 15kg+ on big days in the hill, and then develop the recovery to repeat it again...and again.

If you sign up to our expedition, we will support you with a free 12 week Summit Push Fitness training plan to get you started. You can then continue this plan if you wish, but either way, we will continue to support you in your training.

Mental Resilience

Challenging myself physically and mentally before an 8000m expedition

The brain is a muscle and can be trained just as much as any other muscle in your body. Much like your physical fitness, you should come into this expedition feeling mentally strong and resilient. Confidence in your own capabilities (physical fitness and the technical skills listed above) will go a very long way. In your training you should look to test yourself in ways similar to those that will placed upon you on the expedition. For example, the summit day on Ama Dablam will be very long, and very tough - what can you do to replicate this beforehand? The more times you make things really tough in your training, the more you have to draw on when you get onto the mountain itself. When I was training for Manaslu (8,163m) I basically thought up some endurance based challenges that I knew would stretch me and completed them. I went into the expedition feeling super tough mentally which was great.

The Scottish winter environment will give you the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to getting you prepared. Big hills, gnarly, changeable weather. If you've not already got a bunch of Scottish winter days under your belt when signing up for this trip, make it a priority.

If you have any doubt about your suitability to the expedition after reading the above information, please don't hesitate to get in touch. If you're unsure on how best to go about learning some of the skills, you can do so with our fantastic instructors at Lakeland Mountain Guides. As a reminder, as part of our Ama Dablam package, you have the opportunity to develop your skills on a:

• Summer Training Weekend in the Lake District - Scrambling skills & camp craft

• Winter Training weekend in the Lake District - Winter Mountaineering Skills - potential camp craft opportunity.

• Winter Training weekend in Scotland - Winter Mountaineering

An Abseil on Manaslu - expect similar on Ama Dablam!