It’s known as the Matterhorn of the Himalayas. The Ama Dablam is for the local people the sacred mountain. There came the migration of the Sherpas who came from the east of Tibet and entered an area that had never been violated by man. From the plateau they crossed the Nangapa La, a pass at almost six thousand meters, with twenty thousand yaks, and descended into the Khumbu valley at the center of which is placed this mountain that has thus become sacred for them. The first ascent attempt was made by a group of British and Italians led by Alfred Gregory in the autumn of 1958, who abandoned the ascent near 6,000 meters because of the technical difficulties and the cold of the south-west face. The second attempt was in May 1959, when a British expedition crossed the north-eastern spur. Unfortunately, near the summit, after reaching an altitude of 6,400 meters, the mountaineers Michael Harris and George Fraser disappeared in 1961. A group of mountaineers were busy on the mountain working on a scientific project.Team leader: Sir Edmund Hillary, the famous mountaineer who had conquered Everest for the first time a few years earlier.
In winter, at the foot of the Ama Dablam, the group of doctors and mountaineers stayed in an aluminium shelter called Silver. The group’s task was to conduct physiological tests to determine the effects of altitude on the human body, so for a while they observed the behaviour of the lungs and heart. While they were working on the project, the beautiful mountain attracted the attention of Mike Gill, Wally Romanes, Barry Bishop and Mike Ward from a mountaineering point of view as well. After several weeks of work they climbed the south-western ridge and opened a mixed route (ice and rock) in winter.
