As some famous mountaineer once said about his Sherpa climbing partner, Jyamchang belongs to a new generation of Nepali guides who really love to climb. For them, mountaineering isn’t just about business. And that’s the reason why we got along very well whilst attempting the ascent of Ama Dablam in April 2017.
We were lucky enough to be able to meet beforehand in Chamonix for a thorough check-up of the equipment and a briefing on the various logistics. I found him to be that kind of straight-to-the-point, smiling and organized person I was hoping to have as a guide and partner for an ambitious climb above 6000 meters, which I had only performed once before (on Island Peak).
We met at the airport in Kathmandu and joined a good friend of mine and his trekking guide, who accompanied us during the acclimatization trip across the 3 passes and on to EBC. This gave us plenty of time to get our bodies accustomed to altitude. Jyamchang and I performed a daily health check-up to monitor the effects of altitude, a routine which I found to be very professional.
We had agreed during our first Skype discussions that we were going to climb alpine style. That is minimum logistics, no fixed ropes etc. The idea of climbing a difficult mountain such as Ama Dablam without these facilitating artefacts strongly appealed to me, and I appreciated that Jyamchang pushed for this approach of the climb. This was not just pulling the client to the top of the mountain and then collecting the summit bonus.
Unfortunately, due to poor weather conditions the day before summit day, we were unable to reach the summit. However, I found that Jyamchang’s attitude during the difficult descent with rapidly degrading weather conditions, and another party that we had to help descend, was again showing a professional and competent approach to the mountain environment.
All in all, we had a great time in the beautiful surroundings of the Khumbu valley and may be climbing together again in a future expedition. I can strongly recommend Jyamchang for trekking and climbing elsewhere in the world (Jyamchang also guides in Norway).
