Vertical limits

Ameet Singh from Pune was part of the first Indian expedition which successfully scaled Ama Dablam, hailed as one of the world’s most difficult peaks.

“It was indeed a great feeling and experience to have successfully completed the expedition, which has been acknowledged as one of the most difficult ones in the world by many veteran mountaineers and to know that we were the first Indian expedition to do so”, said Ameet.
Ama Dablam is 6856 meters high, in the Everest area of eastern Nepal and is often referred as one of the most difficult peaks to climb in the world. Base camp was set up on October 30th, 2011 and on November 2ndand on November 6th history was created, when Ameet Singh and team summited the peak and became the first successful Indian expedition to reach the peak of ‘Ama Dablam’.
“I was always smitten by the sheer beauty and majesty of ‘Ama Dablam’, It is considered to be the most beautiful mountain in the world. It also is a very technically challenging and difficult mountain, some say it is even harder than Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary had once called it un-climbable”.
“An expedition of three including me, Ved Prakash and Rajiv Saumitra was formed. We trekked to Kala Patthar and climbed Imja Tse or Island peak (6189 meters) before reaching ‘Ama Dablam’ base camp. Here, Rajiv dropped out, due to some personal reasons. Ved and I went on to summit the mountain. What makes it very special for us is the fact of being the first successful Indian expedition to ‘Ama Dablam’.
 “I fell in love with the Himalayas at the age of 17 when I visited Kanchendzonga. However, it was my chance interaction with Tenzing Norgay in 1994 which created the  desire in me of  becoming a mountaineer. After a closure of a business project, I found some free time and decided to fulfill this teenage dream, I then came in contact with city mountaineer Surendra Shelke, who had attempted ‘Ama Dablam’ in October 2009 but could not complete it due to extreme whether conditions and had return from base camp –II”, he adds.
 He has done a basic course in mountaineering, a 28 days course in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Manali.
Scaling Ama Dalam  has given me the confidence to explore other such interesting yet difficult areas in the world and I have plans to go to explore the ‘Andes’ in South America”.

--Prachi bari