They call it the Matterhorn of the Himalayas. Close to Everest, Ama Dablam, at 6,812 metres, was climbed in 6 hours 20 minutes to the summit and back by Tyler Andrews. The American beat the previous record set by Mathéo Jacquemoud last year by three minutes. Ama Dablam is Tyler’s second record this autumn after the Manaslu record (9h52).
From base camp, the round trip to the summit of Ama Dablam took Tyler Andrews exactly 6 hours, 20 minutes and 30 seconds. ‘I wasn’t sure until the second I stopped the watch’, wrote the American ultra trailer after his record. A new FKT (fastest known time) from base camp to the summit and back, which beats the time set a year ago by more than three minutes – or just three minutes! – by Frenchman Mathéo Jacquemoud, who took 6h23 min and 24 seconds. Seconds do matter at this stage.
Unlike the Frenchman, Tyler Andrews is neither a mountaineer nor a high mountain guide. Yet he has already made his mark in the Khumbu, a year ago. At the time, he claimed an original FKT on Ama Dablam, but he set off from the village of Pangboche, far from the foot of the mountain, rather than from the base camp. Tyler Andrew took 13 hours and 18 minutes to complete the 32km round trip and 3000 metres of ascent, including 7 hours and 04 minutes for the ascent alone.
Tyler Andrews ©Coll. Tyler Andrews
Ama Dablam this autumn. ©Coll. Tyler Andrews
This season, the American arrived with a big ambition: to set a new record on Manaslu, 8163 m. Without additional oxygen, Tyler Andrews climbed Manaslu in just 9 hours and 52 minutes on the 19th of September, beating the previous record set by Nepalese Pemba Gyalje by two hours. In 2019, Italian François Cazzanelli took 13 hours. We’re talking about an ascent record here; Tyler Andrews’s trip time to the summit AND back was 14h55 (and that of the Nepalese and the Italian around 18h).
Some time later, he was in the Khumbu. He scoured the massif, which he knew well, and set an astonishing record on Mera Peak from Lukla: a marathon from 2860 m. to 6460 m. by crossing a col, with around 5000 metres of positive ascent, all in just 16 hours.
This time, Tyler spent a week preparing for the Ama Dablam, travelling back and forth to Ama Dablam camp 3 with a Sherpa, in order to get to grips with a route that wasn’t as high but was much steeper than the Manaslu route. A few days ago, he was ready. It took him just 3 hours, 52 minutes and 33 seconds to reach Ama Dablam from the base camp, and 6 hours 20 minutes and 30 seconds to return.
It took him just 3 hours, 52 minutes and 33 seconds
to reach Ama Dablam from the base camp
While this record testifies to an extraordinary athlete, a fabulous adaptation to altitude and extremely advanced training, it also testifies to the development of the Ama Dablam route, without which neither Tyler Andrews nor Mathéo Jacquemoud would be able to achieve such times. Once a technical ascent for climbers in the 80s and 90s, the normal route of Ama Dablam has become a cash machine for the mainly Nepalese agencies, which maintain an abundance of fixed rope equipment in good condition, making Ama Dablam one of the most popular summits in Nepal. And making Ama Dablam a prime target for alpirunners in a hurry.
This season, two mountaineering roped-parties chose a different way of climbing Ama Dablam. One did a rare repeat of the direct American route on the west face. On the same face, which is clearly visible from the rest of the valley, Ukrainians Mykyta Balabanov and Mykhailo Fomin climbed a new left-hand route.