Free Tibet 2065 new route on Ama Dablam

At the end of April Francesco Fazzi from Italy and Santiago Padros from Spain climbed what they believe to be a new route up the West Face of Ama Dablam, Nepal, calling it Free Tibet 2065 and grading to 1500m route V+/80°/M5.

After having acclimatised in mid-April, Fazzi and Padros left base camp on 30 April with food and gear for four days and spent a night at ABC at 5350m. Starting early on 1 May they first climbed a line close to the nearby 1985 Japanese route, then broke off left at just over halfway. They climbed continuously for 11 hours, then bivied on a crest at 6200m. They set off early the next morning and climbed the headwall direct to reach the summit 12 hours later where, exhausted, they spent another night before a harrowing descent down fixed ropes along the normal route.

The two conclude: “We don’t have any information regarding the repeat of the 1985 Japanese Route on the West Face and according to our information there is no other route which takes a line up the west face bastion to the summit of Ama Dablam. It’s because of this that we prose the route as follows: “Free Tibet 2065” 1500m/V+/80°/M5+