Otsego Abroad

Horvath Summits 22,000-ft. Ama Dablam, Known as ‘Matterhorn of the Himalayas’

By WRILEY NELSON
KOSHI PROVINCE, NEPAL

Henry Horvath, 18, of Cooperstown became the second-youngest American to summit the Himalayan mountain Ama Dablam on Friday, November 17. Horvath has spent much of his life climbing and trekking with his father, Tim Horvath, president of Cooperstown’s Redpoint Design/Build and an experienced mountaineer.

Tim Horvath visited Nepal for the first time in 1996 to climb Lhotse, an immediate neighbor of Mount Everest in the Khumbu region and the fourth-highest mountain on earth in its own right. The year 1996 on Everest is notorious in the mountaineering world; a major storm, the increasing commercialization and popularity of mountain climbing, and the inherent dangers of altitude led to a disaster that claimed eight lives. The storm is recounted in mountaineering journalist Jon Krakauer’s famous and bestselling book, “Into Thin Air.” Horvath was high on Lhotse during the storm and met Krakauer, but did not reach the summit.

“That was my introduction to Nepal and to Himalayan mountaineering,” Tim recalled. “I went back two years later to climb Kanchenjunga with a very small team and no Sherpa support. It was a great time and completely different from being in the Khumbu region and having support all the way up the mountain.”

Horvath summited Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest peak. He was last in Nepal in 2004 to climb the north side of Everest through Tibet, a much more challenging route than the standard southeast ridge route. He was about the 1,500th person to reach the highest point on earth. Today, the list runs to more than 6,600, a testament to the commercialization and popularization of Himalayan mountaineering.

Henry has followed his father in extreme outdoor pursuits for much of his life. He went on his first Adirondack trip at the age of 3 and has spent a great deal of time working on rock and ice climbing skills. When Henry was 13, they attempted Aconcagua, the highest peak not only in South America but in the Western Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere, and the world outside of Asia. Henry did not reach the summit, but got to well over 20,000 feet of elevation. The pair climbed Denali, the highest mountain in North America, in June 2021, making Henry the youngest person to summit that year. They also have the fastest known time for completing the 140-mile Northville-Lake Placid Trail unsupported in winter, carrying all their supplies in and out with them on their backs. Even with these accomplishments, the Himalaya called to them.

“I’ve had my eye on Ama Dablam since I saw it for the first time,” Tim recalled. “When you go to Everest Base Camp, you see it. They call it the ‘Matterhorn of the Himalayas’ for its steep, beautiful peak. As a climber you can’t help but think, ‘I want to come back and climb that.’”

Thanks to Henry’s gap year between Middlesex School and Harvard University, this autumn opened up a perfect opportunity. Himalayan peaks generally have their safest climbing conditions in the spring and fall. The Horvaths spent five weeks in Nepal in total. They landed at 9,000 feet at Tenzing-Hillary, or Lukla, Airport, long considered the world’s most dangerous. They did a great deal of acclimatization work in order to adjust to extreme altitude, including a month trekking around the Three Passes route.

“That route includes altitudes up to 17,000 feet,” Henry explained. “A lot of people will land in the area and then go straight for the peak, just doing laps up and down the mountain to acclimatize. We thought it would be much more interesting to trek around and see more of the range.”

“On one of the passes we got a perfect, panoramic view of Everest, Cho Oyu, and Lhotse, and it was a perfectly clear day,” Tim said. “Trekking was a nice way to start the trip. It wasn’t easy, but it was relaxing and got us working upwards in terms of altitude and mileage. We also climbed Lobuche as a warm-up peak. It’s just shy of 20,000 feet.”

The two could see Ama Dablam for days as they hiked toward it. Although the mountain is far smaller than many Himalayan neighbors—reaching 6,812 meters, or 22,349 feet, well outside the realm of the 14 legendary 8,000-meter peaks—it poses significant challenges.

“Ama Dablam is a very technical peak, requiring extensive rock and ice climbing skills,” Tim explained. “It’s more technical than most of the 8,000-meter mountains.”

“It’s not only technical,” Henry added. “It’s very ‘exposed,’ which in climbing means there are a lot of multi-thousand foot drops on either side of you. It’s steep and jagged. After Camp One, there is never really a point where you’re on flat ground.”

They planned a 3,000-foot summit day, pushing directly from Camp Two to the top and bypassing the optional Camp Three. After waiting at Advance Base Camp for a day to acclimatize, they made their way up the ridge to Camp One, at about 19,000 feet. They spent another day there adapting to the altitude. After this camp, the climb starts getting technical.

“The technical crux of the climb is the Yellow Tower, where you have to go straight up to Camp Two,” Henry said. “It’s a moderate rock climb with fixed lines, but it’s still at altitude, in the cold, with your full pack of supplies on your back. There are also 3000-foot drops on every side. It’s about 50 feet of vertical climbing. Camp Two itself is about 10 tents precariously sitting on some rocks on a ridge.”

“That’s exactly how I like it,” Tim said. “I thought it looked fun.”

Their climbing companion and one of the group’s Sherpa guides stayed at Camp Two due to illness. The Horvaths and another guide planned to summit from there, but had to detour to Camp Three to rescue another climber who was near death from altitude complications. They fed the man and got him safe in a tent with oxygen support, then stayed with him and the Sherpa accompanying him until a rescue helicopter arrived. To fit the rescue effort into their summit day, the three remaining climbers had to depart from Camp Two at 10 p.m. and work upward all night.

“My memory of most of that climb is pretty vague,” Henry admitted. “We were in the dark, so there wasn’t much to see. And, of course, I was focused, exhausted, and starting to really feel the altitude.”
They arrived at Camp Three, a collection of three tents taking up the entirety of the only flat space between Camp Two and the summit, around 1:30 a.m. The sick climber was in a bad condition and immediately became their priority.

“The guy was purple, coughing and hacking,” Tim recalled. “We got him back on oxygen right away. The Sherpa had had to lower him back down from the top, so he was exhausted as well. We got them set up with a stove and food, and gave the man a strong dose of lifesaving medication. He seemed to be doing better, but people in that state can go quickly.”

After an hour at Camp Three, they left for their final summit push.

“This climb was steep, sustained snow,” Henry said. “Climbing through this deep snow was a full-body workout. With such low oxygen, you really feel every step. There are no flat spots to rest for a snack or drink. It was a real, physical slog, and we had to pace ourselves.”

An hour from the summit, Tim turned back. He was completely worn out from the climb and sleep deprivation, and suffering from the lingering effects of a chest infection. Henry and Geljen Sherpa, the remaining guide, pushed on and reached the summit around 6 a.m. Tim returned to Camp Three to further assist the endangered climber, then got some much-needed rest after nearly 30 hours on his feet.

“You go up one of the steepest sections of the whole climb and then… there you are,” Henry said. “It’s a nice flat summit. I’d been thinking about it for months and it was incredible to get there. It was hard to believe I was finally standing there. We were lucky on our summit day because there was, incredibly, no wind. In the complete down outfit, even five below doesn’t feel too bad if there isn’t wind. There were only two other teams near the summit that day.”

Back at Camp Three, the group assisted as a rescue helicopter evacuated the other mountaineer. Then, they turned to face the easier, but still challenging, return journey. The descent was steep, but much of it could be completed by rappel. They made good time on the way down, and celebrated with a “summit cake” at the teahouse at base camp.

With this challenging peak added to their already impressive records, both Horvaths seem poised to continue seeking out the world’s most difficult mountains.

“Every time we get a new peak under our belts,” Tim concluded, “Henry always winds up asking, ‘All right, what’s next?’”

Henry plans to present a lecture on his experience at the Village Library of Cooperstown or another local venue in January. At press time, details on this event were not yet available.