Tag Archive for: Garrett Madison

Today our Mount Everest 2017 climbing team had an amazing day training in the Khumbu icefall. The winds have been fierce the past few days, gusting to 50mph at times. While we have been training between the ice towers we are protected for the most part. The sun was out all day today and the recent snowfall is slowly melting.

After a few rounds on the training circuit with fixed lines and ladders, we enjoyed a few laps of epic ice climbing on a sweet Serac. We practiced with ice climbing tools and then a select few climbers were able to scale the ice with just crampons. From the top of the ice we had great views of Everest base camp and the surrounding glaciers.

Tomorrow we will have our Puja ceremony here at base camp. Our weather forecasts are predicting decreased winds and sun, we hope this is accurate! Soon after our Puja ceremony we will begin preparations for our first rotation up to Camp 1. Enjoy the photos from today!

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Everest 2017 climbing

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Everest 2017 climbing

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Everest 2017 climbing

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Everest 2017 climbing

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Everest 2017 climbing

After a wild thunder and lightning storm last night, we awoke to about 8 inches of fresh snow here at Mount Everest base camp! Our team of climbers set off for their first day of technical training in the Khumbu Icefall. Our guides reviewed the basics to refresh our team and covered best practices for a safe climb on Mount Everest. Our amazing base camp chef, Antony Dubber, continues to impress our taste buds with amazing meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had a special guest join us for lunch today. Ueli Steck, from Switzerland known as the ‘Swiss Machine’ shared a meal with our team and we chatted about our past and upcoming ascents.

Tomorrow we will continue our icefall training and build a more difficult course for our climbers to navigate. On the 17th we will have our Puja ceremony here at base camp where we will all be blessed for a safe season on Everest. Enjoy the pictures below!

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lightning storm

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After an amazing trek through the Khumbu Valley, our team of climbers and trekkers have arrived safely to Mount Everest 2017 base camp. As we arrived to camp we caught two time Grammy Award nominee Paul Oakenfold playing a set at Everest base camp. Our Sherpa team danced along with fans from around the world as we laughed and enjoyed the beautiful setting.

With a warm welcome from our chef (Antony Dubber), we all enjoyed fresh Norwegian salmon and a tasty variety of side dishes. I think we will be eating well on this expedition! The weather here at Mount Everest base camp has been warm and sunny the past few days, allowing for ample reading outside with magnificent 360 degree views of some of the tallest mountains in the world. Today we are having a personal day where we are able to do laundry and set up personal tents. Over the next few days we will start training in the Khumbu icefall in preparation for our first rotation to Camp 1 on Mount Everest. We are excited to be here and look forward to making our ascent. Onward!

Follow us on social media @MadisonMtng on InstagramFacebook, and Twitter. Thank you Mountain Hardwear, MusclePharm, Thuraya, Wicis and Modern Oats for your support on this expedition!!

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Kala Patthar, meaning ‘black rock’ in Nepali and Hindi, is a notable landmark located on the south ridge of Pumori in the Nepalese Himalayas. Thank you to our expedition friend Rob Mens for sharing these.

Mount Everest 2017 Kala Patthar

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Kala Patthar view at sunset

Mount Everest 2017 Kala Patthar

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Kala Patthar view at sunset

Mount Everest 2017 Kala Patthar

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Kala Patthar view at sunset

Mount Everest 2017 Kala Patthar

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Yak train looking over Mount Everest base camp and the Khumbu Icefall

Mount Everest 2017 base camp

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So happy to have the world traveling chef Antony Dubber here with us this season!! 🙂 

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Norwegian salmon as our team arrives at base camp. So tasty!!

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Mount Everest 2017 base camp

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Madison Mountaineering’s Sherpa team enjoying an awesome gig by Paul Oakenfold!

Mount Everest 2017 base camp

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Paul Oakenfold rocking the stage on Mount Everest!

Mount Everest 2017 base camp

Yesterday we left Mount Vinson base camp in the morning and flew by twin otter aircraft to Union Glacier camp, where we waited just a short time until the Ilushin 76 aircraft flew us to Punta Arenas, arriving late in the evening. Currently all members are in Punta Arenas or are enroute home. We have enjoyed 3 spectacular weeks in Antarctica, skiing to the South Pole and then climbing the highest peak on the continent, Mount Vinson, at just over 16,000 feet in elevation. Everyone on our team succeeded in both reaching the South Pole and reaching the summit of Mount Vinson.  This has been an awesome journey, a great way to start off 2017! We look forward to repeating this program next season in Antarctica!

Garrett Madison 

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Union Glacier Camp

Mt. Vinson Summit

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Union Glacier Camp

Antarctica Expedition Team 2017

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Union Glacier Camp

Descent on Mount Vinson

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Union Glacier Camp

Joel Schauer on the summit of Mount Vinson!

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Union Glacier Camp

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Union Glacier Camp

Hi, this is Garrett Madison calling in for the Mount Vinson climbing expedition. Today is January 19 and today we came from high camp down to Vinson base camp. We had a nice day, it was cloudy some light snow but not windy. Everyone did great coming down from high camp to low camp and all the way to base camp. Had a big meal hamburgers, pasta and a little champagne to toast our successful climb. Now we are just hanging out at base camp getting ready to go to sleep and waiting for a flight back to Union Glacier hopefully tomorrow. Then onward back to Chile and home. We have had a wonderful expedition we are down safe to base camp just waiting for a airplane to fly back to union glacier camp then a jet back to Chile. We will check in soon. Thanks.

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Mount Vinson climbing expedition

Mount Vinson climbing expedition

Hello, this is Garrett Madison with the Mount Vinson expedition. Today is January 17th and we are at the summit of Mount Vinson! Beautiful day up here, got the summit all to ourselves. We are the only team up here on the mountain on high camp. And we are going to savor the top here for 45 minutes, take a few photos and then head on down to high camp and spend the night. Everyone did great today worked hard, and just a glorious day up here blue skies. Views of the Sentinel range, Ellsworth mountains, Tyree, Shinn and just a spectacular day up here, we will check in soon. Thanks.

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Mount Vinson expedition

Hey this is Garrett Madison calling in for the Mount Vinson climbing team. We had a great rest day today at high camp. Our plan is to go for the summit tomorrow. We are going to depart high camp by around 8am and hopefully reach the summit sometime in the afternoon and make it back to camp in about 12 hours time. Beautiful weather up here, hardly any wind today, suns been out all day and no high clouds. Really lucky hoping this good weather holds for us tomorrow. Then we will be down the following day to Vinson basecamp. Fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow and a fantastic summit. We will check in soon.

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Hello, it is the Mount Vinson team here in Antarctica. This is Garrett calling in today with a big day here for us, it is actually early 2am on January 16th and we are just getting ready to go to bed after a huge day climbing from low camp up to high camp. We made it up here a couple hours ago, took a while to have dinner and heat up our water bottles and get ready to bed. Everyone is doing well. We are up here at high camp the weather forecast looks good, we are going to take a rest day tomorrow. Hopefully summit the next day, the 17th of January if all goes according to plan. Beautiful views up here, 24 hours of daylight as usual in Antarctica this time of the year. Bright blue skies above us, all is well here in Antarctica, we will check in tomorrow. Thanks.

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Follow along with our friends at Polar Explorers for exciting news and photos as our team climbs Mt. Vinson! Stay tuned!!

 

Hi, this is Garrett Madison calling in for the Antarctica, Mt. Vinson team. Today is Sunday, January 15th and today we flew from Union Glacier Camp to Mt. Vinson base camp. And then began our climb up Mt. Vinson to low camp, which is at 10,000ft. We had a great day, very lucky to fly out of Union Glacier Camp arrived at Vinson base camp mid-day and then roped up and carried our packs and sleds up to low camp. Took us about six hours to get here. Had beautiful conditions, sunny skies and a few clouds to keep us cool. Everyone is doing really well up here and we just had a big dinner and are tucking into bed. Looking forward to a great day tomorrow we are going to try to climb up to high camp tomorrow as long as the weather holds. All is well here on Vinson, we are doing well and we will check in tomorrow.

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Follow along with our friends at Polar Explorers for exciting news and photos as our team climbs Mt. Vinson! Stay tuned!!

Hello, this is Garrett calling in with the Antarctica expedition. Today is Thursday, January 12th and today we flew from the South Pole back to Union Glacier Camp where we are going to spend a night rest up and prepare to head out to Mt Vinson for the next part of our adventure. Just had a great dinner here in Union Glacier Camp and we are looking forward to a good night of rest and hopefully tomorrow if the weather is good we will be able to fly by Twin Otter about 45 minutes out to Mt. Vinson base camp. We will check in soon.

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Follow along with our friends at Polar Explorers for exciting news and photos as our team continues to Mt. Vinson! Stay tuned!!