Tag Archive for: Sherpa

This evening here on Everest our climbing teams had a short weather delay, then around 10pm left Camp 4 for the summit. Looking outside, the mountain is still and thousands of stars light up the sky. Little to no wind now here at base camp. Our main climbing team is currently making their ascent of Mount Everest, as they are moving well we expect them to approach the summit by sunrise.

Geoff (private guide) and JohnS. are currently climbing Lhotse together with Shidi Tamang. As our climbers approach the summits we will send another update here from base camp. Pictures and video to come 🙂

To the top!

We are happy to announce that our first team of climbers summited Everest! Guide Geoff Schellens was on the top of the world this morning with climbers John S. and Anders C. Way to go team!  As our team moved up through the night they encountered a seriously injured climber at around 3am. Our team of 4 western climbers and 3 Sherpa were strong and in good health and quickly made the decision to provide this injured climber with rescue assistance. Guide Brent Bishop heroically turned around on his summit attempt near the balcony with Sherpa Tashi and brought the seriously frostbitten climber back down to Camp 4 for further medical attention.

Today our main climbing team made their ascent from Camp 3 to Camp 4. Team is well and positioned for the summit. Our entire climbing team had dinner at the South Col together and will spend the next day resting in preparation for continued summit ascents on Everest and Lhotse. All of our climbers are on oxygen as they rest at Camp 4. Tomorrow night our main team is planning to move up Mount Everest and our private team will climb Lhotse. Weather reports are positive and we are excited to to make our summit bids!

For immediate family members, please email me at any time: andrew@madisonmountaineering.com

Today our private climbing team made a safe ascent to Camp 4 on the South Col. The weather is reported to be clear with little to no winds. In a couple hours our team will move toward the summit! We will be monitoring their progress all night at they climb to 8848 meters. Forecasts are predicting a great day to stand on top of the world!

Our main climbing group with guides Garrett, Sid, Billy and Conan climbed up to Camp 3 today. The team is doing well and resting now in preparation for their next move. Tomorrow at 6am they will climb up toward Camp 4 on the South Col. Forecasts are showing great summit conditions for our team!

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Our main team climbing from Camp 2 to Camp 3. (DrewM. in picture)

South Col

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Close to Camp 3 on the Lhotse face

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Our main team moving up from Camp 2 with the Lhotse face ahead

Today private guides Brent and Geoff moved up to Camp 3 with climbers John and Anders in three hours. The route conditions and weather made for a quick ascent. Tomorrow they will depart at 8am and continue the ascent to Camp 4 and prepare for their summit push on Everest and Lhotse. We are excited to have our team in summit position and will be up all night here at base camp to monitor their progress.

Our main team spent today resting at Camp 2 and will move up to Camp 3 early tomorrow morning. Mountain winds are expected to decrease and allow our climbers to be well positioned for clear summit days on Everest and Lhotse. The weather has been clear and sunny the past few days with little to no precipitation. All of our high camps have been stocked with oxygen and supplies by our strong Sherpa team.

To the top!

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Beautiful weather at Camp 2 today

Camp 3

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Moving between Camp 1 and 2

Our Mount Everest and Lhotse summit rotation has launched! At 2am this morning our climbing team departed Everest base camp and began the ascent though the Khumbu Icefall. Now resting at Camp 2, our entire team will rest and prepare for the next move to Camp 3. Weather forecasts are predicting for increased wind over the next couple says so we will hold till the conditions settle down. We are all in good spirits and health and excited to continue our journey to the top of the world.

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Celebratory photo with our Ghurka neighbors! 

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Relaxing in our dining tent the evening before taking off on our summit rotation

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Happy Birthday Ellen!!

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Anders, Brent, Geoff and John taking off for Camp 2

Lhotse summit rotation

Yesterday, 2 of our top fixing Sherpas in partnership with the British-Gurkha team (Sherpas and Nepali climbers) were able to reach the summit around 2:15 PM.  We are very happy that our plan succeeded, and now climbers will begin making attempts on the peak.  Our 2 Sherpas who aided in the rope fixing effort today are Lakpa Dandi and Tashi Sherpa, 2 of the 7 rope fixing Sherpas to reach the summit.

As we are now in the final phase of our Mount Everest expedition, our sights are set on climbing to the summit of the world’s highest peak, and for some of us after that also climbing to the top of the world’s 4th highest peak, Lhotse.  We have completed our acclimatization rotations on Everest, reaching Camp 3 and spending several nights at Camp 2 (21,300’) on each of our rotations. Our Sherpa team has stocked all of our high camps with essential equipment for our climb including tents, oxygen cylinders, food, etc.  We are now well rested after spending the last week in base camp or down in Namche at the comfortable Panorama lodge.  We are now waiting in base camp for a favorable weather forecast.

The current weather models show that high winds will arrive over Everest in the next day or two, so we will wait until these winds pass before making our summit attempt. Some teams may try to summit in the next day or shortly after, we prefer to wait for a better forecast before making out attempt. Our main team hopes to be ready to climb on the tail end of this wind event, perhaps as early as May 22nd if the winds do indeed drop down by then.

Currently we are all resting in base camp and passing the time watching films, reading books, going for short hikes, occasional camp maintenance projects, reviewing our climbing kit and oxygen systems, and of course coming together as a team for meal times in our dining tent.  We will continue to monitor the weather forecasts, and hopefully begin our summit attempt in a few days time, stay tuned!

Garrett Madison

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Rope fixing Sherpas

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Rope fixing Sherpas

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Rope fixing Sherpas

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Rope fixing Sherpas

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Rope fixing Sherpas

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Rope fixing Sherpas

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Rope fixing Sherpas

Minutes ago the first 2017 Mount Everest summits were made by a group of climbing Sherpa’s. This team included two of our best climbing Sherpa’s that were chosen to fix the ropes to the summit. Lakpa Dandi and Tashi were among seven climbing Sherpa’s that fixed the summit route. Now that the route to the summit is fixed we will start to see climber summits as early as tomorrow morning.

Our team is holding at base camp as high winds will be hitting the mountain over the next 1-2 days. Based on current weather forecasts we are looking to move up to our high camps by Wednesday. Stay tuned!

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2017 Mount Everest summits

The high Buddhist monk journeyed to Mount Everest base camp this afternoon and blessed our team with a joyful Puja ceremony. Our climbing and Sherpa team gathered together as one to give thanks to Sagarmatha and present gifts for safe passage. The lama was graceful and presented each climber with a blessing. After the ceremony concluded our friends on the Gurkha team (Nepal and UK) came down to our camp and joined in the festivities. Winds have finally settled down and we were all able to relax outside together and enjoy the cultural Nepalese experience.

In the afternoon, a few members of our team went out into the Khumbu icefall for additional training on the ice. We are all settling down for the night now and about to enjoy another of Antony Dubber’s amazing meals, I do believe that we are all gaining weight up here with his extraordinary high altitude culinary skills. After supper we typically partake in watching a film in our the movie theater, tonight we watched Top Gun.

Tomorrow we will not be climbing or training in the icefall in remembrance of the 2014 icefall tragedy. Our team will rest and prepare equipment for the first rotation in the days to come. The stoke is high and we are all ready to move up the mountain. To higher places!

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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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