Vinson team two at High Camp

Vinson High Camp

Our Vinson team two is now at High Camp!  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, has this exciting update:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition team number two:  Conan, Garrett, Shawn, Fon, Linda, and Paul!  Today is the eighth of January and we are up at High Camp.  We had a great day climbing from Low Camp up the steep fixed ropes to High Camp at just over 12,400 feet on Mount Vinson.  Beatiful weather today, clear skies, sunny, very calm, just a slight breeze to keep us cool on the way up so that we didn’t overheat.

 

Tomorrow we’re probably going to take a rest day.  We are going to sleep in and get up and see what the weather is doing.  But most likely we’ll be resting here before looking at our summit attempt in the next few days.

 

Everyone is doing great here on Mount Vinson and we will check in again soon.  Thanks!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

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Karanga Camp on Kilimanjaro

Karanga Camp on Kilimanjaro

Karanga Camp!  This morning the Kilimanjaro team climbed “the Breakfast Wall” (aka the Great Barranco Wall), a nice challenge to start the day and get the body warmed up for a nice day of trekking.  The top of the Barranco Wall (4240 m / 13,911 ft) provides spectacular views of the plains far below.

From there, the team descended into the Karanga valley.  Then up a final hill to the Karanga Camp (4043 m / 13,264 ft).  Total hiking for the day was about four hours.  Everyone is doing very well and having a great time!

All of the team are excited about reaching the high camp of Kosovo (4870 m / 15,978 ft) tomorrow just above the Barafu Camp to get ready for the summit attempt on the following day!!

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Vinson team two set to move up to High Camp

Vinson

Today, team member Shawn provides the update from Mount Vinson!

Hi this is Shawn calling in from the Vinson two team.  We are at Low Camp and just finished our haul up to High Camp.  Linda, Paul, Shawn, Fon, Garrett and Conan are all feeling healthy, happy, stable, strong and very enthused for our move tomorrow to High Camp.  The weather has been fantastic!  We hope it stays!  The food has been out-of-this-world!!  Thank you to Fon and Le Cordon Bleu.  So we want to send our love to our family and friends at home.

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

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Kilimanjaro! …and so begins 2019!

Approaching the Lava Tower

Approaching the Lava Tower (Madison Mountaineering archives)

Our January Kilimanjaro climb kicked off a few days ago and the team is doing great and feeling strong!  They entered the National Park at the Machame Gate (1814 m / 5,950 ft) on the first day and they hiked through the tropical rain forest climate zone up to Machame camp at 3022 m (9,915 ft).  Their 4,000 ft. elevation gain crossed into the heath climate zone.  The heath zone is typically covered by heavy mists and marked with rolling meadows, heath plants, and many small wild flowers.  A fantastic start to the trek to the roof of Africa!

On the second day they continued to climb through the heath zone and into the moorlands to Shira camp (3833 m / 12,575 ft).  Yesterday was the third day of hiking and the start of the three-day west to east traverse of the mountain.  In the morning, they climbed up to the Lava Tower at 4655 m (15,272 ft) for lunch and stunning views of the Western Breach route.  In the afternoon, the team descended to Barranco camp (3981 m / 13,060 ft), where they got their first views of the Great Barranco wall – today’s crux!

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Two teams on Mount Vinson!

Garret Madison, expedition leader, reports the exciting progress of our Mount Vinson expedition teams in Antarctica:

Hi, this is Garrett checking in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson expedition number three.  Jimmy, Fon and myself were planning to leave Union Glacier today and head to Vinson Base Camp, but Jimmy is still at the South Pole and had decided to head directly back to the U.S. as soon as he can because of the flight delay.  Myself and Fon have gone to Vinson Base Camp and are going to try to catch up with Conan, Linda, Shawn and Paul in the next couple of days.  All’s good here on Mount Vinson!

 

A very big congratulations to Jimmy for skiing to the South Pole and reaching 90° South!  (We wish him a) safe trip back to North America and his familiy in Texas.

 

We look forward to some great weather here on Mount Vinson!  We will check in soon.  Thanks!

 

Guide Conan Bliss’ team two (Shawn, Paul, Linda) transmission from Low Camp was, unfortunately garbled.  This happens from time to time with satellite phones.

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

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Team Two Completes Carry

Guide Conan Bliss reports in for Vinson Team Two:

Hey good evening!  This is Conan calling in for Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson Team #2.  We are again at Vinson Base Camp.  Today we had a really good carry; caching food, fuel and extra equipment high on the upper Branscomb Glacier getting ready for our move tomorrow to Low Camp.

Stay tuned!  Talk to you tomorrow!!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

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Team Two at Vinson Base Camp

Lead Guide Conan Bliss provides this team two initial status report from Vinson Base Camp:

Hello this is Conan calling in for Vinson Madison Mountaineering (team) two!  We arrived safely at Vinson Base Camp and had a great pasta and salmon dinner.  Everybody is healthy and happy and the weather is splendid!   Tomorrow we are planning to do a carry half-way to camp one and then returning to base camp.  We will check in with you tomorrow.

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

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New team on deck!

Our expedition leader, Garrett Madison phoned in this report from Union Glacier Camp:

Hi this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Vinson program with the Japanese group.  Today we flew back to from Vinson Base Camp to Union Glacier Camp in the morning.  The Ilyushin jet arrived and our Japanese team was able to successfully depart Union Glacier Camp and arrive in Punta Arenas, Chile.  So we had a wonderful expedition, very successful and safe and all is well!

 

Our second Vinson team has arrived:  (Guide) Conan with (climbers) Shawn, Linda, and Paul and they are currently at Vinson Base Camp.  They are setting up their camp and getting ready to make their first climb up the mountain tomorrow.  Myself and (climbers) Fon and Jimmy will be starting Mount Vinson in a couple days time.  Jimmy is completing his Ski-The-Last-Degree program to the South Pole and once finished, we will all head to Vinson Base Camp and start climbing, which we’re very much looking forward to.

 

We are all enjoying our time here in Antarctica and wishing everyone back home well.  Thanks very much!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

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Vinson Summit!

Reporting from High Camp on Mount Vinson, expedition leader Garrett Madison provides this update:

Hi, this is Garrett calling for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson expedition.  Today on New Year’s Day, our team the Adventure Guides and Madison Mountaineering team made the summit of Mount Vinson (4892 m / 16,050 ft) [garbled].  We had a beautiful day with perfect weather.  We had the summit all to ourselves.  Now we are back in Vinson High Camp.  We are planning to head down towards Vinson Base Camp tomorrow.  All is good here and we look forward to getting down to base camp the next day!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

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Team Two Getting Ready in Punta Arenas

Vinson team two team photo

Our second Mount Vinson expedition team has assembled in Punta Arenas.  And they are looking forward to kicking off 2019 in style!  They rang in the new year in Chile last night and now are completing the pre-flight expedition logistics.  Today and tomorrow they will be organizing gear and attending the Antarctica flight briefing.  Hopefully, the weather continues to cooperate and the team will fly to Antarctica as scheduled on Thursday, January 3rd.

We are stoked to start off this exciting year of climbing adventures with teams on the ice in Antarctica!

Did you know:  Since 2017, the city of Punta Arenas and its region have their own time zone: they use summer time during the whole year (UTC−3).

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