Team Back in Base Camp After 1st Rotation

Ama Dablam team at the puja ceremony today

Our Ama Dablam team is back in base camp after completing their 1st acclimatization rotation.  Garrett Madison, expedition leader, calls in today’s update:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam expedition team.  Today’s October 31st, Halloween and we are back in base camp!

We had a couple of good nights, up on mountain in Camp 1 and we climbed up to Camp 2 yesterday – touched Camp 2.  We had some great views up there, fun technical climbing, and good acclimatization – sleeping up at 19,000 ft. at Camp 1.

Today we camp back down to base camp, had a nice lunch, and then did our Puja ceremony with a Buddist Lama monk from Pangboche.

Everyone’s doing well here.  We’re just resting and recovering from our time high up on the mountain and looking forward to a few rest days here in base camp.

So, all’s well here at Ama Dablam base camp.  We’ll check in soon.

Camp 1 and Ama Dablam

Camp 1 and Ama Dablam

Climbing the Yellow Tower on Ama Dablam below Camp 2

Climbing the Yellow Tower on Ama Dablam below Camp 2

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

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1st Acclimatization Rotation Continues

Garrett Madison climbing around Ama Dablam Camp 1 and Camp 2

The 1st acclimatization rotation on Ama Dablam continues with the team touching Camp 2 (5980m/19,619ft) and returning to Camp 1 (5791m/19,000ft) for the night.  Team member J.B. Waterman provides today’s expedition dispatch:

This is J.B. Waterman on Madison Mountaineering’s Ama Dablam team.

Today was an epic training day – from Camp 1 at 19,000ft to Camp 2 at 20,000ft, across a serrated knife edge ridge, going up vertical walls of granite, to make it to Camp 2, and then turn around and go back.

We’re sleeping at Camp 1 tonight and then we’re gonna head back to base camp for a few days of rest and relaxation and recuperatation, so that we can go to the summit!

It was a great day.  Now it’s time to recuperate!

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Ama Dablam Camp 1 on 1st Rotation

A view of Ama Dablam Camp 1 from BC

Today our Ama Dablam kicked off their 1st acclimatization rotation by hiking and climbing up from base camp to Camp 1.  Team member J.B. Waterman provides today’s expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam 2021 team member J.B. Waterman.  It’s Friday, October 29th and me and the rest of the team are ensconced in Camp 1 (5791m/19,000ft) on Ama Dablam.

We hiked 4,000 vertical feet today with our packs and our gear hiking with jumaring up the rope to get to this spectacular place on the ridge.  We watched the sunset and are settling in.  We’re up at 19,000ft, getting ready to eat some dinner, and then grab some sleep.

Tomorrow we’ll head up to Camp 2, touch it, and come back to acclimatize.  It’s been pretty spectacular!

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Acclimatizing Above Base Camp

Ama Dablam 2021 team kicking at base camp

Our Ama Dablam team enjoyed views from their acclimatization hike today above base camp. Our expedition leader, Garrett Madison provides today’s expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Ama Dablam team update. Today is Thursday, October 28th and another great day here in base camp. We woke up, had breakfast, and then went for an acclimatization hike up above base camp. We had some great views and got about 2,000 feet of elevation gain before coming back down to base camp for lunch.

We organized our gear and getting ready for our first rotation on the mountain. We’re going to head up tomorrow to camp 1 for a couple of nights, so looking forward to getting up high on the mountain and hopefully some great views up there. And some fun technical climbing on the way from camp 1 to camp 2.

Everyone is doing great and we’re having an awesome time here and looking forward to another great day!

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Training Day

Views from Ama Dablam base camp. (📸: Ted Hesser)

The Ama Dablam team had a training day near base camp.  Garrett Madison, expedition leader, recaps the day:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Ama Dablam expedition team.  Today we did some training here, nearby base camp.  We put on our harnesses and rigged up our ascenders, safety carabiners, and repel devices and we practiced going up vertical fixed lines and repeling down fixed lines.  It was good to review all the necessary techniques for the upper mountain.

Then we came back, had a nice lunch, and organized some gear this afternoon and had a lovely dinner.  So, a beautiful day here, great views, everyone’s feeling strong and healthy.  We are really happy to be up here at base camp.  It’s just very beautiful and relaxing.

So, we’re all doing well and looking forward to a good day tomorrow.  We’ll check in soon!

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Ama Dablam Base Camp!

Madison Mountaineering’s Ama Dablam base camp

Our Ama Dablam expedition team is settling into their home away from home at base camp. After a scenic trek into base camp and dinner, Garrett Madison, expedition leader, recaps the day:

Hello this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam expedition team. Today is Tuesday, October 26th and today we hiked from the village of Pangboche in the Khumbu Valley up to Ama Dablam base camp. We rolled into our base camp midday and had a nice lunch and then settled into our personal tents and explored the camp a little bit getting things dialed in. We just had a nice dinner here, first dinner in base camp tonight.

Nice to be up here at about 15,000 feet in the mountains and we’re looking forward to a good day tomorrow. We’re going to do some training and be here at least a couple of days before heading up to do our first rotation on the route.

Everyone is doing great here. It has been such a wonderful trek in so far, over the last five days coming in from Lukla up through Namche, Deboche and Pangboche, staying with the Sherpa families that we see year after year and reconnecting with all of the Nepalese people that are so important to us and help us make this all possible.

Everyone is having a great time.  We’re feeling healthy and we’re just soaking up all this fresh air and clear mountain views and snow-capped peaks. So, all is well here at Ama Dablam base camp and we’ll check in soon. Thanks

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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100% Summit Success on Pico de Orizaba!

The summit of Mexico's Pico de Orizaba from base camp

And that’s a wrap on the Mexico Volcanoes with 100% success on both the Iztaccihuatl and Pico de Orizaba volcanoes!  Our expedition team leader Terray Sylvester recaps the day:

Hello, this is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mexico Volcanoes expedition. It is Monday, October 25th. This morning we climbed up to the summit of el Pico de Orizaba (5636m/18,491ft), the highest volcano in North America and the third highest mountain on the continent.

We left camp at about 1:00am under starry skies and had really good  climbing conditions. Some fresh snow had fallen on the mountain the day before, which made footing a little bit more challenging than usual but at least we didn’t have the icy conditions that can sometimes be present on the upper mountain. We topped out right around 9:30am and took a few summit photos up there in the sun and were back down in camp by noon.

Now we’re back in Mexico City. We had a few celebratory beers along the way. The team is getting ready to fly home out of Mexico City tomorrow. So all in all, it was a great expedition! We had 100% success on our two main objectives Iztaccihuatl and Orizaba and it was great to be down here in Mexico.

Climbers Josh and David on the summit of Mexico's el Pico de Orizaba

Climbers Josh and David on the summit of Mexico’s el Pico de Orizaba

On the upper mountain of Pico de Orizaba

On the upper mountain of Pico de Orizaba

Approaching the summit of Orizaba with the mountain’s shadow to the west

Approaching the summit of Orizaba with the mountain’s shadow to the west

Acclimatizating in Mexico near Pico de Orizaba

Acclimatizating in Mexico near Pico de Orizaba

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Orizaba Summit Push coming up!

At high camp on Pico de Orizaba, our Ecuador Volcanoes team is preparing for the summit push!

Today we did a good acclimatization hike and refreshed climbing skills we’ll need for our ascent of el Pico de Orizaba. Now the team is in bed in our camp at the foot of the mountain. We’ll get an alpine start tonight, and hopefully be on the summit not long after sunrise!

Elevation: 13,789.37 ft.
Lat: 19.05996 Lon: -97.271254

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First Views of Ama Dablam

The 2021 Ama Dablam team receives blessings as they depart Namche and the Panorama Lodge

The first views of Ama Dablam were had today as the team took an acclimatization hike from the Panorama Lodge in Namche Bazaar up to the Everest View Hotel (3962m/13,000ft).  Garrett recaps the day:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam expedition 2021.

We had a great hike up to the Everest View Hotel and had amazing views of Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, as well as other peaks.  We enjoyed some tea there and had a beautiful clear day.  We came back down to Nachme for lunch and then had a relaxing afternoon, a nice dinner here in the Panorama Lodge, and we’re going to head off towards Deboche.

We are looking forward to heading up the valley and passing through the Tengboche Monastery and then down into the rhododendron forest to the Rivendell Lodge tonight.

Everyone’s doing well, we’re so happy to be here, and enjoying this beautiful mountain valley of Nepal.

We’ll check in soon!  Thanks.

View of Ama Dablam

View of Ama Dablam

Ama Dablam team at the Everest View Hotel

Ama Dablam team at the Everest View Hotel

View of peaks from Everest View Hotel (courtesy of Dawa Steven Sherpa)

View of peaks from Everest View Hotel (courtesy of Dawa Steven Sherpa)

Climber J.B. Waterman poses with local Sherpa woman above Namche

Climber J.B. Waterman poses with local Sherpa woman above Namche

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Rest Day in Puebla

Central Puebla, Mexico

With a rest day in Puebla, our Mexico Volcanoes expedition team had a chance to explore the historic town.  Terry Sylvester, expedition leader, checks in with today’s dispatch:

Hello, this is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mexico Volcanoes expedition.  It’s Friday, October 22nd.

Today we had a rest day in Puebla.  We had all day to visit museums, get some good meals, and visit some of the historic cathedrals and other churches in this beautiful city.  The weather was great – a little afternoon thundershowers – but otherwise beautiful weather for exploring these historic streets.

Tomorrow we will drive up to San Miguel Zoapan which is the little town where our lodge is located at the base of  el Pico de Orizaba.  We’ll have lunch and then get into 4WD vehicles and make our way up to our base camp at about 14,000 ft. right at the base of the climbing route.  We’ll spend the next day, Sunday, acclimatizing.  Then we will go to bed early, wake up around midnight, and if all goes according to plan, we’ll be on the summit of Orizaba early Monday morning.

So I’ll be in touch with updates as that climb processes.

The beautiful architecture of Puebla, Mexico

The beautiful architecture of Puebla, Mexico

Central Puebla, Mexico

Central Puebla, Mexico

Chalupas with mole poblano for breakfast in Puebla, Mexico

Chalupas with mole poblano for breakfast in Puebla, Mexico

Puebla, Mexico's historic cathedral. Construction started in 1575.

Puebla, Mexico’s historic cathedral. Construction started in 1575.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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