2021 Ama Dablam expedition dispatches
We are pleased to announce the following team members successfully obtained the summit of Ama Dablam (6,812 m / 22,349 ft) on November 8, 2021:
| # | Name | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mr. Garrett Madison | USA |
| 2 | Mr. Jonathan Eakes | USA |
| 3 | Mr. Morgan Hawes | USA |
| 4 | Mr. Gautam Shine | USA |
| 5 | Mr. James “J.B.” Waterman | USA |
| 6 | Mr. Aang Phurba Sherpa | Nepal |
| 7 | Mr. Kam Dorjee Sherpa | Nepal |
| 8 | Mr. Siddhi Ghising | Nepal |
| 9 | Mr. Fur Lakpa Sherpa | Nepal |
| 10 | Mr. Tenzing Sherpa | Nepal |
With 100% summit success, the team is back in base camp celebrating, and getting ready to head back to Kathmandu. Garrett provides the recap and a ton of awesome photos of their summit day:
Hello, this is Garrett caling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam expedition team here in Nepal. Today’s November 9th and yesterday we reached the top of Ama Dablam.
Beautiful morning! We summited with 100% success, all four of our climbers plus myself and Aang Phurba and our Sherpa team made it to the top of Ama Dablam!
We got down safe and some of our members continued down to base camp and the rest of us were down today. We are looking forward to starting the trek out tomorrow to make our way back to Lukla and then Kathmandu.
We are feeling so fortunate and lucky that we had a beautiful summit day, great weather, and great route conditions up there and all of our team made the summit and made it down safely.
Summit day climbing on Ama Dablam
Climber J.B. and Garrett on the summit of Ama Dablam
Climber Jonathan E. on the summit of Ama Dablam
Good times on the Ama Dablam summit
Climber Jon E. with Garrett and Mount Everest in the background from the Ama Dablam summit
Last night in base camp with our team celebrating our successful Ama Dablam expedition!
Summit Ama Dablam and get some cake!
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:
– Instagram:
– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:
A quick inReach text message while on a break from Garrett:
Just back at camp 3 after the summit, everyone made it! 100% success for all climbers who went up from base camp. Now we will descend carefully.
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:
– Instagram:
– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:
Our Ama Dablam team has set the plan to head for the summit tonight! Here expedition leader Garrett Madison with the team dispatch from 6000m at Camp 2:
Hello! This is Garrett calling in from Camp 2 on Ama Dablam. I’m in the tent here with Jon and J.B. Tonight is our summit night. Next door is Morgan and Shine and our Sherpa team is not far away. It’s November 7th at 5:30 P.M.
Our plan is to have some dinner, go to sleep, and wake up around midnight to set off for the summit. Hopefully we’ll have good weather and route conditions and get lucky.
We’re looking forward to a beautifull day up there. So, we’ll check in when we get back from our summit day tomorrow. All’s well here at Camp 2 on Ama Dablam!
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:
– Instagram:
– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:
The summit push is on and the team headed up from base camp to Camp 1 (5792m/19,000ft) today. Garrett Madison provides today’s expedition dispatch via a somewhat garbled and truncated sat phone call:
Hello, this is Garrett Madison calling in for the Ama Dablam expedition team. Today is November 6th and today we left base camp to begin our summit push. Our summit rotation day one means we climbed from base camp up to Camp 1 today, gained about 4,000 vertical feet, and the team did great today. Everyone – J.B., Morgan, Shine, and Jon – all did really well. Myself and Aang Phurba… [garbled] …team… [garbled] …Sherpas… [transmission dropped]
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:
– Instagram:
– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:
While our Ama Dablam team is waiting for the coming weather window to go for the summit, they celebrated expedition leader Garrett Madison‘s birthday at base camp:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Ama Dablam expedition team. Today is November 4th and we are in base camp. We’ve been taking a few extra rest days here watching the weather forecast. It looks like some winds, strong winds, up high and we’re gonna rest a few more days until the forecast shows a good opportunity for a summit window. So, probably at least a couple of more days here in base camp.
Everyone’s doing well. We are enjoying some nice weather, good times resting, and we’re looking forward to another great day here in base camp, All is well!
Ama Dablam base camp
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:
– Instagram:
– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:
Our Ama Dablam team is enjoying their second rest day at base camp after the first rotation. Here’s Garrett with the update:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam expedition team. Today is November 2nd, we’re at Ama Dablam base camp, and this is our second rest day after our first rotation up on the route where we spent two nights acclimatizing at Camp 1 and climbing up to Camp 2.
Just taking it easy here in base camp. Lots of good food, nice weather, and passing the time by reading some good books, watching movies, and just enjoying the nice views here and the friendly folks around.
So, all good here and we’ll check in soon!
Sunset from Ama Dablam Camp 1
Team member Jonathan E. descending the Ama Dablam route 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:
– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:
– Instagram:
– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:
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
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:
– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:
– Instagram:
– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:
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:
– Instagram:
– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:
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:
– Instagram:
– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map: