Team #2 reaches High Camp

Vinson High Camp

After a long day of making the move (+2,500 ft) from Mount Vinson Low Camp up the fixed lines to High Camp, guest guide Conrad Anker, phones in via satellite today’s expedition recap:

Greetings folks, this is Conrad from Vinson High Camp. It’s the 2nd of January 2020. What a great way to welcome in the new year. Our team set out from Low Camp, climbed up the shoulder on the fixed ropes for a little bit, and then some really beautiful terrian and yeah things are great and we have good weather, everyone’s healthy and we’re very thankful for the opportunity to be here with friends. And yeah we’re happy! That’s a good thing. Take care.

(photo: Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica on:

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

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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

/0 Comments/by

Low Camp Training

Mount Vinson Low Camp

Today our Vinson team conducted some training and skills review near Low Camp, making ready for a possible move up to High Camp tomorrow.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, phoned in today’s dispatch:

Hello. This is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition team #2 with Garrett and Conrad Anker. Today is January 1, 2020. We had a great day. We had a rest day here in Low Camp on Mount Vinson. We slept in and had leisurely breakfast of pancakes and bacon.

 

And then we did some training today. We reviewed all of the fixed line climbing techniques – ascending and descending fixed lines. And after that we orginized our gear for our climb up to camp 2 tomorrow, High Camp – weather pending. We’re gonna [inaudible], have breakfast, check the weather forecast, and if it all looks good, we’re gonna leave around 1:00 PM and climb up to High Camp.

 

So fingers crossed for good weather. We’re all doing well here. Everyone’s having fun and we’re enjoying Antarctica.

Thanks!

(photo: Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica on:

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

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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

/0 Comments/by

Happy New Year from Low Camp on Mount Vinson!

2019.12.27 Vinson team #2 celebrates New Year's 2020

Make sure and listen to our Vinson team #2 ringing in the new year from Low Camp on Mount Vinson, Antarctica’s highest peak:

Hey, this is Garrett calling in for the Vinson expedition.  We are up here at Low Camp.  Everyone did great today.  We got into Low Camp, set up our camp, and we’re counting down to the New Year’s celebration.  It’s all happenin’ here.  …5…4…3…2…1… Happy New Year!!

(photo: 2019.12.27 Vinson team #2 celebrates New Year’s 2020 at Low Camp)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica on:

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

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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

/0 Comments/by

Team trains at Vinson base camp

Conrad Anker provides a recap of today in around Vinson base camp.  Happy birthday Andrew from all of us at Madison Mountaineering!

Greetings folks from the Branscomb Glacier here at the base of Mount Vinson!

 

We had a great day on the 30th of December – Andrew celebrated his birthday. So we made him a cake of snow shaped like a cake and added Snicker bars and M&Ms after a nice spicy meal.  We made a carry today [up towards Low Camp] and then tomorrow we’re off to base of the fixed lines and couldn’t imagine a better place to welcome in the new decade.

 

This is Conrad.  Take care!

(photo:  Mount Vinson base camp from the December 2019 team #1 expedition)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica on:

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

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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

/0 Comments/by

All team at Vinson base camp

Vinson Base Camp

After a quick turn at Union Glacier camp, the team flew over to Mount Vinson base camp and got settled in.  Here’s expedition leader Garrett Madison‘s day-end recap via sat phone:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition with Conrad Anker. Today’s Sunday, December 29th and we made it to Vinson base camp!

 

The whole team flew over this evening on the two different flights. We got into Vinson base camp and set up camp. Got all of our tents buffed out and it’s just beautiful weather here at the moment. It’s warm, sunny.

 

Everyone’s doing well, enjoyed a hot drink and went to bed. Looking forward to a great day tomorrow here on Vinson. We’re gonna do some training and go for a short climb up the route.

 

So everyone’s doing well and look forward to checking in soon. Thanks!

(photo:  (c) Santiago Urrutia from the archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica on:

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

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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

/0 Comments/by

Second Vinson expedition kicks-off in Antarctica

Today our second Mount Vinson expedition with guest-guide Conrad Anker flew to Antarctica arriving Union Glacier on the Illyshin 76 jet.  Here’s Conrad with today’s kick-off expedition dispatch:

Hello folks, Conrad Anker here at Union Glacier with the Madison Mountaineering V4 team.  We had a successful three days in Punta Arenas.  We went out and had fine food and saw the sights and we’re on schedule – maybe even a little ahead of schedule.  The weather’s good and the team’s all together.

 

It’s a real treat and an honor to be here with Garrett!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica on:

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

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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

/0 Comments/by

Vinson team #1 back at Union Glacier camp

Union Glacier Camp

Our Mount Vinson team #1 is now back at Union Glacier camp and getting ready to return to South America tomorrow.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, calls in from camp with a recap of the busy day:

Hello. This is Garrett calling for the Mount Vinson expedition team #1. Today is Saturday, December 28th and myself, Bartek, Aga and Motoki have all return back to Union Glacier camp from Mount Vinson.

 

We had a wonderful day. We woke up this morning at Mount Vinson High Camp after our successful summit yesterday. We descended from High Camp all the way down the fixed ropes past Low Camp and down to Vinson base camp. And then a couple of hours later we were met by a Twin Otter aircraft where we boarded and flew back to Union Glacier camp. It was a very scenic flight, great views all around.

 

We had a nice dinner here at Union Glacier camp, and a shower and the climbers are looking forward to the flight out on the Ilyushin 76 jet tomorrow from the Blue Ice Runway back to Punta Arenas. Hopefully, the weather is good and our three climbers will be flying back to Chile and our next group of Mount Vinson climbers, along with guest guide Conrad Anker, will be flying into Union Glacier camp and heading to Mount Vinson.

 

All’s well here in Antarctica.  We will check-in again soon!  Thanks!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica on:

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

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Mount Vinson 100% Summit!

Best Christmas

Great news from Antarctica where 100% of our first team reached the summit of the continent’s highest peak, Mount Vinson!  Here’s Garrett’s report from High Camp:

Hello, this is Garrett Madison calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition team #1. Today’s December 27th and we reached the summit of Mount Vinson today, the highest peak in Antarctica! The team did great.

 

We left at about 9:30 AM from High Camp after a quick breakfast and climbed all day, had some windy conditions and a bit of a cold on the way up, and then the weather got a little bit nicer and we got up to the summit ridge.  Got up to the summit, had it all to ourselves for a bit, took some photos and then made our way back down to High Camp.

 

We got back to High Camp around 6:00 PM and just finished up some dinner.  So, heading to bed early tonight and looking forward to heading down to Vinson base camp tomorrow and onward back to Union Glacier camp.

 

So it’s been a great climb here on Mount Vinson with the first team, very successful.  We were lucky with good weather and good route conditions and great climbers.

 

We’ll check-in soon.  Thanks!

(photo:  Garrett Madison’s overused Vinson summit pic from the Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica on:

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

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Rest day at High Camp

Near High Camp on Mount Vinson

The Vinson team had a nice, relaxing rest day at High Camp (3536m/11,600ft) today making their preparations for their summit attempt tomorrow.  Garrett Madison, expedition leader, provided the update via sat phone:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition team #1.  Today is December 26th also Boxing Day for Candians and we had a wonderful rest day here at Vinson base camp, sorry!, High Camp, Vinson High Camp(!).

 

We are getting ready to go for the summit tomorrow.  The weather looks good, we had a good day, just finished a big dinner, and heading to bed soon.

 

Our plan is to wake up around 7:30-8:00am tomorrow and head out of camp around 9:00am.  Hopefully we’ll get to the top of Vinson in the afternoon and back down in the evening time.  People are feeling great, good weather, and we are excited for the summit climb tomorrow!

 

We’ll check in soon.  Thanks!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica on:

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

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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

/0 Comments/by

Merry Christmas from Antarctica!

Vinson High Camp

With Christmas wishes to everyone following along, expedition leader Garrett Madison provides an update of today’s climbing on the highest mountain in Antarctica:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition.  Merry Christmas, it’s December 25th and we made our way from Low Camp up to High Camp today.

 

We had a great day climbing up the fixed lines and beatifull views, hardly any wind, no clouds in the sky, just perfect conditions all around.  We made it up to High Camp, dug out our cache, set up our tents, and cooked some dinner.  Now we are tucked in our sleeping bags, ready for bed.

 

We are not exactly sure what we are going to do tomorrow.  We are either going to rest or we might give it a shot going to the summit.  We’ll see how we’re feeling.  The forecast looks good, so we are happy to be up here.  Everyone’s doing well and we’ll check it soon.

 

Merry Christmas!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica on:

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

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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

/0 Comments/by