Rest and Recon at Low Camp

Today on Christmas Eve, the Vinson team took a rest day at Low Camp.  Garrett Madison, expedition leader, called in with the following details:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson expedition.  Today is December 24th.  We had a great day here at Low Camp, perfect weather all day – warm, sunny, no wind.  We had a rest day here – slept in late, had a nice breakfast, and did some training today.

 

And then climbed partway up the route to check it out.  All looks good and we’re excited to be heading up to High Camp tomorrow!  We will check in on Christmas Day when we get up to High Camp tomorrow.

(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:

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Moved up to Low Camp

Mount Vinson Low Camp

Today the Vinson team #1 made the move from base camp to Low Camp (2940m/9,100ft).  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, reports in with today’s dispatch via sat phone:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson expedition.  Today is December 23rd and today we climbed from Vinson base camp up to Low Camp.

 

It took us about five and half hours and we got up to Low Camp in the evening, dug out our cache and set up camp.  We had a nice dinner.

 

All tucked into our tents now and getting ready to go to sleep here.  Everyone did great today!  We had beautiful weather – it was a nice warm day, hardly any wind, and great views all around.  So a wonderful day climb up Mount Vinson.

 

Our plan for tomorrow is to take a rest.  Everyone’s doing great.  We will 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:

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Carrying loads towards Low Camp

Hauling sleds!

After a day of carrying loads up towards Low Camp, expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in via sat phone from Vinson base camp:

Hello, this is Garrett Madison calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson expedtion #1. Today is December 22nd and we are at Vinson base camp. We had a great day. We carried a load up part way to Low Camp, returned back to base camp and organized our gear and our food for our move up tomorrow to Low Camp. Everyone is doing great here in base camp, weather is improving and we’re looking forward to moving up the mountain soon. Everything’s well here at Vinson.  We’ll check in soon!

(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:

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Mount Vinson Base Camp

Our team has arrived at Mount Vinson Base Camp and expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provides a brief recap of today’s activities via satellite phone:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson climb #1. We made it to Mount Vinson base camp today. The Twin Otter flew us out of Union Glacier camp. We arrived at Vinson base camp in the afternoon, set up our camp and cooked dinner.  We had a great meal and now were just tucked into our tents and our sleeping bags getting ready for a good night’s rest.  All’s well here at Vinson base camp.  We’ll check in soon.  Thanks!

(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:

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Vinson team arrives Union Glacier camp, Antarctica

Union Glacier Camp

Garrett and our first Mount Vinson team for the season have arrived at Union Glacier camp, Antarctica and are looking forward to flying on to Mount Vinson base camp today:

Hello, this is Garrett Madison calling in for the Mount Vinson team #1. We have arrived at Union Glacier camp! We got in about 1:00 AM today, Saturday December 21st. We’re really happy to get out of Punta Arenas and had a smooth flight to Antarctica and landing at Union Glacier camp.

 

We got in, had a nice meal and set up our tents and now we are all tucked in and looking forward to a good sleep and having breakfast tomorrow at 9:00 AM. Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow and we can fly over to Vinson base. We’ll check in soon, thanks!

(photo:  Linda Wohlgemuth from the 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:

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Vinson team #1 standing by in Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas

Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, called in today reporting on the kick-off of our first Mount Vinson expedition of the season in Antarctica:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson expedition #1. Today is Wednesday, December 18th, and we are in Punta Arenas. We’ve been here a few days, all packed up, and ready to go. Everything is loaded on the Ilyushin Il-76 jet ready to fly us from here to Union Glacier camp, Antarctica.

 

But, the weather is bad so we can’t fly so we’re just waiting here. But, we are making the most of it. We’ve had a great time visiting the penguins, checking out the museums in town, walking along the coastline, and enjoying some great meals here in Punta Arenas. Some wonderful restaurants!

 

So everyone’s doing well, we’re having a good time, and just hoping with fingers crossed that we will have some good weather in a couple of days to fly to Antarctica.

Mount Vinson team #1 ready to go!

Dinner in Punta Arenas

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:

 

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Mount Vinson Kicking-off Soon!

We are excited to once again be heading off to Antarctica to climb the southernmost of the Seven Summits, Mount Vinson.  The first of our two expeditions this season heads out on December 18th.  Stay tuned here for daily updates once we get underway.

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:

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