2021 Everest expedition dispatches

Camp III Touched!

The Western Cwm

After touching Camp III, the Everest team is back in Camp II and preparing to head down tomorrow to base camp.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, has all the details:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse expedition.  Today is May 6th and today we climbed up to Camp III on the Lhotse Face.  We had a great day, beautiful weather here on Mount Everest.  A lot of fresh snow on the Lhotse Face made for really good climbing, good conditions.  We made it back in time for a late lunch in Camp II and just finished our dinner here tonight.

We’re gonna head down to base camp tomorrow.  Everyone’s doing okay.  All’s well here with our team on Mount Everest.  And our British climbing friends, Kenton Cool and Jon Gupta, along with their climbers, Ardavan and Rebecca, are planning to head up soon, they’re here at Camp II, and they’re going to make their summit bid, probably, in a few day’s time.  So, it was nice to see them today and wish them good luck.

We’re looking forward to getting down to base camp and resting and relaxing and having a hot shower and enjoying base camp life very soon.

All’s well here on Everest.  We’ll check in soon.  Thanks!

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!

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 Garrett Madison’s 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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Team at Camp II and Getting Ready to Touch Camp III

Everest Camp 2

The entire Everest/Lhotse team is now safely up at Camp II on their second acclimatization rotation and is getting ready to climb up the Lhotse Face in the early morning 750m or so to touch Camp III before descending back to Camp II for the night.  Everest guide, Rob Smith, provides today’s expedition dispatch:

Hi, this is Rob from Everest Camp II.  The climbing team had a rest day today at camp, which is nice.  It snowed quite a bit.  We’ve been digging out tents and swapping a few (tent) fly sheets and we’re having a very early night tonight because we are getting up at 4:00 AM tomorrow to get onto the Lhotse Face and touch Camp III.

So big day tomorrow, tune in again to hear how it goes.  Okay, bye for now!

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!

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 Garrett Madison’s 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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Second Rotation Gets Underway

Views from base camp

With some of the team now up at Camp I, the rest of the group is ready to head up from base camp tonight.  Here are the details from expedition leader, Garrett Madison:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Everest and Lhotse team dispatch.  Today’s May 3rd.

We had a restful day in base camp and are preparing to head up tonight on our second rotation.  Half of our team went up yesterday to Camp I and spent the night.  They’ve been resting there today.  The rest of us will head up tonight and join them hopefully early tomorrow morning and we’ll all make our way together up to Camp II for three nights in Camp II.

Our entire team of climbers, guides, and Sherpas, and Nepal staff are doing well here at Everest base camp and on the mountain and we’re looking forward to heading up and continuing our expedition.  The weather looks pretty good – a little snow in the forecast but not much wind as far as we can see.  So, that bodes well perhaps for an earlier summit than normal, maybe a mid-May summit if we’re lucky – fingers crossed.

All’s well and we’ll check in soon!

Eating breakfast outside this morning, a nice day!

Eating breakfast outside this morning, a nice day!

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!

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 Garrett Madison’s 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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Ready for Second Rotation

Our Everest team is ready for the second rotation.  From Mount Everest base camp, expedition leader Garrett Madison has the plan for what’s next:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse team dispatch.  Today is May 2nd and tonight we are embarking on second rotation.

Our first wave of climbers is heading up tonight, climbing early tomorrow morning of May 3rd through the Icefall to Camp I and will sleep there the night of May 3rd.  Our second wave will depart base camp early on May 4th and climb up to Camp II and join the members who will be sleeping at Camp I.  So we’ll all arrive Camp II together on May 4th for our second rotation and spend about three nights there.

Everone’s doing great here on Everest.  We’re healthy, we’re enjoying the nice weather, and looking forward to getting up high again and hopefully some good views.

We’ll check in soon, thanks!

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!

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 Garrett Madison’s 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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Prepping for Second Rotation

Aang Purba hanging around in the ice.

With our Everest Express team members arriving, the full 2021 Everest team is now in base camp and making their preparations for the Second Rotation.  Everest guide, Terray Sylvester has all the facts:

Hello, this is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering 2021 Mount Everest expedition.  It’s Saturday, May 1st.  Today we had a beautiful morning in camp.  Our Express climbers have arrived, so we spent part of the morning refreshing skills, climbing fixed lines, and repelling out on the ice pyramids just below base camp so we did with the main team a few weeks ago.  Then in the afternoon, we had a light snowfall.

There’s been a convective storm pattern each day, so we’ve had beautiful, sunny mornings then light snow and increasing cloudness each evening.  Right now it’s misty.  We just watched the documentary “Mountain” which was great – some beautiful footage there, including of the Everest area.

Tomorrow, we’ll begin our second acclimatization rotation.  Some of our climbers, including our Express team, will head up to Camp I for a night, and then the following night, the entire team will be up at Camp II.  We’ll spend two nights at Camp II.  We’ll head up on touch Camp III, but not sleep there, descend back down to Camp II for a third night, and then head on back down to base camp – subject to weather and route conditions, of course.

So, all is well here and we will be in touch!

 

Ice training just below base camp

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!

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 Garrett Madison’s 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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Rest day at EBC

The Madison Mountaineering Sherpa Team at EBC

Today the team was kicking back at base camp, playing around with the drone, and generally resting up before the next rotation.  Here’s Madison Mountaineering guide, Rob Smith with his recap of the day:

This is Rob [Smith] from Everest Base Camp.  We’ve all had a nice day here today.  Jim arrived up the trail so that’s the team all complete!  Pretty nice rest day – folks taking it easy, doing some laundry, catching a shower, and this evening we had another fine meal from Deepak and then I gave a chat to everyone on an Axel Heiberg ski trip to the South Pole which was kinda same, same, but different; pictures of snow from Antarctica.  But, it was all good and looking forward to another good day tomorrow.

Bye for now!

 

Aerial view of the 2021 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest Base Camp

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!

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 Garrett Madison’s 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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Team back at EBC

Acclimatization hike above Camp 2

The first acclimatization rotation up the mountain is complete and the Everest team is now safely back in base camp.  Here’s expedition leader, Garrett Madison, with the details:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse team.  Today, April 28th, we came down from Camp II.  We did our first rotation; we had two nights at Camp I, two nights at Camp II.  We had a great time up there – good weather and got some great views.

Today we came down from Camp II through the Khumbu Icefall to base camp.  It was a beautiful day – we got into base camp, had a nice lunch, some showers, naps, and we just finished up our dinner and now we are having a movie.

Everyone’s doing well here.  We’ve been enjoying the time on the mountain.  We’re all healthy, enjoying the climb, and looking forward to a few days of rest here in base camp.  And then heading back up on our next rotation here in a few days and hopefully touching Camp III.

All’s well here in Everest Base Camp!

Climbers in the Western Cwm with the Lhotse Face in the background

Climbers in the Western Cwm with the Lhotse Face in the background

The Western Cwm

The Western Cwm

Everest Camp 2

Everest Camp 2

Climbers descending through the Khumbu Icefall

Climbers descending through the Khumbu Icefall

Art M. loves acclimatizing!

Art M. loves acclimatizing!

Heading down through the Khumbu Icefall with base camp below

Heading down through the Khumbu Icefall with base camp below

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!

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 Garrett Madison’s 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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First Rotation – Camp 2

Camp 2

On their first acclimatization rotation, our Everest team moved up to Camp 2 in the Western Cwm today marking a personal high-point for some of the climbers at nearly 21,300 ft (6490m).  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, phones in the details via satellite phone:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest and Lhotse expedition.  We are up at Camp 2!  It is April 26th and we had a great day climbing from Camp 1 to Camp 2 today – beautiful weather, no wind, no clouds – just a perfect day up here in the mountains.  We got into Camp 2 in the afternoon.  Our Sherpa team did a great job in setting up Camp 2 for us.  We’ve got a nice dining tent with a heater, all of our personal tents are up, and great views all the way around.  It’s really great to be up here.

We spent two nights at Camp 1; restful but a little windy at times, but it was good to acclimatize at Camp 1.  We plan to spend two nights up here before heading back down to base camp before the big snow starts.

All’s well up here and we’ll check in soon.

(photo:  Everest South Col route Camp 2 from the Madison Mountaineering archives)

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!

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 Garrett Madison’s 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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First Rotation – Camp 1

Climbing to Camp 1 on First Rotation

Early this morning our Everest team began their first acclimatization rotation up the mountain by leaving out of base camp about 2:00 AM.  Climbing by headlight through the Khumbu Icefall they reached the mid-point (5727m) around 6:10 AM and pulled into a well-prepared Camp 1 (6059m/19,879ft) after climbing for 8-1/2 hours at 10:30 AM.

Unfortunately, the satellite modem was being a bit finicky so we have just the one photo (by Terray Sylvester) so far, but they will be spending two nights there at Camp 1, so expect to see and hear more before they move further up the Western Cwm to Camp 2 in the coming days.

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!

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 Garrett Madison’s 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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Rest Day at EBC

Evening View of a snowy Everest base camp

The Everest team took a rest day at base camp today while they waited for the snowstorm to move out.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison provides the day’s summary:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Everest expedition team.  We’re in Mount Everest base camp and we had a great day here just resting up.  The snow storm finally abated today about 4 or 5 pm, just before dinner time.  It lasted since yesterday midday and we had about a foot of fresh snow accumulate here in base camp, larger in some spots with the spindrift.  It was nice to have the sky clear up finially and get some good views.

We are looking forward to a good day tomorrow.  We’re going to get prepared tomorrow for our move up to Camp I and II.

Everyone’s doing well in base camp.  We are just happy to be here, having a great time – another great day, good meals, and a good movie.  Everyone’s doing well and we’ll check in soon.

Evening View of a snowy Everest base camp

Evening view of a snow-covered Everest base camp

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!

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 Garrett Madison’s 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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