2024 K2 expedition dispatches

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The Madison Mountaineering Karakoram expedition teams are nearing their base camp at the foot of K2! The trek has been excellent so far with great views of awe-inspiring peaks and time well spent together as a team. It won’t be long until we’re settling into our base camp tents, beginning skills review, and organizing equipment for the climbing to come! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from the Karakoram:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the K2 (8611m/28,251ft) expedition team along with our Unclimbed Peak team and Broad Peak (8051m/26,414ft) climber. We are trekking to base camp (4968m/16,300ft)!

We’ve had a great trek so far. We’re at Goro 2 Camp (4285m/14,058ft), just before Concordia (4570m/14,993ft). We’ve had great weather, amazing views of all the surrounding peaks, and looking forward to arriving in K2 Base Camp in a day or two.

All is well here! We’re having a great time and will 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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.

Instagram:

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

After an adventurous Jeep ride from Skardu to Askole, the team is excited to hit the trail and begin the trek through the Karakoram on the way toward base camp. Clear skies will make for excellent views as they trek up the valley with peaks in every direction. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Askole:

Hello! This is Garrett checking in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 (8611m/28,251ft) expedition along with the Unclimbed Peak and Broad Peak (8051m/26,414ft) expeditions.

We made it to Askole (3040m/9,974ft) yesterday from Skardu (2220m/7283ft). We had an adventurous Jeep ride and a restful night in Askole – nice and cool up here in the high country! Today we are starting the trek to base camp. It’s beautiful weather here, the group’s doing well, and we’re excited to get underway! First day heading up the trail and looking forward to reaching Jhola camp (3151m/10,338ft) this afternoon.

All is well and 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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.

Instagram:

The 2024 Madison Mountaineering team in Skardu!

Here we go! The 2024 Karakoram season is underway in Pakistan. Our K2, Unclimbed Peak, and Broad Peak teams have since arrived in Islamabad where they kicked off their expeditions, and shortly after continued their journey to Skardu. The team did some sightseeing today and made final preparations before they start the trek through the Karakoram to K2 Base Camp. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Skardu:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 (8611m/28,251ft) expedition along with the Unclimbed Peak and Broad Peak (8051m/26,414ft).

We made it to Skardu (2220m/7283ft) yesterday! We had a flight from Islamabad (540m/1,770ft) and got to Skardu yesterday morning, spent the day organizing our equipment, and had a nice team dinner here in Skardu. Today we’re doing some sightseeing, checking out the local market, picking up a few last-minute items, and finishing up sorting our equipment before we head out tomorrow by Jeep to Askole (3040m/9,974ft).

Everyone’s doing well here! It’s hot, the weather is good, we’re excited, happy to be here, and looking forward to the journey ahead!


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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.

Instagram: