We are pleased to announce the following team members successfully obtained the summit of K2 (8,611 m / 28,251 ft) on July 28, 2018 at approximately 6:07 AM PKT (local time):
Our K2 team is safely resting up at high camp, Camp 4 (7681m/25,200ft.), and preparing to go for the summit in about 90 minutes!! Be sure to follow along with our real-time location tracker: https://madisonmountaineering.com/maps/k2-2021.
Godspeed team! Get up and back down safely.
If climbing K2 or Broad Peak 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:
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.“
The K2 team is now in place at Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft.) and setting their sights on a summit attempt in two days on the 28th. Here’s expedition leader Garrett Madison’s recap of the day’s climbing and the plan for what’s next:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 and Broad Peak expedition team. Today is July 26th and we are up at Camp 3.
It was a beautiful day climbing up from Camp 2, clear skys, not much wind, and not many people on the route actually. We were the only team moving up. So, we had a great day climbing the Black Pyramid and got into Camp 3 here, about 24,000 ft., this afternoon. We’re just taking it easy, resting.
Our Sherpa team, which was fixing lines today, was able to make it up The Shoulder through The Bottleneck, around the Traverse, and nearly up to The Bench on the way towards the final pitches to the summit. So that’s great news!
I think the Pioneer team is going for it tonight and we wish them the best of luck and good conditions.
Our plan is to rest here tomorrow and head up tomorrow evening. So our plan is to leave the evening of the 27th and hopefully get to the top on the morning of the 28th. Fingers crossed! I’m praying this great weather continues and these good conditions hold.
Everyone’s doing well here in Camp 3. Thanks for following!
Kenton and Rob on the way to K2 Camp 3
If climbing K2 or Broad Peak 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:
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.“
On their summit push, our K2 team climbed up from Camp 1 to Camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft.) today under beautiful weather and route conditions. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provides today’s expedition dispatch from 6,700 meters:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 and Broad Peak expedition team. Today is July 25th and we are up at Camp 2.
Our whole team’s up here: all nine climbers and most of our sherpa team, except for five of our Nepal sherpas who are up at Camp 4 (7681m/25,200ft.) tonight. They climbed up from Camp 2 to Camp 4 today and tomorrow and the next day they are going to work on fixing lines above Camp 4 in anticipation of our arrival.
So, we had a beautiful day today, sunny skies, warm temps, almost too warm for us. But we got into Camp 2 around noon and have just been relaxing, enjoying the amazing views up here, and getting ready for some dinner and a good night’s rest. And then tomorrow, we’ll be off early on our way up to Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft.).
All’s well here, the team’s doing excellent, and we’re excited that more good weather is on the way and we’re headed up the route! We’ll check-in soon, thanks!
If climbing K2 or Broad Peak 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:
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.“
The weather looks good and our K2 team will begin their summit push tomorrow morning! Expedition Leader, Garrett Madison has called in with this expedition dispatch:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 and Broad Peak expedition team. Today’s July 23rd and we are about to head up on our summit rotation.
Our plan is to leave base camp tomorrow morning on the 24th and head up to Camp 1, following day up to Camp 2, next day to Camp 3, following day to Camp 4 and to go for the summit on July 28th! So, fingers crossed we’ll have good weather and good route conditions and some great views up there. We’re looking forward to getting up high on the mountain and returning to Base Camp in about a week.
All’s well here, everyone’s excited, feeling well rested, healthy, strong, and looking forward to getting up the mountain. We’ll check in soon. Thanks!
The view of K2 on the eve of our summit push
The view of Broad Peak on the eve of our summit push
If climbing K2 or Broad Peak 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:
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.“
Our K2/Broad Peak team is still waiting out the weather at K2 base camp. Here’s Garrett with the latest status update:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 and Broad Peak expedition team. Today’s July 22nd and we’ve had another easy, restful day here in base camp.
The stormy weather seems to be passing at the moment, but still windy up high. We’re all doing well here in base camp, had a few showers today, and just going over our gear and our food, and our plan for our summit push which we hope to start sometime in the next week, but not sure when. It all depends on the weather forecast.
So all’s well here in K2 and we’ll check in soon.
If climbing K2 or Broad Peak 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:
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PHOTO-2021-07-22-05-45-07.jpg16001200Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2021-07-22 12:45:562021-07-22 14:22:46Waiting Out the Weather
With some great weather during their rest period, the team enjoyed some BBQ in K2 base camp. Here is expedition leader Garrett Madison with today’s expedition dispatch:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 and Broad Peak expedition team. Today is July 18th and we’ve add a restful few days in base camp with some great weather the last few days.
Our sherpa team has finished carrying all of the equipment, oxygen, ropes, tents up to Camp 4 and fixing lines to Camp 4 on K2 and they’re all back in base camp now. So, we’re resting here in base camp and there is a storm perdicted to develop starting tomorrow. Big snowfall starting tomorrow over the next few days and then some very high winds up to 100km per hour near the summit.
So, our plan is to hunker down here in base camp for a few days, let the storm pass, and then, hopefully, we’ll have some good weather the last week of July starting the 24th or 25th and we can plan for our summit attempt.
We’ve been following the teams making their summit attempts on Broad Peak today and fingers crossed for them. Wishing them the best of luck and a safe descent. We’ll wait to see how that all plays out for them. But all’s good here in K2 base camp and we look forward to checking in soon.
Today’s view of K2 from base camp
BBQ in K2 Base Camp!
If climbing K2 or Broad Peak 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:
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PHOTO-2021-07-18-04-06-04.jpg7681024Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2021-07-18 11:03:092021-07-18 15:37:40BBQ in K2 Base Camp!
The K2 team is enjoying some good weather for resting in base camp and looking forward to making their summit attempt plans after the next storm system passes through. Here’s expedition leader Garrett Madison with all the details:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 and Broad Peak expedition team. We are here in K2 Base Camp and weather is great. It’s beautiful day and we’re just resting up.
Our sherpas are up on K2 on the Abruzzi Route finishing some load carries to Camp 3 and Camp 4 and some rope fixing as well and getting Camp 4 all stocked up with our equipment for our summit push which we hope do some time in late July.
It looks like after the next couple of days of good weather there will be some snow, a lot of snow actually, and some high winds for a few days. So we are gonna let that storm system pass through and then hopefully by around July 24th we’ll have another patch of good weather enough to make a plan for a summit attempt.
So everyone’s doing well here, we’re just resting up, admiring the views. We’re watching a few climbers make their summit push on Broad Peak right now. They’re going up to Camp 3 and probably going for the summit tomorrow. So it will be fun to watch their progress.
But, all’s well here in Pakistan on the Baltoro Glacier and we’ll check in soon. Thanks!
Looking down the glacier towards Chogolisa from the Gilkey memorial
If climbing K2 or Broad Peak 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:
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PHOTO-2021-07-16-00-15-29.jpg9001600Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2021-07-16 07:15:102021-07-16 15:20:36Good Weather for Resting in Base Camp
Great video interview of Garrett Madison by the nexus of all high-altitude climbing news, Alan Arnette.
Garrett Madison, founder of Madison Mountaineering is one of the few people on the planet to have summited K2 twice. He’s hoping to get his third this 2021 summer. This is his sixth expedition to K2 making him the most experienced western operator to run regular trips to the Northern Terrorities of Pakistan.
With the new 4G Cell tower in Concordia, Garret took the hour walk from K2 Base Camp to Broad Peak Base Camp to talk with me over Zoom about his expedition. We discussed their rotations to Camp 1 and 2, the snow conditions on the mountain, what happens when he finds bodies on the mountain, and more. I think you’ll enjoy getting this first-hand information directly from Northern Pakistan.
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Garrett-Interview-2.jpg413734Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2021-07-15 15:37:382021-07-15 15:52:03(Almost) Live from the Karakorum!
The K2 team has completed the first acclimatization rotation up the mountain to Camp 2 and Garrett Madison, expedition leader, provides all the details in today’s expedition dispatch from K2 base camp:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 and Broad Peak expedition. Today is July 13 and yesterday we got down from our first rotation on the Abruzzi Ridge of K2. We spent five nights in total above base camp: one night in Advanced Base Camp (ABC), two nights in Camp 1, and two nights in Camp 2 at about 22,200 ft.
We’re back in base camp and it’s stormin’! It’s snowing, windy, and we’re hunkering down to stay warm. Hopefully good weather’s on the way; we could use some sun and some warmth. But everyone’s doing well here, we’re staying entertained with books, movies, board games, and just resting up and enjoying some GREAT food. So, we’re very comfortable here and looking forward to some good weather in the days ahead.
We’ll check in soon, thanks!
Garrett Madison says “hello” from the Abruzzi Ridge on K2
The view from K2’s Abruzzi Ridge
If climbing K2 or Broad Peak 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:
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.“
