Climb to Camp I

The Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam expedition team climbed from base camp to Camp I today, marking the start of their first rotation on the mountain. The team is excited to be moving after waiting out the storm that came last week, now finally stepping foot on the mountain and moving closer toward their climbing objective. With more good weather in the forecast, the team plans to move up to Camp II tomorrow, further contributing to their acclimatization and familiarity with the route. Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch via Garmin InReach from Camp I on Ama Dablam:

Hello from Camp 1 (5791m/19,000ft) on Ama Dablam (6812m/22,349ft)! Today we started our acclimatization rotation by moving here from base camp (4600m/15,100ft). The weather was perfect and our team moved at a good pace. With 2+ feet of snow on the ground the route was in uncommon condition — often the route from base camp to Camp 1 is virtually snow-free — but with a good trail beaten in, the snow likely made today a bit less challenging than usual, particularly on the final scree field below camp 1, where it filled in gaps between boulders. We’ve eaten dinner and we’re now going to bed. Tomorrow we plan to tag Camp 2 (5980m/19,619ft).

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:

• @MadisonMtng
• @GarrettMadison1
• @terray_s