Mount Everest 2023 Season Recap

The Madison Mountaineering team with the summit of Mount Everest all to themselves on May 24, 2023 (Photo: Terray Sylvester)

We had great climbs of Everest (May 24th) and Lhotse (May 25th). The conditions were the best I’ve ever had on summit day; warm, calm, and hardly any other climbers on the route. We had the summit all to ourselves for over an hour. In addition to eight clients, four guides, and 15 Nepal Sherpas reaching the summit of Everest, we had three clients, two guides, and three Sherpas reach the summit of Lhotse the following day. Peter Horsman became the first Dutchman, Debbie Bulten became the first Canadian woman, and Danah Ali became the first Emirati to complete the Everest & Lhotse peak to peak combination.

Unfortunately, on the way down from Camp 4 on May 25th at 7500m, one of our climbers, Pieter Swart passed away in the evening from a rapid onset lung infection / pulmonary edema. Guides, Terray Sylvester & Scott Webster spent the entire day with him assisting in his descent, joined by myself and Cacho Beiza from 1:00 pm onwards after our Lhotse climb, as we attempted to descend with him down to Camp 3 where a helicopter rescue might be possible. We will remember him fondly for his kindness and enthusiasm towards our team and for living life to the fullest.

At this time, our focus is working with the Nepalese agencies to support Pieter’s family and our team as we conclude our expedition here in Nepal.

To higher places,

Garrett Madison

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:

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Back in Base Camp

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo: Terray Sylvester)

The 2023 Madison Mountaineering team is back in base camp after summits on Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with a quick update from Everest Base Camp:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest (8848m/29,032ft), Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) and Nuptse (7861m/25,791ft) expedition. Today is May 26th, we’re down in base camp (5364m/17,598ft).

We had great climbs of Everest, Lhotse, also Nuptse earlier in the season. The last of our Sherpas are coming down the mountain tomorrow. Some of our climbers have already flown to Kathmandu (1400m/4,600ft), enjoying hot showers in a hotel room tonight. The rest of us are here in base camp and planning to head out tomorrow.

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:

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Lhotse Summits!

On May 25th at approximately 10:25 AM local time, our team of Lhotse climbers successfully reached the summit of the world’s fourth highest peak and are returning to Camp 2! We are extremely proud of the team and this tremendous accomplishment. With that, we are pleased to present the 2023 Madison Mountaineering Lhotse summiteers list:

# NAME COUNTRY
1 Garrett Madison United States
2 Debbie Bulten Canada
3 Danah Al Ali United Arab Emirates
4 Javier “Cacho” Beiza Argentina
5 Peter Horsman Netherlands
6 Lakpa Sherpa Nepal
7 Aang Phurba Sherpa Nepal
8 Dawa Tenji Sherpa Nepal

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:

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Top of the World!

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo: Terray Sylvester)

We are thrilled to announce that the 2023 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition team has successfully reached the summit of the tallest mountain on Earth, and safely returned to their tents at Camp 4! The team all reached the top between 10:30 AM and 12:00 PM NPT (local time) and enjoyed a magnificent summit day complete with sunshine, little wind, great route conditions, and the route (mostly) to themselves.

Congratulations to the team and and a heartfelt thank you goes out to our rockstar Sherpa team and support staff! This incredible feat would not be possible without them.

Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with today’s dispatch as he tries to find the words for a truly special day on Mount Everest:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in from the South Col (7900m/25,919ft) for the Madison Mountaineering Everest (8848m/29,032ft) and Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) expedition team. We had a great summit today on Mount Everest! Best summit day ever that I can remember.

We started about 2:00 AM after a brief snowstorm here on the South Col, made our way up the triangular face to the balcony, up to the south summit, and up to the top of the world – summit of Mount Everest, about 9:30 – 10:00 AM. It was a glorious day! The best conditions and best route conditions that I can remember, perfect weather. It was warm, hardly any wind, hardly any other climbers on the mountain. We spent about two hours total, some of us, after summit just basking in the views, warmth and enjoying being at the top of Mount Everest. So, we had eight clients, four guides and 15 Nepal Sherpas get to the top today, including Aang Phurba Sherpa. And now, we’re all back safe in Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft)!

Our plan is to go to bed, we just had some dinner. Some of us are going to wake up in a few hours, and head off to climb Lhotse – a neighboring peak of Mount Everest, the fourth highest mountain in the world.

So, the perfect summit day! (I) can’t believe how lucky we were, it was so nice up there. So lucky in so many ways! It was a glorious day and glad we’re all back safe.

Tomorrow some of us will go to Lhotse, the rest of us down to Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft), and the following day down to base camp (5364m/17,598ft). All is well here on Everest! 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:

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Summit Push – It’s Time!

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo: Terray Sylvester)

The 2023 Madison Mountaineering Everest expedition team is primed and ready to make their summit push on the world’s highest peak! In just a few short hours, the team will emerge from their tents, dawn their packs, and leave the South Col in the direction of Mount Everest’s summit ridge which will take them to the summit. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from the South Col:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest (8848m/29,032ft) and Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) expedition team. Today is May 23rd and we are up here at Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft) on the South Col. We got up here yesterday afternoon and had a good nights sleep, a restful day recovering and preparing for our summit attempt tonight. So the weather looks great, probably the best day of the season coming up, fingers crossed.

The team is ready and our plan is to wake up in a few hours time and head out around midnight to make our summit attempt on Mount Everest! So we are doing our last minute preparations here, finishing our dinner, filling our water bottles, we’ll sleep for 2 hours before we get up and go.

Wish us luck! We’ll check in tomorrow.

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:

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Summit Push – Camp 4

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo: Terray Sylvester)

The 2023 Madison Mountaineering team is safely settled into their tents at Camp 4 (C4) on the South Col, between the summits of both Everest and Lhotse. This being their high camp, they plan to take a rest day tomorrow so that they are ready to go when it becomes time to make their summit push! Weather permitting, the team aims to begin their summit push tomorrow night. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with today’s dispatch from C4:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest (8848m/29,032ft) and Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) expedition. Today is May 22nd, and we are up at Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft) on Mount Everest, also known as the South Col here at 26,000 feet or just under 8,000 meters.

We’re doing great! We had a good climb up from Camp 3 (7230m/23,720ft) today – it was a long day. We started at about 6:30 and got up here at about 3:30 in the afternoon. We’ve had dinner and filled up some hot water bottles, changed our oxygen cylinders, and we are getting ready for bed now. Our plan is to have a restful night, rest day tomorrow, and then leave tomorrow night for the summit. So, aiming for May 24th! The weather looks great, snowing right now – it’s been snowing this afternoon, but the wind is supposed to be calm on May 24th and 25th. We’re looking forward to a nice day up here tomorrow to recover, enjoy some good views, and get all prepped and ready for our summit climb tomorrow night!

All is well here at the South Col on Mount Everest!

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:

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Summit Push – Camp 3

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo: Terray Sylvester)

Onward and upward! Having rested up yesterday, the team got back to work today and climbed part way up the Lhotse Face to Camp 3 (C3) where they are settled into their tents for the night. With good weather, they’ll continue on up the mountain tomorrow to their high camp at 7,900m / 25,919ft. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from C3:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest (8848m/29,032ft) and Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) expedition. Today is May 21st, and today we climbed from Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft) up to Camp 3 (7230m/23,720ft). We left a little after 6:00 AM and had great weather today, sunny and clear all the way up to Camp 3. Then moved into our tents, had some lunch, relaxed… We had a little bit of snow in the afternoon, some clouds, but nice weather overall, hardly any wind.

The team’s doing great and we are really excited to climb up to Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft) tomorrow! Thank you for following along and we 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:

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Camp 2 – Rest Day

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo: Terray Sylvester)

Following a full day yesterday, the team took a rest day today, enjoying good weather, food, and rest. The climbing has been smooth thus far and everyone is looking forward to the move up to Camp 3 tomorrow! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Camp 2:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest (8848m/29,032ft) and Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) expedition. We are up at Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft) and everyone is doing well!

Yesterday, we climbed up from base camp (5364m/17,598ft) through the Khumbu Icefall, across Camp 1 (6050m/19,849ft), and up to Camp 2 here. Everyone is great. We have really good weather, good route conditions and got into Camp 2 in the afternoon.

It’ll be a nice restful day, dinner, and good night’s sleep. So, today we’re just resting. Our Sherpa team is up now on the Lhotse Face at Camp 3 (7230m/23,720ft), setting up our tent platforms and getting things ready for us to move up to Camp 3  tomorrow. So the plan is move up to Camp 3 on the 21st and the weather looks good! It looks like some calm days ahead, so we are excited for the forecast and moving up the mountain to give Everest and Lhotse our best shot!

So, we’ll check in soon. All is well here on Mount Everest!

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:

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Summit Push – Camp 2

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo: Terray Sylvester)

Good news from the 2023 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest and Lhotse expedition… The team has safely and successfully made it through the Khumbu Icefall and settled into their tents for the night at Camp 2! Good weather and route conditions made for smooth climbing through the icefall and into the Western Cwm. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checked in with this brief update from Camp 2 on Mount Everest:

We all made it up to camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft), nice weather and good conditions!

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:

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Summit Rotation Delayed

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo: Terray Sylvester)

After an alpine start to their day, the team is back in Everest Base Camp (EBC) due to a collapse in the icefall. Our team is all safe and back to their beds, with hopes that the route gets reopened soon, so that they can move up the mountain tomorrow. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this brief update from EBC:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Mount Everest (8848m/29,032ft) expedition team. Today is May 18th, it’s about 2:30 in the morning here at Everest Base Camp (5364m/17,598ft). We set out two or three hours ago for our first rotation to move up to Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft), but after leaving base camp and just about getting into the icefall, we encountered some climbers coming back down who had tried to go up, and had encountered a collapse in the icefall where the route was broken about half the way up.

So, we’re going to rest today and hopefully the icefall doctors can get up there and repair that section of the route that’s broken, and then our plan is to go again tomorrow. So, one day behind our anticipated schedule, but everyone’s doing well here! Good practice, good dry run this morning, looking forward to getting some sleep and then going for it again tomorrow!

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:

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