K2 Summit on a beautiful day!!

K2 Summit!! Garrett just called in this report from K2 Camp 4 on their way down:

Hey this is Garrett calling in for the K2 expedition team. We reached the summit of K2 today!! Second highest mountain in the world! We had a beautiful day. We left high camp about 9:00 PM and got to the summit about 6:30-7:00 AM – all members were on top. We had it all to ourselves, no other crews were up there. Beautiful day! We saw many other great peaks in the Karakoram. Wonderful views as far as the eye can see. Really a magnificent climb!

Right now we are all back at Camp 4. The last climbers are trickling back to Camp 4. Our plan is to rest up, have some soup, and then head on down to Camp 2 for the night. It’s a big push, another 4 or 5 hours from here but we’d really like to get down to Camp 2.

We had a great day, just wonderful weather up high, no wind, great team of climbers, Sherpa, and guides. We had a total of 8 clients on top, 3 guides, 9 Nepali Sherpas, and 4 Pakistani high altitude porters. Great day!

We are looking forward to a safe descent and being in Base Camp tomorrow. We will check soon.

Team on K2 Summit


Garrett Madison on the summit of K2


On the way to the summit of K2


On the way to the summit of K2


Heading up from K2 Camp 4


K2 Camp 4

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K2 Summit on a beautiful day!

K2 Summit!! Garrett just called in this report from K2 Camp 4 on their way down:

Hey this is Garrett calling in for the K2 expedition team. We reached the summit of K2 today!! Second highest mountain in the world! We had a beautiful day. We left high camp about 9:00 PM and got to the summit about 6:30-7:00 AM – all members were on top. We had it all to ourselves, no other crews were up there. Beautiful day! We saw many other great peaks in the Karakoram. Wonderful views as far as the eye can see. Really a magnificent climb!

Right now we are all back at Camp 4. The last climbers are trickling back to Camp 4. Our plan is to rest up, have some soup, and then head on down to Camp 2 for the night. It’s a big push, another 4 or 5 hours from here but we’d really like to get down to Camp 2.

We had a great day, just wonderful weather up high, no wind, great team of climbers, Sherpa, and guides. We had a total of 8 clients on top, 3 guides, 9 Nepali Sherpas, and 4 Pakistani high altitude porters. Great day!

We are looking forward to a safe descent and being in Base Camp tomorrow. We will check soon.

Team on K2 Summit


Garrett Madison on the summit of K2


On the way to the summit of K2


On the way to the summit of K2


Heading up from K2 Camp 4


K2 Camp 4

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(unconfirmed) K2 Summit

We are waiting for official confirmation from Garrett and the team, but based on one team member’s GPS tracking device, it appears they reached the summit (approximately 06:30 AM local time) and are currently on their way down!

More details when we get them…

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Headed for the K2 summit tonight!!

Audio dispatch via satellite phone this evening from K2 Camp 4 (8,000 m / 26,250 ft.):

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the K2 expedition team. Today is July 21st and we are up at Camp 4! High camp on K2! We has a great day climbing from Camp 3 up to Camp 4. We had some rest here, eating some dinner, getting ready to go for the summit tonight! Our plan is to leave tonight about 9:00 PM and hopefully reach the top sometime tomorrow morning around 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 AM. Everyone is doing great! Today our rope fixing team made it to the summit of K2 along with some other climbers. So we are feeling really good about the route conditions. The weather looks good tomorrow and fingers crossed for good climbing. We’ll check in soon. Thanks!

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Headed for the K2 summit tonight!

Audio dispatch via satellite phone this evening from K2 Camp 4 (8,000 m / 26,250 ft.):

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the K2 expedition team. Today is July 21st and we are up at Camp 4! High camp on K2! We has a great day climbing from Camp 3 up to Camp 4. We had some rest here, eating some dinner, getting ready to go for the summit tonight! Our plan is to leave tonight about 9:00 PM and hopefully reach the top sometime tomorrow morning around 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 AM. Everyone is doing great! Today our rope fixing team made it to the summit of K2 along with some other climbers. So we are feeling really good about the route conditions. The weather looks good tomorrow and fingers crossed for good climbing. We’ll check in soon. Thanks!

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Some post-climb pics!

Some shots from head guide Billy Nugent on the gorgeous day in Washington’s North Cascades!

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Perfectly clear summit skies bless success on Mt. Baker

Mt. Baker

Head guide Billy Nugent reports:

Billy here checking in from the Hogsback Camp on the North side of Mt. Baker after a safe and successful climb!

We started the morning off with an alpine start making our way up onto the Coleman glacier through some thick clouds that gave us some pretty lousy visibility. Fortunately for us, we climbed up above the thick layer of marine clouds right around the first hint of dawn.

The rest of our climb we enjoyed perfectly clear skies, light winds, and an almost empty route. It’s a rare treat on Mt. Baker to see so few other climbers. The climbing route itself was also in pretty good shape with few crevasse problems and generally good snow conditions.

The only thing worth noting was a massive icefall that came down off Colfax peak (a satellite peak of Baker) that left a massive tongue of debris across the climbing route. It’s definitely the biggest icefall I’ve seen come off Colfax. Ever. All the same it didn’t really pose much of a problem for us beside a few minutes of uneven footwork as we crossed the debris pile.

All in all it was smooth trip and we are stoked to have tagged the top! We’re gonna finish up packing our camp and hoof it back to the trailhead this afternoon. Pizza and beer is calling our name!

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K2 team tucked into Camp 3

K2 Camp 3 as seen this evening

Audio dispatch via satellite phone this evening from K2 Camp 3:

Hey this is Garrett calling in for the K2 expedition team! Today is July 20th and we are up at Camp 3 – tucked into our tents, just finished our dinner. We had a big climb today from Camp 2, up over the Black Pyramid and on to the glacier here at Camp 3. Some fairly thick clouds as we arrived into camp. We could see a little blue sky and we are hoping for continuing improving weather for the next couple of days. Our rope team [garbled] has been up high working the last two and half days on fixing lines up through the Bottleneck, the Traverse, and they are making good progress but still a lot of hard work to be done. So we are hoping their last day is a very productive one. The weather looks good and everything is on track. Our plan is to move Camp 4 tomorrow. Everyone is doing well and we are enjoy the views here at Camp 3. We will check soon. Thanks.

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Hanging tight for good weather at Camp 2!

Audio dispatch via satellite phone this evening from K2 Camp 2:

Hello this is Garret calling in for the K2 expedition. Today is July 19th and we have been sitting tight at Camp 2 today. We had some snow last night so we decided to stay here at Camp 2. [garbled] And let’s see if we might get good weather in the forecast. So our plan, tentatively, is to move up to Camp 3 tomorrow. We will take a look at the forecast and conditions tomorrow when we get up and have breakfast around 06:00 AM and hopefully we’ll be moving to Camp 3! Everyone’s doing well here and we will check in soon. Thanks!

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Up through House’s Chimney to Camp 2

Climbing up House's Chimmey on K2

Audio dispatch via satellite phone this evening from K2 Camp 2:

Hey this is Garrett calling in for the K2 expedition team. Today is July 18th and we are up at Camp 2 tucked into our tents! We had a good day coming up to Camp 2. It’s been snowing most of the day and a little breezy but hopefully good weather is on the way. So all’s well here. We are listening to some music in the tent, making some hot water, about to have dinner, go to sleep and tomorrow plan to move up to Camp 3. Our Sherpas are up at Camp 4. They made a good effort today in fixing ropes up towards the Bottleneck. But they still have a long ways to go. So fingers crossed for good weather in the future. That’s all for now, we will check in again soon, bye.

Climbing into House's Chimmey on K2

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