Today our Kilimanjaro team left Machame Camp and trekked through a hail storm before reaching the warm shelter of their next camp. Garrett and team are now enjoying a beautiful night under the stars where they can see the impressive Milky Way Galaxy. Onward!
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Audio dispatch attached here by Garrett Madison.
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To monitor our climbing team’s exact route to the summit you can view our LIVE RainOn mapping platform here.
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Team photo
Today is Saturday October 1 and our team is currently preparing to leave Arusha, Tanzania where they will travel by car to the Machame entrance (5,900 feet) and begin the adventure through the lush forests. After a nice trek through the jungle our team will arrive at Machame Camp (9,950′). Our climbers will trek alongside local Tanzanian guides and explore the rich culture of Tanzania.
Our team plans to summit the peak on October 6th. To the top!
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Garett Madison calling in for the Kilimanjaro team:
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To monitor our climbing team’s exact route to the summit you can view our LIVE RainOn mapping platform here.
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Climbers from around the world are in route for Kilimanjaro International Airport in Tanzania! Our team’s route up Kilimanjaro, the Machame, will be a non technical adventure through five very distinctive climate zones, allowing ample time for acclimatization. Our team will ascend Kilimanjaro in style, enjoying the incredible views, camaraderie, and sense of accomplishment in climbing one of the famed “7 Summits” at an elevation of 5,895m / 19,341ft
On this great adventure we will have Fred, Dante, Stefano, Ken, Joao, Braulio, Jayme, Petr and Garrett joining us. To the top team!
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To monitor our climbing team’s exact route to the summit you can view our RainOn mapping platform here!
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Our climbing team had a wonderful ascent of Haba ‘Snow Mountain’ above the village of Haba in the Yunnan province of China. The climb was only 3 days followed by some sight seeing in the historical city of Lijiang. The summit of Haba is 5,396m or nearly 18,000′ so this was not a small climb by any means!
We hiked from the village of Haba on our first day of the trip through the dense forest and along mountain streams then came to grassy meadows as we approached our base camp. By the afternoon we reached our camp and had a glimpse of the peak.
On summit day we awoke at 3 AM and departed camp around 4 AM for the summit. We climbed up the rocky slopes and gained the glacier just as the sun began to rise, where we roped up and donned crampons. We then climbed the snow and ice slopes and reached the top at 10:30 AM. We saw only a few other climbers on our ascent, even though it was a holiday weekend in China. At the summit we found the peak marker and savored the moment before heading down to our camp. The next day we hiked down through the lush forest back to the village of Haba, then drove along the scenic ‘Tiger leaping gorge’ back to Lijiang, where we visited the beautiful ‘old town’ that dates back to the 1300’s and enjoyed a traditional Chinese dinner typical of the Yunnan province. It’s been a great adventure with climbers Scott, Florian, Lloyd and Rafael!
To higher places!
Garrett Madison
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To view our climbing team’s exact route to the summit you can view our RainOn mapping platform here!
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Irena & Aparna are having a wonderful trip in the French Alps! Pictured below rock climbing and hiking at FluAlp under the shadow of the Matterhorn this weekend. Yesterday guide Jayson-Simons-Jones spent the day climbing on the Rifflehorn above Zermatt and the Monte Rosa Massif with Irena in preparation for a Matterhorn attempt next time.
Photos taken by Jayson. Enjoy!
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“Beautiful morning with Irena & Aparna on the Entreves Traverse straddling the Italian / French border. A real treat to have this classic alpine ridge climb completely to ourselves!” – Jayson Simons-Jones
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Beautiful early morning sunrise ascent of the classic Traverse du Entreves on the Italian / French border with the Italian Face of Mont Blanc lit up by morning alpenglow behind us. Our climbers Irena & Aparna are having a wonderful time and will continue to explore the beautiful Chamonix valley in the French Alps.
K2 2016 Climbing Season Recap:
Our K2 2016 team made a great effort to climb the peak but it was not meant to be. We are thankful that nobody was injured in the avalanche that came down from high on the mountain on July 23rd and took our Camp 3 and Camp 4 deposit off the mountain. This avalanche resulted in the cancellation of the climbing season for all teams on K2 in 2016. We have enjoyed our time in Pakistan and feel very lucky to have experienced this incredible mountain range, the Karakorum. Please read the National Geographic article here for more information on the recent K2 climbing season.
To Higher Places!
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Amazing Youtube video by Petr Jan Juracka with beautiful drone shots of our 2016 K2 ascent.
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Below please also enjoy 2016 K2 climber Takayasu Semba’s photo’s from the expedition.
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Our summer 2016 Mont Blanc expedition is underway with climbers exploring the beautiful Chamonix valley in the French Alps. Chamonix is where the first winter olympics were held in 1924 and is also considered the ‘birthplace’ of climbing.
Yesterday Irena & Aparna climbed the Cosmiques Arete ridge. Guide Jayson Simons-Jones will teach alpine mountain skills in preparation for Mont Blanc in a few days time. Right now Chamonix is in the midst of an above average heatwave, and this allowed our team to make a completely crampon free ascent of this alpine classic mixed rock snow and ice ridge climb (II+ AD / 5.6)
This past week our climbers had an action packed two day climb of Mount Rainier in Washington State. Starting at an elevation of 5,400 feet at Paradise our team, led by Garrett Madison, made the three hour ascent with gear to Camp Muir (10,188). Camp Muir is a high altitude refuge for all climbers and provides a staging point between the Muir Snowfield and the Cowlitz Glacier.
After setting up camp and eating a delicious dinner, our climbing team prepared for the long night of climbing ahead. After waking up at 11pm to a full moon, we gathered our gear and roped up before heading off toward the summit. As the hours passed we worked our way across three ladder crossings over large crevasse’s. Nearing the summit we were pleasantly warmed up by the sun breaking over the distant horizon with a spectacular red and orange sky.
All members of our team successfully made it to the summit and had a wonderful time on the mountain. We look forward to returning to Mount Rainier again in 2017!
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