Team Arrives Namche Bazaar

Everest team on the trek to base camp

Today the climbing and trekking team continued the trek and moved from Phakding up to the “capital of the Khumbu” Namche Bazaar.  Madison Mountaineering guide Terray Sylvester provides a recap of the day:

Hello!  This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition!  It’s Tuesday, April 5th.  Today we all moved from Phakding up to Namche.  We actually had beautiful weather yet again!  The Khumbu Valley is really in bloom right now; lots of flowing trees, rhododendron, flowers along side the trail which made for a really pretty hike.

We made it to Namche Bazaar about 2 o’clock, maybe 2 or 3 in the afternoon.  Some folks headed out to enjoy town a litte bit – lots of good bakeries and cafes and scenery, of course.  Then we had a good dinner and tasty welcome carrot cake here at the Panorama Lodge in Namche.  We’re wrapping up the evening and heading to bed.

Tomorrow we’ll have an active rest day and hike up to the Everest View Hotel.  But we’ll be in touch with a dispatch tomorrow too.

Alright, we’ll be in touch!

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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

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Into the Mountains!

Flying to Lukla

The trekking has started!  The weather Gods permitted the whole team to fly to the mountain village of Lukla (2850m/9,350ft) and complete the first day of trekking towards Everest Base Camp.  Madison Mountaineering guide Terray Sylvester provides a recap of the day:

Hello!  This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition!  It’s Monday, April 4th.  Today we flew from Kathmandu to Lukla.  We had good weather for our flights which was nice because it’s been a little rainy and hazy lately and there was some concern that we would not be able to fly up to Lukla.

Then we trekked on to Phakding (2640m/8,661ft).  So we’re here tonight, just starting dinner, and looking forward to our trek up to Namche (3450m/11,319ft) tomorrow.  The weather is nice, warm, a little cloudy, but dry!

We’ll be in touch!

Ready to fly to Lukla!

Ready to fly to Lukla!

Trekking to Phakding

Trekking to Phakding

Mani Stones

Mani Stones

Taking a break on the trek to Phakding

Taking a break on the trek to Phakding

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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Kathmandu City Tour

Pashupatinath Temple

Today the climbing and trekking teams enjoy a wonderful tour of some of the major sites of Kathmandu and are getting ready to fly up to the mountain village of Luka to begin the trek to Everest base camp tomorrow.  Madison Mountaineering guide Terray Sylvester provides a recap of the day:

Hello!  This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition!  It’s April 3rd.  Today our climbing and trekking teams enjoyed a tour around two of Kathmandu’s seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  We went to Pashupatinath Temple, which is the most famous Hindu temple here in the city and we went to the famous Boudhanath Stupa, which is one of the world’s largest Buddist stupas.

Tomorrow our plan is to fly to Lukla so we can begin our trek up to Everest Base Camp.  That’s an exciting day and so far the weather forecast looks good!  So if all goes as planned, our fixed-winged flights will depart Kathmandu early in the morning and will be in Lukla in time for breakfast.

So all is well here in Nepal and we’ll be in touch!

A stone carving at Pashupatinath Temple

A stone carving at Pashupatinath Temple

Trekker Ryan S. visiting a Buddhist Temple in Boudha

Trekker Ryan S. visiting a Buddhist Temple in Boudha

Butter lamps at Boudhanath Stupa

Butter lamps at Boudhanath Stupa

Pashupatinath Temple

Pashupatinath Temple

Boudhanath Stupa

Boudhanath Stupa

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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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2022 Mount Everest Expedition Kicks Off!

Team Welcome Dinner in Kathamandu

Welcome to Kathmandu!  The Madison Mountaineering Everest 2022 team has arrived in Kathmandu to kick off the Everest expedition and base camp trek.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provided this update:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest expedition team!  Today is April 2nd and all of our members are here now in Kathamandu.  We just finished our gear checks today and had a nice team dinner and we’re looking forward to a city tour tomorrow.  Everyone’s doing well and we’re happy to be here in Nepal and excited to get the adventure underway.

Thanks and we’ll check in soon!

Sara S. chatting with Madison Mountaineering guide Cacho Beiza at the gear check

Sara S. chatting with Madison Mountaineering guide Cacho Beiza at the gear check

Climber Sara S. very excited about all the duffels and to be in Kathmandu!!

Climber Sara S. very excited about all the duffels and being in Kathmandu!!

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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Chimborazo Summit!

Chimborazo summit
Yesterday our team reached the summit of Chimborazo (6263m/20,543ft) – Ecuador’s highest peak and the closest point to the Moon and furthest from Earth’s center! Garrett, Victor (@VictorVescovo), and Estalin left their high camp on Chimborazo (5304m/17,400ft) at midnight and climbed through a mild electrical storm (lightning) to reach the summit at 6 AM on a clear morning.
They had some nice views at the top of this massive glaciated volcano, then made their way down and are now safely back in Quito. They feel very lucky as the previous week the weather and route conditions (snowstorms, deep and unstable snow) made it impossible for climbers to reach the summit of Chimborazo.
This concludes our private expedition to Ecuador, next up is our Mount Everest and Lhotse expedition in Nepal that kicks off in a couple of weeks! Stay tuned!

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 guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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Cotopaxi Summit!

Victor V. and Garrett on the summit of Cotopaxi!

The Madison Mountaineering team of Victor Vescovo (@VictorVescovo), Estalin Suarez, and Garrett Madison had a great climb of Cotopaxi (5897m/19,347ft)! Despite some challenging weather conditions over the last few days their summit morning was nice with some great views from the top!

Victor’s ice axe has been with him to the top of Everest, the bottom of the ocean (Mariana Trench Challenger Deep) during his Five Deeps Expedition and now the summit of Cotopaxi. The climbers were also able to test out their Omega Speedmaster Moonwatches on the climb, the first watch worn on the Moon! Thanks to Omega for helping sponsor the climb!

The team is resting in Banos for a day before heading off to Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest peak and the closest point to the sun. Fingers crossed for good weather and route conditions, as recent teams have turned back on their Chimborazo summit attempts due to deep snow.

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 guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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Greetings from Ecuador!

Garrett, Victor, and Estalin in Ecuador

Our team of Garrett Madison, Victor Vescovo (@VictorVescovo), and Estalin Suarez have begun their mountaineering program by acclimatizing on some ancient and extinct volcanoes before heading to their first objective, Cotopaxi (5897m/19,347ft)! They’ve trekked up Pashachoa, Ruminahui, and are heading to Cotopaxi tomorrow evening to make their first summit attempt. Cotopaxi is a stratovolcano, the second-highest peak in Ecuador and one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.

So far the team has enjoyed some cool and moist weather in the lush countryside.

Stay tuned as they make their way up Cotopaxi and later Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest peak and also the furthest point from the center of the Earth.

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 guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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Back Down to Base Camp

Full team on the summit of Aconcagua

The Aconcagua team are now all back down to base camp safely after standing on the summit of the highest point in South America.  Here’s expedition leader Garrett Madison with today’s expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua team dispatch.  Today’s Friday, February 11th.

Today we descended from Camp 3 (5989m/19,650ft) on Aconcagua down to base camp (4367m/14,327ft).  We had a nice day.  Got down in the early afternoon, set up camp, took some showers, had a nice barbeque lunch, and a celebration dinner this evening.  Everyone’s doing great, we’re happy to be down here in base camp after our summit day yesterday where everyone made it to the top and had great views from the summit.

We’ve heading out tomorrow, hiking back to the Horcones trailhead and then driving to Mendoza.

All’s well here in Argentina.  We’ll check in soon.

On the way up to the top of Aconcagua

On the way up to the top of Aconcagua

Celebration toast in base camp for 100% Aconcagua summit success!

Celebration toast in base camp for 100% Aconcagua summit success!

Climbing to the top of Aconcagua at sunrise

Climbing to the top of Aconcagua at sunrise

View from Aconcagua high camp of the moon and sunset

View from Aconcagua high camp of the moon and sunset

Sunset on Aconcagua

Sunset on Aconcagua

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 guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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100% Aconcagua Summit Success!

Fantastic news!  The entire Aconcagua team stood on the summit (6961m/22,837ft) today and are now safely back down to Camp 3.  Here’s team member Krisli Melesk reporting the happy news:

This is Krisli calling in from Madison Mountaineering 2022 Aconcagua expedition.

I have some excellent news!  The whole team who we started with in Mendoza has just summitted and we are back safely in Camp 3!  We just has some nice beverages and also some snacks.  Everybody is in high spirits and we’re looking forward to heading back to base camp for some warm showers tomorrow and some more beverages, maybe. Haha.

Everybody’s doing great and we have an excellent team.  Everybody been super casual and super nice.  The weather has been amazing today, we were so lucky – clear skies and beautiful views.

I think that’s me over and out.  Lots of love to everybody, family, and friends.  Bye now!

(photo from the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua archives)

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 guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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Aconcagua High Camp (C3)!

Sunset on Aconcagua

Our 2022 Aconcagua team has moved up to High Camp (C3) (5989m/19,650ft) and is in position for the summit attempt tonight! Here’s team member, Todd Ammerman, with today’s dispatch:

Hello!  This is Todd Ammerman checking in from the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition.  Today we had a marvelous day.

We moved from Camp 2 to Camp 3 which I have now learned is at approximately 19,700ft (6005m).  We are getting well hydrated and fueled up.  We’ll start tomorrow for an early summit push.  Everybody is here and in good shape and good spirit.

We are looking for a wonderful day tomorrow.  Hopefully this next dispatch will have great success stories.  Until then!

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 guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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