Over the weekend, a storm hit the Himalayas that dropped over a meter of fresh snowfall in some places, leaving hundreds stranded in different areas. The Madison Mountaineering team remains safely in Tingri, with plans to resume the Cho Oyu expedition when the weather improves. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison joined CNN to comment on the storm and it’s impact on the current climbing and trekking season:
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The Madison MountaineeringCho Oyu expedition team is in Tingri, waiting out the snow storm that hit the Himalayas over the last few days. A huge shoutout to our Sherpa team who has been keeping the camp in order! Without them, these expeditions would not be possible. The team is looking forward to moving back up to camp again soon! Once back in advanced base camp, our sights will turn to the summit with the highly anticipated summit rotation set to start when weather and route conditions allow. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Tibet:
We are down in Tingri at about 14,500 feet. We dropped down a couple of days ago from advanced base camp to wait out the big snowstorm that hit the Himalayas the last couple of days. Sounds like our advanced base camp got about four feet of snow. So we’re very thankful that our Sherpa team was up and taking care of our tents to make sure they didn’t collapse under the big snowfall.
We’re going to try to head up to advanced base camp tomorrow if we can to rejoin our Sherpa team there and set our focus on the climb of the upper mountain.
So fingers crossed we get some good weather and good route conditions in the days ahead, and we’ll 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:
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/PHOTO-2025-10-05-04-06-40.jpg12001600Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2025-10-05 11:01:422025-10-06 15:29:04Waiting to move back to ABC
The Madison MountaineeringCho Oyu expedition team is back in Tingri resting up and getting ready to make their summit rotation! With some weather expected to roll in over the weekend, the team is taking advantage of the lower altitude to rest, breathe in some extra oxygen, and enjoy a few acclimatization hikes. Once the weather clears, the plan is to head back up to Advanced Base Camp on Monday and continue the climb! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Tibet:
We have dropped down from Advanced Base Camp to Tingri at about 14,000 feet to wait out the big snow storm that’s expected to hit later tonight for a couple of days over the weekend. So, our plan is to hunker down here in Tingri and enjoy the lower elevation, soak up the oxygen, get in a few hikes, and then we’ll head back up to Advanced Base Camp on Monday to resume our expedition climb.
Hopefully we get lucky with some good conditions up there on the upper mountain! We had a good first rotation last week – couple nights at Camp 1, we climbed higher up towards Camp 2. Beautiful views up there, but we decided to drop back down to rest up. Fingers crossed for good weather next week and hopefully a summit attempt!
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:
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PHOTO-2025-09-09-09-04-40.jpg12001600Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2025-10-03 10:26:212025-10-03 21:30:07Resting up for the summit rotation!
The Madison MountaineeringCho Oyu expedition team is back in their base camp after a successful rotation up the mountain to Camp 1 and beyond. Climbing to nearly 22,000 feet, the team had excellent weather, great views, and good times on the world’s sixth-highest peak! The team is in good health and high spirits, glad to be back at base camp enjoying some well-earned rest before the next phase of the expedition. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison check in with this dispatch from Cho Oyu:
Today is September 30th, and we’ve just come back down to base camp from our first rotation up in Camp 1 (6,400m/21,000 ft) for a couple of nights. We climbed up a little bit higher on the route to about 21,700 feet, had some good weather up there, some nice views, and now we’re back down in base camp.
We’re going to rest and get ready for the summit push here. It looks like there might be a big storm coming in on October 4th and 5th, so we might have to delay until after that big precipitation event, so we’ll keep watching the weather.
Meanwhile, everyone’s doing good. We’re happy to be back down in base camp and looking forward to some good rest here.
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PHOTO-2025-09-30-03-23-03.jpg12001600Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2025-09-30 10:22:322025-09-30 15:09:42First rotation done on Cho Oyu
The Madison MountaineeringCho Oyu expedition team has been enjoying themselves in advanced base camp! It’s been a busy few days as we prepare to move up the mountain on our first rotation. With the Puja ceremony and some technical skills training behind us, we’ll soon be shouldering our packs and stepping onto the route up to Camp 1! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from advanced base camp on Cho Oyu:
We have been enjoying a few great days in advanced base camp here at 18,700 feet, about 5,700 meters. Did our Puja ceremony yesterday, been doing more training and review practice here in camp with our technical equipment, and our plan is to move up tomorrow to Camp 1 (6,400m/21,000 ft) for a couple of nights for our first rotation to acclimatize and get a feel for the route. Our Sherpa team will be up there with us. Hopefully the good weather will continue, and we can enjoy some nice views up there and build some more acclimatization, and then we’ll be back in a few days time!
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https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PHOTO-2025-09-26-04-24-41-1.jpg12841600Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2025-09-27 10:42:012025-09-29 14:48:50Enjoying life at over 18,000 feet
The Madison MountaineeringCho Oyu expedition team moved on up to their advanced basecamp today under beautiful, blue skies and with excellent views of Cho Oyu along the way! Now moved into their tents, the team has a few more orders of business to take care of before starting their first rotation up the mountain. That said, the team is feeling excited and ready to get the climbing underway! We’re full of gratitude to be in this magnificent place with a wonderful team. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Cho Oyu:
Hello! This is Garrett checking in for the Madison MountaineeringCho Oyu (8,188m/26,864ft) expedition team. Today is Thursday, September 25th and we have arrived at our advanced basecamp at about 18,600 feet on Cho Oyu!
It was a beautiful day hiking up from basecamp to advanced basecamp, or “ABC.” We’re looking forward to settling in and acclimatizing, continuing our training, doing our Puja ceremony before moving up on our first rotation to gain some acclimatization and elevation higher up on the mountain.
All is well here. The trip’s going wonderful, right on time, and we’re really happy to be here! All is well here on Cho Oyu in Tibet.
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:
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PHOTO-2025-09-24-23-57-29.jpg16001200Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2025-09-25 06:58:202025-09-25 15:59:25Up close views of Cho Oyu!
Thin air and excellent views in and above Chinese Basecamp! The Madison Mountaineering team got all settled in yesterday and are wasting no time as they continue their acclimatization efforts and get ready to move higher. The team plans to move up to Advanced Basecamp in the next few days, situated at the foot of the mountain where we’ll be in position to begin making rotations on the route before looking ahead to a summit push! The team is in high spirits and doing great. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Tibet:
We are in Chinese Basecamp! We arrived yesterday, settled into our basecamp here at about 15,400 feet, and today we did an acclimatization hike up to over 18,000 feet. It felt great and had nice views all around! The team is feeling strong and doing well! We’re really excited to be here – great weather…
We’ll be sending some loads up on yaks to basecamp tomorrow. Probably the following day, our team will head up there and settle into our advanced basecamp (5,650m/18,530 ft) for the season – a little bit higher at the base of the mountain.
All is well here in Tibet on Cho Oyu and we’ll check in soon!
The Madison Mountaineering climbing and Sherpa team in Chinese Basecamp.
Mountain Hardwear Trango Tents.
Our Mountain Hardwear basecamp dining tent.
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:
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.“
We’re excited to share that the Madison MountaineeringCho Oyu team is in Tibet! The team received their visas last week after a wonderful few days of trekking in the Langtang region. That said, they were all psyched and ready for the next part of the journey into Tibet, and onwards to Cho Oyu. After an adventurous border crossing by road, the team settled in for their first nights stay in Tingri. Here, they’ll take a rest day and get prepared for the move into their base camp! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this exciting dispatch from Tibet:
We are in Tingri (4348m/14,268ft)! We crossed the boarder from Nepal into Tibet today. It was a very exciting crossing by road with lots of landslides we had to walk around on the way, but we made it in!
We’re very happy to be up on the Tibetan Plateau here in Tibet, China and moved into our hotel here in Tingri. We had a nice dinner and are going to take a rest day tomorrow, do some hiking as we get prepared to move up to base camp (4,800m/15,750ft) here in a few days time.
Everyone’s doing well and we’re really excited to be here and have the expedition underway! We’ll check in soon.
Here we go! Across the Nepal – Tibet border (Photo by Chris Thompson)
The team waiting at the border crossing (photo by Chris Thompson)
The team fueling up with Tibetan cuisine! (Photo by Chris Thompson)
Navigating a landslide on the way to Tingri (photo by Chris Thompson)
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:
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PHOTO-2025-09-20-19-06-00.jpg12001600Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2025-09-20 12:32:012025-09-22 14:47:24Hello, from Tibet!
The Madison MountaineeringCho Oyu expedition team has finished their time trekking and is headed back to Kathmandu shortly to receive their Chinese visas! With those in hand, we’ll officially be off and on our way to Cho Oyu, the worlds sixth-highest peak. It’s been time well spent in this beautiful region of Nepal acclimatizing, taking in fresh air and mountain views, and getting to know the team! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Nepal:
Hello! This is Garrett checking in for the Cho Oyu (8,188m/26,864ft) expedition team.
Today is Tuesday, September 16th and we just finished our Langtang trek! We spent a week up in the Langtang Valley trekking up around the Langtang village (3430m/11,253ft) and some of the higher peaks. Beautiful trek up there, very lush, green, very wet – the monsoon is still lingering at this time of the year.
We just returned down. We’re going to drive back to Kathmandu (1400m/4,600ft) tomorrow and hopefully our Chinese visas will be issued the following day, and we can drive into Tibet!
So, everyone’s doing well. We had a very fun time up there trekking, good exercise, good acclimatization, some good views, and just a nice all around experience. So, all is well here in the Langtang Valley of Nepal and we’ll 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:
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.“
The Madison MountaineeringCho Oyu expedition team ascended off of the valley floor and up one of the many peaks in the area, climbing to above 5,000-meters! The team’s made great progress so far on acclimatizing to thinner air up high, and is excited to get to the mountain soon where the real climbing begins. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Nepal:
Today, we climbed one of the smaller peaks here, about 5,000-meters or 16,000 feet. Beautiful day out! Everything is good here, very lush, green scenery. There’s not many other trekkers or climbers around, so we’ve got it all to ourselves!
The team’s doing well and we look forward to hearing some news tomorrow on our Chinese visas to enter Tibet!
All is well here. We’ll check in soon!
High above the valley floor.
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:
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/PHOTO-2025-09-13-01-15-24.jpg12001600Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2025-09-15 08:14:032025-09-15 17:36:04Another beautiful day of trekking!
