Acclimatizing around Namche

Tim Emmett in Khumjung today, mani stones beside

Today the Everest team continued their acclimatizing around Namche and up to Khumjung.  Garrett Madison, expedition leader, provides a recap of the day:

Helllo, this is Garrett calling in for the Mountain Hardwear Mount Everest Expedition.  Today is September 10th and we had a great day trekking around Namche.  We went up to the Everest View Hotel and got a few glimpses of Everest and Lhotse.

 

Then we made our way over to the village of Khumjung and visited with some friends of ours, Renji Sherpa and his wife and son.  They made us some boilled potatoes.  We had some milk tea and then followed up by some Chhaang, or rice wine, which is really tasty.

 

Later we made our way back to Namche for lunch, had a restful afternoon, and a nice dinner here at the Panorama Lodge.  Now we are all off to bed and looking forward to a great day tomorrow.  Our plan is to head out around 8:30 in the morning, trek through Tengboche – visit the monastery there, and then down to the rhododendron forest of Deboche to the Rivendale Lodge.  So, looking forward to a great day tomorrow.  All’s well here in Namche!

Garrett, Tim Emmett, Kancha Sherpa (last surviving member of 1953 Everest expedition), Zac Bookman

Garrett, Tim Emmett, Kancha Sherpa (last surviving member of 1953 Everest expedition), Zac Bookman

Above Namche

Above Namche

Above Namche

The team in Khumjung

Tim Emmett in Khumjung today, mani stones beside

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the team as they trek to Everest Base Camp and then make their attempt to summit the world’s highest mountain on:

– Instagram:

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

– 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

 

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Namche Rest Day

First View of Everest

Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provides a recap of today’s rest day at Namche:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Mountain Hardwear Mount Everest Expediton autumn season.  Today we had a rest day in Namche and went for a hike up to the Mount Everest museum above town and had great views of Mount Everest, Mount Lhotse, and Ama Dablam.  Beautiful day!

 

Then we came back down to the Panorama Lodge for lunch and shortly thereafter the rest of our crew arrived by helicopter!  So we went over to the helipad and greeted them.  We then spent the afternoon together drinking coffee, enjoying Namche, and we just finished a nice dinner.

 

It’s great to be all together here and we are looking forward to a good acclimization hike tomorrow up to the Everest View Hotel.  All’s well here in Namche.

Statue of Tenzing Norgay above Namche

Statue of Tenzing Norgay above Namche

First View of Everest

First View of Everest (on the left)

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the team as they trek to Everest Base Camp and then make their attempt to summit the world’s highest mountain on:

– Instagram:

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

– 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
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Boston Basin

Guide Jayar Storms provided this trip report on our recent 1:1 skill building and training outing to the Boston Basin area of the North Cascades National Park:

We began our trip early Tuesday (9/3) morning on the Boston Basin climbers trail. By that afternoon, we had reached Boston Basin and set up camp. We had just enough time to set our tent and square our equipment away when a freak hail storm struck. We took shelter from marble-sized hailstones in our tent for about 20 minutes before it turned to rain and then died away. We ate dinner and got to bed early for an early start at Sahale Peak the next day.

In the morning, we left around 6:30 AM and hiked up and right of the normal route which goes up the moraine, left of the Quien Sabe Glacier. About 500 feet below the glacier we noticed that we could traverse below the glacier and access it at a point closer to our objective instead of getting on the glacier itself and traversing across. We chose this lower traverse so we could avoid navigating most of the crevasses with this route. We cut across the talus and low angle slab to the other side and gained the glacier from there. After a few hundred feet of travel, we did not like the steepness of the terrain and turned back for camp.

The next day we tried Sahale again but from the normal route instead. After a walk up the same moraine from yesterday and a scramble up some low angle slab and loose rock, we gained the glacier once again, this time all the way on the left side of the glacier. With snow condition on our side and crevasses in manageable condition, we topped out at about 8,200 feet. We descended safely and enjoyed the rest of the day in Boston Basin.

We had the remaining day to pack up camp and descend back down the Boston Basin climbers trail and back to the car. We had a very enjoyable trip with Patrick and were thrilled to provide an excellent experience to advance his climbing skills and techniques. We can’t wait for our next adventure!


 

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Phakding to Namche Bazaar

Leaving Phakding for Namche

Trekking day 2:  Phakding to Namche Bazaar – Distance: 9.56km – Elev Gain/Loss: 1430m/-624m

Today the trekking team hiked up the hill to the village of Nachme Bazaar where they will spend a couple of days acclimatizing.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, made this expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Mountain Hardwear Autumn Everest expedition.  Today is September 8th and today we made our way from the village of Phakding up to village of Namche Bazaar.  It was a beautiful trek up the river gorge with lush green hillsides and raging rivers coming down that we crossed over on suspended bridges.

 

It was a warm day, it was hot, but we enjoyed it and got up to Namche about 3:30 this afternoon.  We are settled into the Panorama Lodge, our favorite place to stay here in Namche.  We’ve been staying here for 10 years now – at least once if not twice a year.  We are looking forward to a good night’s rest.

 

Tomorrow we are going to be here and go for an acclimatization hike and a few more members of our team will be joining us tomorrow.  So, looking forward to having the whole team together!  We will check in soon.  Thanks!

Cool Morning Waterfall Shower

Cool Morning Waterfall Shower

A warm welcome to the Panorama Lodge in Namche

A warm welcome to the Panorama Lodge in Namche

Gorged rivers from the monsoon rains

The rivers are gorged from the monsoon rains

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the team as they trek to Everest Base Camp and then make their attempt to summit the world’s highest mountain on:

– Instagram:

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

– 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
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Kathmandu to Lukla to Phakding

Trekking day 1:  Lukla to Phakding – Distance: 8.30 km – Elev Gain/Loss: 394m/-639m

Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provides the recap of today’s exciting flight to the trailhead mountain village of Lukla and the first day of trekking towards Everest Base Camp:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Mountain Hardwear Everest expedition and base camp trek.  Today is September 8th.  We were very lucky this morning to have an early flight at 6:00 AM out of Kathmandu and landed in Lukla.  But not after a fun, unplanned stop in the small village of Phaplu on the way.  The clouds rolled in and the Lukla airport was closed en route on our flight so the pilot diverted and landed at a small airstrip on the way.  Then when the clouds parted our pilot took off and landed us in Lukla.

 

From Lukla we made our way up the start of the Khumbu Valley.  It’s amazingly green here right now!  It’s been raining so much at the end of the monsoon season.  Everything is just incredibly green and vibrant.  A lot of growth here – the vegetation, the trees, the forest…  So, we’ve got it really good here!  We are at Phakding in the Sunrise lodge.  We just finished a good dinner and are heading off to bed.

 

Tomorrow we are going to head up to Namche.  Everybody’s feeling great.  It’s surprisingly quite here in the Khumbu.  We have the lodge all to ourselves and we didn’t see many people on the trail today because it’s not quite the trekking season which starts up in October.  We are feeling great and looking forward to a great day trekking up to Namche tomorrow.

(photo:  Lukla airport from the Madison Mountaineering Everest archives)

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the team as they trek to Everest Base Camp and then make their attempt to summit the world’s highest mountain on:

– Instagram:

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

– 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
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The Mountain Hardwear Everest Expedition kicks-off

Trekking team at the Yak and Yeti

All of us at Madison Mountaineering are very excited that after many months of planning, the Mountain Hardwear Everest Expedition kicks-off today!  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, is now in Kathmandu with the entire trekking team and just provided this update to start off this exciting and rare Autumn season attempt on Mount Everest:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Mountain Hardwear Autumn 2019 Everest Expedition!  The team is in Kathmandu (the trekking team) and we went out for a wonderful team dinner yesterday evening.  Folks are getting ready to head out on a city tour of Kathmandu today and we are planning on flying to Lukla tomorrow morning, weather pending.  It’s been a very wet monsoon here the last few months in Nepal.  We are hoping for some dry weather coming up shortly here to start our trek into base camp.  So, we are very excited to be here and to be launching the expedition and heading up into the Khumbu Valley and making our way towards Everest Base Camp!

 

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the team as they trek to Everest Base Camp and then make their attempt to summit the world’s highest mountain:

– on Instagram:

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

– 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
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100% Summit Success on Mt. Rainier!

We are excited to report that our Climb for Conservation charity climb of Mt. Rainier enjoyed a 100% team success in reaching the summit this week.  The group had a beautiful sunset climb with perfect conditions.  Way to go team!

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Mt. Rainier – Climb for Conservation

Our 2019 Mt. Rainier climb supporting the Climb for Conservation fundraiser kicked off yesterday with the initial hike up to Camp Muir (10,188 ft).  Here are some shots of the day.  The team is likely now headed up for a sunset summit attempt.  We will post an update on their progress tomorrow!  Stay tuned!!


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Kilimanjaro / Safari: that’s a wrap!

The team arriving in Arusha

With Kilimanjaro conquered and the safari complete, a very memorable Tanzanian expedition draws to a close and our team bids farewell to Africa as they head home. Lead guide, Rob Smith, provides the final words on the trip:

Many people have heard of ‘the big five‘ when it comes to African wildlife. The term originated from hunters, for the five most difficult animals to hunt on foot. These are lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino. It is heartening that the term associated with hunting these animals is now synonymous with wildlife tourism and conservation.

 

We did not see the full set of five, but that matters little as we did see so much. It is the diversity and abundance of wildlife that made our safari so memorable.

 

Of course the safari was after our main event, the Kilimanjaro climb. The hardships of that are beginning to fade, and the good times are becoming more memorable. Standing on the roof of Africa is not so easy, and John, Jaclyn and Kristin all managed to get there. It has been a safe, successful and enjoyable trip which has packed a lot into a relatively short time. Definitely not your average two week vacation. Thanks for following our journey!

 

Today’s Swahili: Kwaheri – goodbye; Karibu – you are welcome

Sunrise at our Serengeti camp

A final Safari

The team arriving in Arusha

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Safari – Day 3

Ready for safari

Lead guide, Rob Smith, tells the story of the Kilimanjaro team’s final full day on safari in the mightly Serengeti:

Today exceeded all our expectations, as Jaclyn said on returning to camp.

 

Shortly after leaving this morning we saw several vehicles parked at the trailside. This usually means there is something of interest nearby. We pulled up and sure enough, a cheetah was sitting on top of a termite mound near the track. The fastest land animal in the world sat in front of us, just like that. It was sleek with beautiful markings. Black ‘teardrops’ noticeable on its alert and watchful face. The cheetah moved to a closer mound, rested and then crossed the track between the vehicles. It sat on another mound before dropping off, looking right but moving in a leftward arc. We could not see what the cheetah had seen until soon a Thomson’s gazelle bounded through the grass towards the cheetah. A pounce, a flurry of dust, a kicking of legs and it was all over. We were amazed to have witnessed the spectacle. Whatever your views on animals killing each other, this is the circle of life in the Serengeti.

 

We continued on to a rest stop, where maybe 50 tourists were gathered. 500′ away a tree stood with a rock by its base. The rock turned out to be the head of a male lion, its large mane bulking its head size. At one point, the lion stood up before lying down, now completely unseen. It made us wonder how many animals lay in the long grass out of sight nearby. The day continued, we saw a leopard perched on top of a Kopje, rock outcrop, much larger and muscular than the cheetah. We wondered what was coming next.

 

Two large lions chasing gazelles across the plain before stopping at a carcass surrounded by vultures. Hippos, crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, a jackal, hyenas, so many birds. A mother and young cheetah sitting in the shade eyeing up ostrich and warthogs in front of them. Two lionesses squabbled and the winner dragged a Thomson’s gazelle into cover and sat virtually unseen as it feasted on the catch. This is some of what we have seen today. It is no wonder it far exceeded our expectations.

 

We have another night in the Serengeti Osupuko Camp with the birds calling and wind rustling the tree branches. Tomorrow we leave the Serengeti to drive back to Arusha. Fortunately for us, we get to view more wildlife on the first part of the drive until we leave the National Park.

 

Today’s Swahili:  Kiboko – Hippo; Chui – Leopard; Duma – Cheetah; Serengeti – Endless plain

A hungry giraffe

A “bloat” of hippos

Ready for safari

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