Makalu Base Camp!
The Madison Mountaineering Makalu expedition team has reached their base camp! The flight to get there was nothing short of spectacular, with views of the valleys below and Himalayan peaks around every corner. Now settled into their camp, the team will begin to turn their sights towards the summit soon! Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Makalu Base Camp:
Hello! This is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Makalu (8463m/27,766ft) expedition – today is April 27th.
This morning we had breakfast early and then hustled over to the helipad in Pangboche (3985m/13,074ft) for our flights to Makalu Base Camp, actually advanced base camp, but these days virtually every team treats this as the main base camp for the mountain. It’s here at about 18,600 feet or 5,600 meters.
Our flights this morning were spectacular! We headed up the valley of the Imja Khola River past Island Peak (6189m/20,305ft) and then past the shoulder of Baruntse (7162m/23,497ft) and down into the Makalu Barun Valley. We past Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) – fantastic views, fantastic views of Ama Dablam (6812m/22,349ft), and then all of the spectacular glaciated peaks nearby.
We landed in base camp at about 8:00 AM. Since then, we’ve been settling in. We just had a nice dinner of Dal Bhat with some great curried chicken and enjoyed a welcome cake for dessert! Now we’re settling into watch our evening movie, Top Gun: Maverick.
Tomorrow, we plan to hold our pre-climb Puja to ask the mountain for safe passage. So, all is well here at Makalu, the fifth-highest mountain. We’ll be in touch tomorrow!
Fresh snow in Makalu Base Camp
The team at breakfast in Pangboche
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 daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“
– Instagram:
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