Manaslu Base Camp!

The Madison Mountaineering Manaslu expedition team has arrived in base camp! With the final member of our team now on-site, it’s time to get to work. After fueling up for the day in Sama Village, we shouldered our packs and hit the trail en route to base camp. The team is settled in there now, and looks forward to the days ahead as they prepare to take to the climbing route and start making their way toward the summit! Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Manaslu Base Camp:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Manaslu (8156m/26,759ft) expedition. Today is September 14th, 2026.

This morning, we walked from Sama Village (3530m/11,581ft) up to base camp (4859m/15,944ft). We left Sama just before 8 a.m. and arrived in base camp in time for an early lunch. It was a really nice walk! The weather was a little rainy in the morning, but after an hour or so the rain dissipated, and for the rest of the way to base camp we had dry air, and really nice views down into the Nubri Valley far below us.

We’ve been resting this afternoon since arriving in base camp, and we’re looking forward to our Puja tomorrow! In other big news, our express climber, Woodie, arrived in Sama yesterday. He touched down in Kathmandu (1400m/4,600ft) yesterday morning, then went straight to the helipad and flew to Sama. So he joined us for the hike up to base camp today!

We’re looking forward to getting the climbing phase of the expedition underway, and we’ll be in touch tomorrow.

Our climbers Myles and Woodie en route to Manaslu Base Camp (photo by Terray Sylvester)

The Nubri Valley (photo by Terray Sylvester)

Hiking above Sama Village and the terminus of the North Manaslu Glacier (photo by Terray Sylvester)

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:

• @MadisonMtng
• @GarrettMadison1
• @terray_s