Tag Archive for: 7 Summits

Plaza de Mulas

Clear skies over base camp!

The Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition team has arrived in Plaza de Mulas (Aconcagua Base Camp). On their trek over the course of the last few days, the team enjoyed more great weather and the absence of light pollution, which has made for great star gazing at night! Everyone on the team is doing great and is preparing to move up the mountain in the coming days. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in with this dispatch from Plaza de Mulas:

Hey! This is Garrett checking in for the Aconcagua (6961m/22,837ft) team, here with Cacho and Ed Viesturs, we’re at base camp (4367m/14,327ft). We got here yesterday and had a great trek into base camp over three days! Nice weather, enjoyed some great views, and nice acclimatization hike the other day. It was good to roll into base camp yesterday, had a wonderful dinner, beautiful stars last night here in base camp…

Today we’re just taking a rest day, going for an acclimatization hike, and organizing some gear for our first carry up to Camp 1 (5060m/16,600ft) tomorrow.

So, happy to be here, great weather at the moment! Everyone is doing well and we’re looking forward to another great day here in Argentina – highest mountain outside of Asia.

At the dining room table in base camp!

At the dining room table in base camp!

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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Arrived in Confluencia!

The team hitting the trail towards Aconcagua!

The Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition is off to a great start in the Horcones Valley with perfect weather, delicious food, and great company! Their journey started early this morning in Mendoza where they loaded their bags and made the drive into the mountains before dawning their packs and hitting the trail. Everyone is in good spirits and looks forward to the days ahead on their ascent of South America’s tallest peak. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in with todays dispatch from Confluencia Camp:

Hello! This is Garrett checking in for the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua (6961m/22,837ft) expedition team.

Just calling in to report that we had a great day! We left Mendoza (746m/2,449ft) this morning, drove up to the trailhead, and started trekking in. We had a beautiful trek up – great weather to our camp here at Confluencia! We’re at about 9,000 feet.

Everyone’s doing well. We had a great dinner, we had some barbecue – steaks, sausages, salad, a little Malbec red wine and looking forward to a good nights rest!

Tomorrow we’re going to go for an acclimatization hike up to Plaza Francia, at the base of the south face of Aconcagua and then return back to Confluencia to spend another night here.

The trips going well so far! It’s a great team, we’re having fun getting to know each other, and spending time in such a beautiful mountain region here in the Andes. It’s great having Cacho with us, and also Ed Viesturs of course, and a wonderful team of climbers!

Looking forward to another great day!

Guide, Garrett Madison in charge of the barbecue!

Guide, Garrett Madison in charge of the barbecue!

The team sitting down for a well-deserved meal in Confluencia Camp.

The team sitting down for a well-deserved meal in Confluencia Camp.

Some of the team out and enjoying the night sky on their first night in the mountains!

Some of the team out and enjoying the night sky on their first night in the mountains!

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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Summits all around on Aconcagua!

The whole team on the summit of Aconcagua!

It’s with great pleasure to announce that the entire Madison Mountaineering team reached the summit of Aconcagua last week! After returning to Mendoza from the mountain, the team celebrated with one last dinner in Argentina – also celebrating the birthday of one of the team members! Their meal was well-deserved and served as a great way to conclude the expedition, sharing the memories and friendships gained that are sure to be carried on after everyone said their ‘goodbyes.’

While it was a long summit day, the team made strong work on their ascent, and ultimately all stood on the summit before returning down safely. Below is the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua Summiteers List from Monday, January 16:

# Name Country
1 Mr. Javier “Cacho” Beiza Argentina
2 Mr. Thierry Dhers USA
3 Mr. Naveen “Nav” Kotecha USA
4 Mr. Rein Madissoon Estonia
5 Ms. Rein Madissoon Estonia
6 Mr. Frank McCarthy Ireland
7 Mr. Nicholas Pangallo Canada
8 Mr. Seth Sklare USA
9 Mr. Peter Veloo USA
10 Mr. Bruno Vizzaccaro Canada

We are grateful for the experiences shared and new friends made over the course of the last few weeks! Now, we’re looking forward to doing it all over again as we kick off another Aconcagua expedition on January 25th with guides Garrett Madison, Cacho Beiza, and legendary mountaineer, Ed Viesturs!

Stay tuned for more…

The team during their summit push under blue skies on Aconcagua!

The team during their summit push under blue skies on Aconcagua!

A well deserved celebration dinner after 100% summit success on Aconcagua!

A well deserved celebration dinner after 100% summit success 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 daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

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Karanga Camp!

the view from Kili

Head guide Sid Pattison reports:

Karanga, meaning “peanut”, seems to undersell this camp. Big views all the way down to the plains below and the towering Kilimanjaro above.

Since leaving Machame Gate we have trekked through rain forest, arid dry lands, hidden moorlands and scrambled up the Baranco Wall. Today at 4000 m / 13,220 ft. the crew is feeling good, eating well and staying hydrated as we prepare for our summit bid tomorrow night after our morning hike to our high camp: Kosovo Camp (4860 m / 15,950 ft.).

Our local staff has been endlessly helpful and entertaining. There really is no comparison when it comes to how committed these guys are to this mountain and helping us along our journey to the roof of Africa.

Wish us luck for a clear and pleasant summit day!

Hiking to Karanga Camp

Hiking to Karanga Camp

The View from Karanga Camp

The View from Karanga Camp

Kili providing the backdrop to Karanga Camp

Kili providing the backdrop to Karanga Camp

Kilimanjaro from the Baranco Wall

The towering Kilimanjaro from the Baranco Wall

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Elbrus Summit photos galore

Just in, tons of photos from the Mt. Elbrus summit day, enjoy…

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Climbers head to the mountain!

Heading to Machame Gate

Head guide, Sid Pattison reports:

Welp, we are on our way! After a full day of gear checking, packing, shopping and putsing around Arusha, we are finally on our way to Machame gate!
The crew is psyched, our local staff have been amazing and we are excited to get some miles under our boots!

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Mt. Elbrus Summit!!

Exciting news of the Elbrus Summit in this quick text-only update from Lead guide Mark Tucker. More details and PHOTOS to follow:

  • 16 of us left high camp at 2am
  • 16 of us literary crawled to the tallest point in Europe due to high winds
  • 16 of us are now in the forest of Cheget 7000’

I call it a nice day!!

Congratulations to the entire team for 100% success on reaching the top of Europe – Mt. Elbrus (5,642 m / 18,510 ft) and descending safely to the lush valley below.

Seven Summit: Mt. Elbrus

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The summit push is next!

Lead guide Mark Tucker just provided this expedition update via phone from the comfortable LEAPrus huts on Mt. Elbrus:

The team is in bed for some final rest before the summit push in about four hours! Weather is looking good with just some clouds down below in the valley. Everyone is fired up for the summit climb and ready for the alpine start. We will check in again soon.

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On the Mountain and Getting Ready!

LEAPrus huts

Life is good here at 3,900 m / 12,800 ft! We made an easy departure from our hotel with a great breakfast filling our stomachs! After the short transfer to the lift system and following the same drill as yesterday, but this time loaded with lots more gear for our stay at the luxurious LEAPrus huts. At the top of the lifts, a snow-cat was waiting to take us up several more meters to the wonderful accommodations that are shaped like a giant barrel on it’s side.

After a nice lunch, we were off for another training hike. Just a little over 4,267 m / 14,000 ft. we turned back towards the huts while continuing our training and briefings to prepare for the summit day ahead.

Weather was perfect and the team is in top shape!!

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Acclimatizing and training on Elbrus

It was a nice day in the mountains! After breakfast, the few missing pieces needed to form complete climbing kits for some of our team members were tracked down. In Terskol, nice equipment is available for hire and the next thing you know it is getting put to use!

We took the day to make a dry run for tomorrow’s training program. Three ski lifts up and you are at 3,658 m / 12,000 ft. and it’s acclimatize on! Hey, never walk when you can ride! Top of this chain of lifts puts you right on the lower flank of the upper mountain, a perfect place for a few hours of snow school. The team is in fine shape with a nice introduction to snow travel and well trained for tomorrow’s move up. It’s really nice to run through the drill and tighten up the process and techniques to make for an easier day going up – knowledge is power!

The old adage of climb high, sleep low could not have been done better. The team is in good shape and spirits are high!!

[ small sized pictures of big sized adventure! ]

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