Tag Archive for: 7 Summits

Terskol!

The 2018.07 Elbrus expedition team today had a timely and smooth flight from Moscow to Mineralnye Vody, grabbed some supplies at a local grocery, and hit the road via bus for Terskol – at the base of Mt. Elbrus.

Along the way they enjoyed fresh made chicken sandwiches (Wolfgang Tuck style!) while avoiding herds of milk cows roaming down the middle of highway!

Cleaning up before dinner was quite the experience! There was no hot water!! Flooding in the valley knocked out the natural gas supply. All was forgotten as the team shared a wonderful farm to table dinner. The stunning alpine glow at sunset highlighted the amazing view of the Caucasus mountain range.

/0 Comments/by

Elbrus team arrives and tours Moscow

The Kremlin

Head guide Mark Tucker reports:

The Elbrus 2018 team arrived in Moscow yesterday after a tiring day of travel. As most of the team is still adjusting to the nearly 12 hour (!) time change, we kept things simple with a little round of introductions and a brief discussion of the days ahead.

After a very nice breakfast buffet, we meet with our local tour guide and started our Moscow tour by bus. Then onto Red Square, catching as many sites as we could squeeze in — of course St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin. Last stop the famous Kremlin Armoury, a must if you can. The amount of wealth and history displayed under one roof is mind boggling!

A nice celebration dinner in honor of Madison Mountaineering’s K2 team summit of the second tallest mountain on earth. Top it off with some Borsch and Beef Stroganoff and you are feeling pretty good.

Packing up for the early flight to the south which will get us closer to Mt Elbrus. Everyone is doing great and looking forward to heading to the mountains tomorrow!

/0 Comments/by

Team returns to Kathmandu after a successful and safe climb on Everest

Our Mount Everest expedition team is now back in Kathmandu after a successful and safe climb of Mount Everest.  All climbers are heading home, after what has been a great experience in the Nepal Himalaya.  On May 19th, our team reached the summit with 7 climbers, 5 guides (1 of whom was working as a high altitude camera man) and 15 Sherpas.  We all made it back down safely without any injuries such as frostbite, etc.  There have been recent fatalities on Everest, and we are thankful that our team was very fortunate and did not suffer any losses.  100% of the climbers who embarked on the summit rotation made it to the top, we are very proud of this achievement.
Our decision to abandon our Lhotse climb after the fatality in the Lhotse couloir was in part ethical and also taking into consideration of the hazardous nature of the existing terrain that likely contributed to that accident, likely no climbers will reach the summit of Lhotse this season.
Thanks for following our climb of Mount Everest!

.

Screen Shot 2016-05-23 at 8.24.48 PM

.

Screen Shot 2016-05-23 at 8.26.54 PM

.

Screen Shot 2016-05-23 at 8.27.55 PM

.

Screen Shot 2016-05-23 at 8.28.45 PM

.

Screen Shot 2016-05-23 at 8.32.06 PM

/1 Comment/by

Climbers make safe descent to Camp 2 on Everest

Today our climbing team made a safe descent to Camp 2 on Everest and will be arriving into base camp tomorrow. After resting at Camp 4 last night the team enjoyed warm drinks and food after their successful summit. All team members are in good health and look forward to hot showers and thicker air back at base camp. We are expecting the whole team to arrive early afternoon and we will have a celebration in order here at our camp. I will have more pictures up tomorrow and look forward to hearing the team tell of their journey to the top of the world!

.

13239440_10153741000297499_8073434358060643712_n

/0 Comments/by

Team resting at Camp 4 after successful summit

What a day!! Our climbers are now resting at Camp 4 at 7,950m (26,085ft) on Everest after their successful summit bid earlier today. The weather was perfect and the views from what I hear were nothing short of spectacular. Tonight the team will rest on oxygen before descending to Camp 2 tomorrow. Our Lhotse team is waiting and will not make an ascent tonight due to uncertain route conditions. The current plan is to descend together tomorrow and re-evaluate Lhotse conditions before making a decision. All members are in good health and have accomplished what many dream of today.

Will have pictures and videos up as soon as possible! 🙂

/1 Comment/by

Full climbing team has successfully summited Everest!

Just moments ago our full climbing team successfully summited Everest at 8,850m (29,035ft)!! It is a spectacular day here with no wind or clouds in sight. 15 Sherpa, 7 climbers (Jim, Joel, Stuart, Nick, Lisa, Ankur, Jeff) and 5 guides (Garrett, Billy, Conan, Fred, Brent) are together at the top. The sun is shining and we are so very happy that our climbers have made it to the top of the world. Our team will take in the views and enjoy the moment before making the descent back down to Camp 2.

Garrett, Lisa, and Stuart will be climbing Lhotse today as well which continues the excitement. The Lhotse fixed lines were finished last night and our team will rest for a few hours at Camp 4 before making this second ascent.

Stay tuned, pictures to come!! 🙂

/3 Comments/by

Full climbing team has successfully summited Everest!!

Just moments ago our full climbing team successfully summited Everest at 8,850m (29,035ft)!! It is a spectacular day here with no wind or clouds in sight. 15 Sherpa, 7 climbers (Jim, Joel, Stuart, Nick, Lisa, Ankur, Jeff) and 5 guides (Garrett, Billy, Conan, Fred, Brent) are together at the top. The sun is shining and we are so very happy that our climbers have made it to the top of the world. Our team will take in the views and enjoy the moment before making the descent back down to Camp 2.

Garrett, Lisa, and Stuart will be climbing Lhotse today as well which continues the excitement. The Lhotse fixed lines were finished last night and our team will rest for a few hours at Camp 4 before making this second ascent.

Stay tuned, pictures to come!! 🙂

/3 Comments/by

2016 Everest summit bid has commenced!

Just minutes ago our climbers departed Camp 4 at 7,950m (26,085ft) and began their 2016 Everest summit bid. The team spent the night at the South Col after battling heavy winds on the ascent yesterday. Now well rested having been on oxygen all day, they are ready to begin their push to the top of the world. We will be up all night monitoring the team’s progress throughout the ascent.

Yesterday we had very unusual weather here at Everest Base Camp, snowfall with heavy winds accompanied by a thunderstorm. Our wifi network was knocked offline until early this morning. Tonight the conditions are looking great for our team with low winds and no precipitation on the forecast. We are very excited here and I will update this dispatch tomorrow morning.

To the top!

.

Screen Shot 2016-05-18 at 7.30.34 PM

/0 Comments/by

Everest Team safely tucked in at the South Col

The Everest climbing team is safely tucked in for the night at the South Col (Camp 4)! Listen to Garrett’s sat phone audio dispatch:

Hey, this is Garrett Madison calling in from the Everest climbing team. Today is Tuesday, May 17th at 9:30PM and we are tucked in here at the South Col. We moved up from Camp 3 to Camp 4 today. The weather forecast did not play out the way it was supposed to. It was supposed to be a nice, sunny day. But uh, it turned into a very blustery day with high winds and some precipitation in the form of snow coming down. Our plan is to rest tomorrow. Hopefully the weather improves and we can make a summit attempt on the evening of the 18th and hopefully get up to the top the morning of the 19th. So, everyone is doing well. We are all tucked in here at the South Col trying to stay warm and enjoying being here at 26,000 feet. All is well and we’ll check in again soon. Thanks!

/0 Comments/by

Team at Camp 3

Garrett called in via sat phone from Everest Camp 3 on the Lhoste face (7230m/23,720ft) to report:

Hey this is Garrett calling in for the Everest team. Today is May 16th, it’s 5:00PM and we are up at Camp 3! Everyone’s doing great and we are tucked in here getting ready to have dinner and go to bed. Tomorrow we are going to head up to Camp 4 on the South Col. We are on schedule for a summit of May 18th. The weather is looking good. And hopefully Lhotse May 19th! So we are just keeping an eye on the weather and moving up the mountain slowly here. Everyone is doing well and we’ll check in soon.

/0 Comments/by