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Views from base camp

With some of the team now up at Camp I, the rest of the group is ready to head up from base camp tonight.  Here are the details from expedition leader, Garrett Madison:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Everest and Lhotse team dispatch.  Today’s May 3rd.

We had a restful day in base camp and are preparing to head up tonight on our second rotation.  Half of our team went up yesterday to Camp I and spent the night.  They’ve been resting there today.  The rest of us will head up tonight and join them hopefully early tomorrow morning and we’ll all make our way together up to Camp II for three nights in Camp II.

Our entire team of climbers, guides, and Sherpas, and Nepal staff are doing well here at Everest base camp and on the mountain and we’re looking forward to heading up and continuing our expedition.  The weather looks pretty good – a little snow in the forecast but not much wind as far as we can see.  So, that bodes well perhaps for an earlier summit than normal, maybe a mid-May summit if we’re lucky – fingers crossed.

All’s well and we’ll check in soon!

Eating breakfast outside this morning, a nice day!

Eating breakfast outside this morning, a nice day!

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!


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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.

Instagram:

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

Our Everest team is ready for the second rotation.  From Mount Everest base camp, expedition leader Garrett Madison has the plan for what’s next:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse team dispatch.  Today is May 2nd and tonight we are embarking on second rotation.

Our first wave of climbers is heading up tonight, climbing early tomorrow morning of May 3rd through the Icefall to Camp I and will sleep there the night of May 3rd.  Our second wave will depart base camp early on May 4th and climb up to Camp II and join the members who will be sleeping at Camp I.  So we’ll all arrive Camp II together on May 4th for our second rotation and spend about three nights there.

Everone’s doing great here on Everest.  We’re healthy, we’re enjoying the nice weather, and looking forward to getting up high again and hopefully some good views.

We’ll check in soon, thanks!

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!


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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.

Instagram:

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

Aang Purba hanging around in the ice.

With our Everest Express team members arriving, the full 2021 Everest team is now in base camp and making their preparations for the Second Rotation.  Everest guide, Terray Sylvester has all the facts:

Hello, this is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering 2021 Mount Everest expedition.  It’s Saturday, May 1st.  Today we had a beautiful morning in camp.  Our Express climbers have arrived, so we spent part of the morning refreshing skills, climbing fixed lines, and repelling out on the ice pyramids just below base camp so we did with the main team a few weeks ago.  Then in the afternoon, we had a light snowfall.

There’s been a convective storm pattern each day, so we’ve had beautiful, sunny mornings then light snow and increasing cloudness each evening.  Right now it’s misty.  We just watched the documentary “Mountain” which was great – some beautiful footage there, including of the Everest area.

Tomorrow, we’ll begin our second acclimatization rotation.  Some of our climbers, including our Express team, will head up to Camp I for a night, and then the following night, the entire team will be up at Camp II.  We’ll spend two nights at Camp II.  We’ll head up on touch Camp III, but not sleep there, descend back down to Camp II for a third night, and then head on back down to base camp – subject to weather and route conditions, of course.

So, all is well here and we will be in touch!

 

Ice training just below base camp

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!


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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.

Instagram:

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

 

The Madison Mountaineering Sherpa Team at EBC

Today the team was kicking back at base camp, playing around with the drone, and generally resting up before the next rotation.  Here’s Madison Mountaineering guide, Rob Smith with his recap of the day:

This is Rob [Smith] from Everest Base Camp.  We’ve all had a nice day here today.  Jim arrived up the trail so that’s the team all complete!  Pretty nice rest day – folks taking it easy, doing some laundry, catching a shower, and this evening we had another fine meal from Deepak and then I gave a chat to everyone on an Axel Heiberg ski trip to the South Pole which was kinda same, same, but different; pictures of snow from Antarctica.  But, it was all good and looking forward to another good day tomorrow.

Bye for now!

 

Aerial view of the 2021 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest Base Camp

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!


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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.

Instagram:

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

Acclimatization hike above Camp 2

The first acclimatization rotation up the mountain is complete and the Everest team is now safely back in base camp.  Here’s expedition leader, Garrett Madison, with the details:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse team.  Today, April 28th, we came down from Camp II.  We did our first rotation; we had two nights at Camp I, two nights at Camp II.  We had a great time up there – good weather and got some great views.

Today we came down from Camp II through the Khumbu Icefall to base camp.  It was a beautiful day – we got into base camp, had a nice lunch, some showers, naps, and we just finished up our dinner and now we are having a movie.

Everyone’s doing well here.  We’ve been enjoying the time on the mountain.  We’re all healthy, enjoying the climb, and looking forward to a few days of rest here in base camp.  And then heading back up on our next rotation here in a few days and hopefully touching Camp III.

All’s well here in Everest Base Camp!

Climbers in the Western Cwm with the Lhotse Face in the background

Climbers in the Western Cwm with the Lhotse Face in the background

The Western Cwm

The Western Cwm

Everest Camp 2

Everest Camp 2

Climbers descending through the Khumbu Icefall

Climbers descending through the Khumbu Icefall

Art M. loves acclimatizing!

Art M. loves acclimatizing!

Heading down through the Khumbu Icefall with base camp below

Heading down through the Khumbu Icefall with base camp below

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!


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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.

Instagram:

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

Camp 2

On their first acclimatization rotation, our Everest team moved up to Camp 2 in the Western Cwm today marking a personal high-point for some of the climbers at nearly 21,300 ft (6490m).  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, phones in the details via satellite phone:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest and Lhotse expedition.  We are up at Camp 2!  It is April 26th and we had a great day climbing from Camp 1 to Camp 2 today – beautiful weather, no wind, no clouds – just a perfect day up here in the mountains.  We got into Camp 2 in the afternoon.  Our Sherpa team did a great job in setting up Camp 2 for us.  We’ve got a nice dining tent with a heater, all of our personal tents are up, and great views all the way around.  It’s really great to be up here.

We spent two nights at Camp 1; restful but a little windy at times, but it was good to acclimatize at Camp 1.  We plan to spend two nights up here before heading back down to base camp before the big snow starts.

All’s well up here and we’ll check in soon.

(photo:  Everest South Col route Camp 2 from the Madison Mountaineering archives)

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!


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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.

Instagram:

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

Climbing to Camp 1 on First Rotation

Early this morning our Everest team began their first acclimatization rotation up the mountain by leaving out of base camp about 2:00 AM.  Climbing by headlight through the Khumbu Icefall they reached the mid-point (5727m) around 6:10 AM and pulled into a well-prepared Camp 1 (6059m/19,879ft) after climbing for 8-1/2 hours at 10:30 AM.

Unfortunately, the satellite modem was being a bit finicky so we have just the one photo (by Terray Sylvester) so far, but they will be spending two nights there at Camp 1, so expect to see and hear more before they move further up the Western Cwm to Camp 2 in the coming days.

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!


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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.

Instagram:

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

Evening View of a snowy Everest base camp

The Everest team took a rest day at base camp today while they waited for the snowstorm to move out.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison provides the day’s summary:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Everest expedition team.  We’re in Mount Everest base camp and we had a great day here just resting up.  The snow storm finally abated today about 4 or 5 pm, just before dinner time.  It lasted since yesterday midday and we had about a foot of fresh snow accumulate here in base camp, larger in some spots with the spindrift.  It was nice to have the sky clear up finially and get some good views.

We are looking forward to a good day tomorrow.  We’re going to get prepared tomorrow for our move up to Camp I and II.

Everyone’s doing well in base camp.  We are just happy to be here, having a great time – another great day, good meals, and a good movie.  Everyone’s doing well and we’ll check in soon.

Evening View of a snowy Everest base camp

Evening view of a snow-covered Everest base camp

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!


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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.

Instagram:

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

Guides Kumar and Ming Dorchi on the summit of Island Peak

The featured photo (above) is guides Kumar and Ming Dorchi on the summit of Island Peak with climber Rich D. earlier in the week.  Congrats Rich!!  For the recap of the snowy day at EBC, here’s Everest guide Terray Sylvester:

Hello, this Terray calling in again for the 2021 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition.  It’s Wednesday, April 21st.

Today the forecast dictated that we spend a rest day in camp and defer, for at least one day, our ascent to Camp I.  So we spent the morning going over some descending techniques down in the ice pyramids just below base camp.  We practiced arm-wrap descending and repelling with a belay device, just to make sure that everyone’s efficient with those techniques when it comes time to actually descend the Lhotse face or descent through the Khumbu Icefall.

Just as we were arriving back at camp it started to snow.  It’s about 7:30 now and it’s not actively snowing, but we got anywhere from four to six inches on the ground.  And certainly more where it’s drifted up against the tents.  Base camp has transformed from the rocky glacial landscape that it has been to a sort of snowly winter wonderland — it’s actually beautiful.

We just wrapped up dinner.  Tonight it was pasta, green beans, and filet mignon.  Then a desert of canned peaches.  Now we’ll settle in with a movie.

Before dinner we also did a weather forecast presentation.  We recieve detailed daily forecasts, so we put those up on the projector and work through that in detail.  Just so everyone knows what’s in store for the next few days.

Right now it looks like we’ll probably see more snow coming in on the 22nd, which means that may yet again delay our ascent to Camp I.  But after that, it looks like we’ll have some high pressure and clear skys and hopefully great conditions for climbing.

Okay, we’ll be in touch!

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!


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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.

Instagram:

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

Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall

The Everest team took their first foray into the Khumbu Icefall today and Everest/Lhotse guide, Terray Sylvester, has all the details:

Hello!  This is Terray calling in for the 2021 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition.  It’s Tuesday, April 20th.

Today we took our first foray up into the Khumbu Icefall.  We left after breakfast and accended to about 18,500 ft.  We had beatiful weather and great conditions in the Icefall.  It was a great chance for our climbers to practise the ascending and repelling skills that they’ll need when we actually do head all the way up through the Icefall to Camp I.

Today we went approximately a third, or maybe a quarter, of the way to Camp I.  And yeah, the weather was beautiful today, but it looks like we have some snow coming in tomorrow so we’ve delayed our actual accent to Camp I until, most likely, the day after tomorrow.

But, all is well here in base camp and we will be in touch!

Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall

Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall

Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall

Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall

Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall

Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall

Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall

Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!


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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.

Instagram:

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