Tag Archive for: Camp 2

Carry to Camp 3

The view from Aconcagua Camp 2

The Aconcagua team made a carry up to Camp 3 – Cholera Camp (5974m/19,600ft.) today and are back at Camp 2.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, phoned in today’s dispatch via satellite phone:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua team.  We are at Camp 2 on Aconcagua.  We had a great day today.  We carried up to Camp 3 – Cholera Camp at about 19,600 ft., cached some of our equipment and came back down to Camp 2 here at Nido de Cóndores – about 18,200 ft.

We are going to rest here tomorrow.  It looks like there are some strong winds coming in tonight for a couple of days.  Climbers have come down off the upper mountain from the high camps, including some of the rangers here on the mountain, just to get out of the way of the winds.  So we will probably rest for a one day if not two depending on the high winds here.  When it clears, we will head up to Camp 3 and move forward with our plan for a summit attempt.

Everyone’s doing great here.  We’ve had good weather – high pressure […garbled…] not too cold.  The team’s doing well and we’ll check in soon.  Thanks!

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on other expeditions in the 2020 season!  Contact our office for details.

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

– Instagram:

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Nido de Cóndores – Camp 2 (5585m/18,325ft.)

Camp 2 on Aconcagua

The Aconcagua team today moved up to Nido de Cóndores our Camp 2 at 5585m/18,325ft.  Here’s Garrett’s dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua climb.  Today we climbed up to Camp 2 – Nido de Cóndores on Aconcagua on the normal route.  Everybody did great!  We got up to camp, set up our tents, relaxed a little bit, and then had a nice dinner.  Now we are getting ready to go to bed.  The weather’s pretty good up here – not too windy, sunny.  We are hoping for a good day tomorrow to do a carry to Camp 3 if weather permits, otherwise we’ll probably take a rest day at Camp 2.  Thanks for following along.  We’ll check-in soon!

Camp 2 on Aconcagua

Camp 2 on Aconcagua

The view from Aconcagua Camp 2

The view from Aconcagua Camp 2

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on other expeditions in the 2020 season!  Contact our office for details.

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

– Instagram:

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Resting up at Camp 2

Camp 2 on the Cesen route

After yesterday’s big initial push up from base camp, the K2 team has been resting up at Camp 2 today and will move up to Camp 3 tomorrow.  Garrett fills us in on the details:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the K2 climbing team.  Today is July 17th, and we decided to take a rest day here in Camp 2 on the Cesen route.  The weather is great!  Litte bit of uncertainty regarding the rope fixing up high, so we decided to wait a day, give ourselves a little more time, and also rest up from the big push we did yesterday from base camp up to Camp 2 (about 4,500 vertical feet).  Our plan is to climb up to Camp 3 tomorrow.  Everybody’s doing well.  We’ll check in soon.  Thanks!

Camp 2 on the Cesen route

Our Mountain Hardwear tents at Camp 2 on the Cesen route

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Team at Cesen Camp 2

he view from Camp 2 on the Cesen route

In a big kick-off push, the K2 team climbed from base camp (4990m) to Camp 2 (6325m) on the Česen route today.  A steady, steep climb of over 9 hours positioned them very well for moving to Camp 3 (~7000m) tomorrow.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, has this update:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the K2 climbing team.  Today is July 16th and we have started our summit push.  We left base camp at 3:00 AM today and climbed up the Česen route to Camp 2, a gain of about 4,400 vertical feet or 1330m.  Everyone did really good today on the way up and we had nice weather, great views.  And we are looking forward to another nice day climbing up to Camp 3 tomorrow.

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K2 Cesen Camp 2

Expedition leader Garrett Madison provides this update via sat phone from K2 Cesen Camp 2:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the K2 climbing expedition team.  Today is July 9th.  We had a nice rest day up at Camp 2 (6327m).  A few of us went for an acclimatization hike up towards Camp 3 (7000m).  Good weather today and all members of the team are now up at Camp 2.  Tomorrow morning we are going to head back down to base camp.  Everybody’s doing great up here, and the weather has been fantastic.  We are looking forward to getting back down to base camp and having some good rest and some good food.  And we are looking forward to the next phase of the expedition.  We’ll check in soon.  Thanks!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

Google Earth 3D map of K2 Cesen route tracking map

Cesen route vs. Abruzzi Spur route. Team at Camp 2.

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Cesen acclimatizing

Most of the team is up on the Cesen route acclimatizing and the rest are heading up tomorrow morning from base camp (in ~7 hours).  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison provides today’s update:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the K2 climbing expedition team.  Today is July 8th, and we are up at Camp 2, most of us.  We had a great day today:  we climbed halfway up to Camp 3 for acclimatization and familiarity with the route.  Had beautiful weather today; great views of the surrounding peaks and the Godwin-Austen Glacier.  We are back to Camp 2, tucked in and ready for bed.  Our plan is to probably spend another day up here at Camp 2 acclimatizing and then heading down in a couple of days time.  All’s well here on K2.  We’ll check in soon.  Thanks!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

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Camp 2 on the Cesen Route

View from camp 2 on K2

Madison Mountaineering guide Conan Bliss reports in on the team’s first rotation progress from Camp 2 on the Cesen route:

Hi!  This is Conan checking with everybody out there in cyberspace for the Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition.  Today we had a stellar move up to Camp 2 on the Cesen spur.  Everybody’s had a good dinner and are tucked into their tents tonight.  Spectacular day today with an unbelievable view over the Karakoram, Concordia, and the Baltoro Glacier.  We are planning on staying here tonight.  Tomorrow should be a mellow day, also should be nice weather.  I will check in with you then.

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

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Safely down the Lhotse face to ABC

The Everest team has safely descended down the Lhotse face from the South Col to advanced base camp (ABC), Camp 2.  Here’s Garrett with the sat phone dispatch from 6500m Camp 2:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Everest climbing team.  Today is May 24th.  We all made it down to Camp 2, our advanced base camp here on Mount Everest.  We has a very good day coming down from the South Col high camp.  We climbed down past Camp 3 on our way to Camp 2.  We all made it safe, all the climbers, guides, and Sherpa.

 

So, we are here and we just had a nice dinner and we’re tucked into our tents now for a good night’s rest.  And tomorrow our plan is to depart Camp 2 at 6:00 AM and head down through the Khumbu Icefall to Everest base camp.  So, all’s well here and we’re looking forward to checking in from base camp tomorrow.  Thanks!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

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Up through House’s Chimney to Camp 2

Climbing up House's Chimmey on K2

Audio dispatch via satellite phone this evening from K2 Camp 2:

Hey this is Garrett calling in for the K2 expedition team. Today is July 18th and we are up at Camp 2 tucked into our tents! We had a good day coming up to Camp 2. It’s been snowing most of the day and a little breezy but hopefully good weather is on the way. So all’s well here. We are listening to some music in the tent, making some hot water, about to have dinner, go to sleep and tomorrow plan to move up to Camp 3. Our Sherpas are up at Camp 4. They made a good effort today in fixing ropes up towards the Bottleneck. But they still have a long ways to go. So fingers crossed for good weather in the future. That’s all for now, we will check in again soon, bye.

Climbing into House's Chimmey on K2

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K2 team at Camp 2 on Abruzzi ridge

View from camp 2 on K2

We are all up at our Camp 2, perched at 22,000 ft on the Abruzzi ridge overlooking the Godwin Austin and Baltoro glaciers. We had a great day climbing from Camp 1 up the steep rock & snow slopes. Everyone is doing well.

Today our super Sherpas left base camp at 2 AM and carried up additional fixed ropes (9mm Petzl semi static kernmantle ropes) and re-fixed the entire distance between Camp 1 and Camp 2 ahead of us, so that we did not have to rely on using the Korean ropes that the Japanese team fixed. We are very thankful that our team could respond on a days notice and quickly put these lines in place so that our team and others can climb safely on this section of the route with confidence.

We look forward to a rest day tomorrow.

David and Semba smiling before tackling House’s chimney!

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