Tag Archive for: Camp 3

Resting in Camp 2

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition team moved swiftly through the Khumbu Icefall, making good time and settling into their camp while they await their next move. The team plans to take a rest day before moving up to Camp 3 sitting over 2,000 feet above them on the Lhotse Face. Situated in the middle of the Western Cwm, Camp 2 is positioned at the foot of Himalayan giants in every direction you look – a dramatic place to call home even if just for a few nights! Climber, Hannah Wise checks in with this dispatch from Camp 2 on Mount Everest:

Hello! This is Hannah Wise calling in with tonight’s dispatch. A quick recap, yesterday we climbed through the icefall for the second time. We moved faster than last time, but it’s pretty crazy how much it changes week over week. Less ladders this time around which was great, but the icefall was making more noise which was a little scary! We then climbed over Camp 1 (6050m/19,849ft) and climbed straight to Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft). It was super hot, so a few stops near the end made for a much-needed break.

We spent today resting at Camp 2. Everyone is doing well! Tomorrow we’ll ascend up the Lhotse Face to Camp 3 (7230m/23,720ft) and spend the night there before we move on to Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft).

This is Hannah, checking out!

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.“

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Summit rotation is underway!

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition team has begun their summit push! In the early morning hours on May 17, the team emerged from their tents, shouldered their packs, and set off through the Khumbu Icefall with the summit of Mount Everest and 11,000 vertical feet of relief towering above them. It’s been confirmed that the team has safely and successfully reached Camp 2 where they plan to take a rest day before moving up to Camp 3. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Camp 2:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest (8848m/29,032ft) team. Today is May 17th, 2:00 AM and we are headed out of base camp (5364m/17,598ft) on our way up to Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft) to start our summit rotation! It’s a beautiful, starry night. We’re looking forward to it! All is well, we’ll check in soon.

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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Cleanup in the Western Cwm

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The Madison Mountaineering Mountain Cleanup Project expedition team had a productive weekend cleaning and climbing as they continued their efforts in the camps shared by Mount Everest and Lhotse. The team cleaned up more than 100kg of waste from Camp 2 and will keep collecting trash as they climb to higher camps before making a summit attempt on Lhotse. Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Camp 2:

Hello from our advanced base camp at Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft)! Yesterday and today we picked up more than 100kg of waste here. Tomorrow we plan to wake up early and move up to Camp 3 (7230m/23,720ft). We’ve had beautiful warm weather here at 6,500m / 21,300′ in the Western Cwm. Low winds are in the forecast. We’ll be in touch!

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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Making Progress!

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The Madison Mountaineering Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse expedition teams are making good progress towards their different objectives! While the sun shined on the Lhotse Face as the team ascended to Camp 3, our Sherpa team was able to be seen over the “valley of silence” fixing the route up the Nuptse Face! Madison Mountaineering climber, Casey Diener checks in with this dispatch from Camp 2 on Mount Everest:

This is Casey Diener calling in from Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft) with Madison Mountaineering! I’m just a climber on the team here.

We had a good acclimatization day. All the crew who set out for Lhotse Camp 3 (7230m/23,720ft) made it in good fashion. It was a mix of sun and clouds on the Lhotse Face today. Yeah, everyone made it in good [garbled]. Enjoying some good dinner tonight – curry chicken and some popcorn! Currently, the lines have been fixed to the summit of Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft). Hopefully sometime in the near future Krisli, Nelly, and Terray will be ready to make a charge up the Lhotse Face once a weather window opens. They have camped for a couple of more recovery days [garbled]… Positive news, there has been more snow around here lately which has accumulated on the Lhotse Face which will help prevent future rockfall.

Today, the team was able to see the Sherpa team over on the Nuptse Face fixing the lines up the Nuptse (7861m/25,791ft) route! So, progress is being made on that front as well. Tomorrow, the majority of the team will be heading down to base camp (5364m/17,598ft) for some recovery before the next rotation.

This is Casey Diener, checking out!

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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Update from the Himalayas!

The Madison Mountaineering base camp with a dusting of snow beneath Mount Everest and Nuptse.

All is well for the Madison Mountaineering Himalayan expedition teams! While our Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse team is currently in Camp 2 continuing their acclimatization efforts, the Mountain Cleanup Project team is in base camp preparing to move forward with their summit rotation, cleaning up the different camps along the way. Everyone is in good spirits and there is lots of excitement surrounding the team as we grow closer to the summit push. Expedition guide, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Everest Base Camp:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering spring, 2024 Everest (8848m/29,032ft), Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft), and Nuptse (7861m/25,791ft) expeditions – today is May 7th. It’s a beautiful day here in base camp (5364m/17,598ft)! We’ve been having some convection each afternoon for the last few days and that’s brought a little dusting of snow each evening here in base camp and the upper mountain. It’s just made for really beautiful conditions here at Mount Everest with fresh, pristine snow on the ground in the morning. Hopefully, it’s also improving climbing conditions up high. It’s been very dry this season, so the mountain could use a little bit of snow.

Right now, Garrett, Aang Phurba, and Cacho are up at Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft) with our main group of Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse climbers. They plan to take a rest day at Camp 2 today and then continue acclimatizing probably by climbing part way up the Lhotse Face tomorrow. Our Nuptse climbers will start preparing to move to Nuptse high camp.

I’m in base camp with Nelly Attar, our Lhotse climber and cleaner. We plan to move up to Camp 1 (6050m/19,849ft) tonight, spend a night at Camp 1, then move up to Camp 2 where we’ll work on the majority of our cleanup efforts here at Lhotse. After that we’ll move on up to Camp 3 (7230m/23,720ft) and Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft), cleaning as we go, and then head for a summit of Lhotse maybe in about a week.

All is well here! Spirits are high and it’s great to be heading up the mountain. We’ll be in touch via inReach, text, or satphone call from the mountain.

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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Success on Aconcagua!

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive.

It’s with great excitement to share that the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition team has safely and successfully reached the summit of South America’s highest peak! Leaving from Camp 2 rather than the usual Camp 3, our team made an ambitious push taking advantage of a small window, ultimately getting all boots on the summit, sharing some high-fives and hugs before returning down to lower camps. Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Aconcagua:

Success on Aconcagua (6961m/22,837ft)! With very high winds predicted to start tomorrow, our team took advantage of a brief weather window today and summited via an ambitious push straight from Camp 2 (5522m/18,117ft) instead of the usual start from Camp 3 (5989m/19,650ft). They enjoyed perfect weather on the summit! Now they’re safely back in Camp 2 and looking forward to beginning the journey back to the comforts of Mendoza (746m/2,449ft) tomorrow.

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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Summit Push Called Off

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

With the recent snow on the upper reaches of K2, our team has made the prudent decision to abort their summit push. While ascending from Camp 3, the team experienced deep snow that accumulated in the days prior and had not fully consolidated. While the whole team made a strong effort to reach  K2‘s summit, it was not meant to be. We are so thankful that our team is safe and look forward to receiving them back into base camp soon. The team is making their descent now and is expected to arrive back in base camp later today.

We are very proud of the entire teams effort and special thanks to our Sherpa team who played an integral role in the expedition, fixing lines above Camp 3 and to the summit. Congratulations to Siddhi Ghising and Ahmed Hussain who are both members of our rope-fixing team and did reach K2‘s summit at 8611m/28,251ft!

Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from K2:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the K2 (8611m/28,251ft) expedition team – today is July 27th.

Today our team made their summit attempt and reached the bottleneck on K2 above Camp 4 (7681m/25,200ft) and decided to turn around due to deep and unconsolidated snow, and several soft snow avalanches. So, they are on their way down and everyone’s doing fine. They’re below Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft) now on their way to Camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft), and we’re looking forward to welcoming them back into base camp (4968m/16,300ft) later this afternoon!

They had a good climb, good effort getting up to the bottleneck where they decided to turn around around 3:00 AM along with some other teams due to the risk. We’re happy they made the safe call and will be back in base camp later today.

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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K2 Summit Push Underway!

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

Today’s the day that our team will make their summit push on the world’s second highest peak: K2! Our Sherpa team has been hard at work fixing lines to Camp 4 and beyond, with the plan to fix the final sections of the Abruzzi route through the night and into tomorrow morning. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this exciting update from K2:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 (8611m/28,251ft) expedition. Today is July 26th and our team’s up at Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft) and preparing to leave for their summit push in one hour at 9:00 PM here in Pakistan.

They took a rest day today in Camp 3 as the rope fixing team, which our Sherpas are a part of, pushed up to Camp 4 (7681m/25,200ft) and has been fixing above Camp 4, hopefully reaching the bottleneck section soon and the traverse. So, our team is a few hours behind when they leave tonight and hopefully they will be able to climb up and make good time with good conditions, good weather, and hopefully get a summit of K2 tomorrow on the morning of July 27th.

So we will be staying up tonight following their progress on the route as they climb! Praying and wishing them good luck and good conditions, and cannot wait to hear how it goes. Check in soon!

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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Camp 3 – Summit Rotation

Madison Mountaineering clients and guides move from Camp 2 to Camp 3. Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

Hello from Camp 3 on K2! Today the team ascended K2‘s famous Black Pyramid and is settled into their tents for the night, with plans to move up to Camp 4 tomorrow! Our rockstar Sherpa team has been helping in the rope fixing efforts with hopes to fix ropes to the summit tomorrow. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with today’s dispatch for the team in Camp 3:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 (8611m/28,251ft) expedition. Today is July 25th and our team is up at Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft) on the Abruzzi route of K2. It was a good day climbing from Camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft) to Camp 3 up the Black Pyramid. Had some cloudy conditions, but a little bit of sunshine later in the day!

The plan for the team tomorrow is to move up to Camp 4 (7681m/25,200ft) and the rope fixing team, which were proud to be apart of, has been fixing lines from 3 to 4 today. So hopefully climbers can move up to 4 and hopefully they will be able to continue fixing, conditions dependent, go on up through the shoulder, the bottleneck, the traverse and to the summit of K2 on the 27th! So the goal is a summit on the 27th if conditions permit and weather of course. The fixing team is working hard up there, breaking trail through deep snow to put in the ropes for everybody.

All is well here on K2! Fingers crossed that conditions are good for them up there. The weather looks good for the next couple of days. Our prayers are with the team and for good conditions on the mountain.

All is well here on K2! We’ll check in soon!

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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Camp 2 – Summit Rotation

Drone photos of Camp 2 on K2’s Abruzzi Ridge, and surrounding mountains. Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The 2023 Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition team has crawled into their tents at Camp 2, with hopes of continuing on up the mountain tomorrow to Camp 3! The team is doing great so far on their summit rotation. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this brief update from Pakistan:

Our team is up in camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft) now, hoping to reach camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft) tomorrow! Fixing team reached camp 3 and fixed some lines to 400m above en route to camp 4 (7681m/25,200ft).

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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