Tag Archive for: Camp 3

Broad Peak as seen from the K2 Camp 3 tent

The K2 team is now in place at Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft.) and setting their sights on a summit attempt in two days on the 28th.  Here’s expedition leader Garrett Madison’s recap of the day’s climbing and the plan for what’s next:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 and Broad Peak expedition team.  Today is July 26th and we are up at Camp 3.

It was a beautiful day climbing up from Camp 2, clear skys, not much wind, and not many people on the route actually.  We were the only team moving up.  So, we had a great day climbing the Black Pyramid and got into Camp 3 here, about 24,000 ft., this afternoon.  We’re just taking it easy, resting.

Our Sherpa team, which was fixing lines today, was able to make it up The Shoulder through The Bottleneck, around the Traverse, and nearly up to The Bench on the way towards the final pitches to the summit.  So that’s great news!

I think the Pioneer team is going for it tonight and we wish them the best of luck and good conditions.

Our plan is to rest here tomorrow and head up tomorrow evening.  So our plan is to leave the evening of the 27th and hopefully get to the top on the morning of the 28th.  Fingers crossed!  I’m praying this great weather continues and these good conditions hold.

Everyone’s doing well here in Camp 3.  Thanks for following!

Kenton and Rob on the way to K2 Camp 3

Kenton and Rob on the way to K2 Camp 3

If climbing K2 or Broad Peak 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:

Chase staying cool at K2 Camp 2 earlier today

On their summit push, our K2 team climbed up from Camp 1 to Camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft.) today under beautiful weather and route conditions.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provides today’s expedition dispatch from 6,700 meters:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 and Broad Peak expedition team.  Today is July 25th and we are up at Camp 2.

Our whole team’s up here: all nine climbers and most of our sherpa team, except for five of our Nepal sherpas who are up at Camp 4 (7681m/25,200ft.) tonight.  They climbed up from Camp 2 to Camp 4 today and tomorrow and the next day they are going to work on fixing lines above Camp 4 in anticipation of our arrival.

So, we had a beautiful day today, sunny skies, warm temps, almost too warm for us.  But we got into Camp 2 around noon and have just been relaxing, enjoying the amazing views up here, and getting ready for some dinner and a good night’s rest.  And then tomorrow, we’ll be off early on our way up to Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft.).

All’s well here, the team’s doing excellent, and we’re excited that more good weather is on the way and we’re headed up the route!  We’ll check-in soon, thanks!

If climbing K2 or Broad Peak 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:

Base camp, everyone down safe! Great expedition, stay tuned for the TV show and what happened in the summit push!

With all of the Aconcagua team safely down to base camp, expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provides today’s expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua team.  We are all back down in Plaza de Mulas base camp – 14,000 ft. on the normal route of Aconcagua.  We had a great time on our expedition.

Yesterday our team went for the summit and we don’t want to reveal what happened on our summit attempt because we want to save it for TV show which is forecoming.  But we’re all back down safe and the weather’s great.  It’s been a fantastic team, great expedition.  Just a wonderful experence here on Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western and Southern Hemispheres.  Wonderful time in Argentina.

And our plan tomorrow is to trek out and head back to Mendoza.  We’ll probaby get in late to Mendoza after an 18 mile trek out and 3 hour drive back to Mendoza.  All’s well here on Aconcagua.  We’ll check-in soon!

Sid Pattison, the barbecue chief!

Sid Pattison, the barbecue chief!

Cacho, our Argentinian guide who leads our climbs exclusively and reached the summit of Aconcagua for his 50th time!

Cacho, our Argentinian guide who leads our climbs exclusively and reached the summit of Aconcagua for his 50th time!

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:

High camp 3 on Aconcagua, new MHW Trango 3 tents in action! Served us well!

With drama and suspense worthy of a TV show, expedition leader Garrett Madison provides a recap of summit day on Aconcagua:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua team.  Today we went for our summit push and we had good weather, but we’re not going to tell what happened because we want you to watch the show when it comes out.

Everyone’s back down safe, which is the most important thing, and doing well.  The team is in high camp 3 – Cholera Camp, tonight and will be heading down to base camp tomorrow.  And then heading out the following day back to Mendoza.

So everyone’s doing well, lots of great filming, and exciting times here on Aconcagua and we’re looking forward to the final production of the show.

(photo:  earlier this week at base camp)

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:

The evening's glow on Aconcagua

Hi, this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua team.  We’re up at high camp, Camp 3 on the normal route – Cholera Camp (5945m/19,504ft).  And everyone’s doing really well.  The weather seems to be improving so we are looking forward to potentially a nice summit day.  But there’s only one way to find out.  So, we are going to wake up early at 4:00am and start climbing by 6:00am and hopefully have some good luck up there and have a great climb.  We’ll check-in soon.  Thanks!

(photo:  earlier this week at base camp)

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:

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:

The incredible view from Camp 3 on the K2 Cesen route

The team made the move up to K2 Cesen Camp 3 today under beautiful conditions.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, has this update:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the K2 climbing team.  Today we climbed from Camp 2 (6311m) on the Cesen route up to Camp 3 (7013m).   Everyone did good today.  We had nice weather.  And we arrived Camp 3, settled into our tents, and now melting some snow for water, getting ready to have some dinner soon.  We’re looking at the options for tomorrow.  But ah, beautiful views here today, spectacular visas, looking out over the Karakoram peaks in China and Pakistan.  So, very happy to be here.  Everyone’s doing well. Check in soon.

K2 Camp 3 (7000m)

K2 Camp 3 (7000m)

The incredible view from Camp 3 on the K2 Cesen route

The incredible view from Camp 3 on the K2 Cesen route

Hanging out at K2 Camp 3 on the Cesen

Hanging out at K2 Camp 3 on the Cesen

Camp 3 on the Lhotse face

Our Everest team made the move up to Camp 3 on the Lhotse face today and looks to be in position for a summit attempt on May 22nd.  The weather is looking good and the team is feeling strong and healthy.  Garrett Madison, expedition leader, provides this update:

Helllo, this is Garrett calling in for the Everest climbing team.  Today we left Camp 2 at 5:00 AM and climbed up the Lhotse face to Camp 3.  We made it to Camp 3 by about 9:30 AM.  Everyone did great!  We set up our tents, moved into camp, had some ramen noddles, and then relaxed before dinner.  Our plan is to move up to Camp 4 tomorrow.  The weather’s looking really good right now.  Everybody is doing great – feeling healthly and strong and enjoying the good weather and nice views from up here at Camp 3.  We’ll check in soon.  Thanks!

(photo:  Everest Camp 3 – Madison Mountaineering archives)

Staying at Basecamp!

We are now resting in Mount Everest base camp, waiting for the high winds to die down so that we can begin our summit rotation. All of our members are down in base camp or in Namche resting and recovering from our last rotation when we touched Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face. Our Sherpa team is also resting in Mount Everest base camp and also in Camp 2, waiting as we are for the good weather window to materialize. We are doing base camp chores such as laundry, resetting our tent platforms as the glacier ice melts during the season, and enjoying the occasional hot shower in Everest base camp! The days have been sunny and warm, with a small amount of light snowfall at night.

Today we took our breakfast (French toast, fried eggs, bacon, fresh yoghurt, & espresso coffee) outside our dining tent in the morning sun! We are soaking up the stunning views of Mount Everest and the surrounding peaks and preparing ourselves for our final objective in a few days time, when we will depart Everest base camp for our summit rotation, our journey to the top of the world!

Second Rotation Succeed!

We concluded a great second rotation today by descending from our Camp 2, known as our Advanced Base Camp, all the way down to our Everest base camp. While on our rotation we spent three nights at our Camp 2, and were very lucky to have great weather. To begin our rotation, we departed our base camp at 4 AM and climbed all the way to Camp 2.

Then, we took a rest day to recuperate and recover from the big climb, nearly 4,000 ft (1,212m) of vertical gain. After our rest day we planned to climb to our Camp 3 on the Lhotse Face, so we departed our Camp 2 (Advanced Base Camp) at 8 AM .We climbed with our down suits to the base of the Lhotse Face, then began our ascent up the steep ice wall on the fixed ropes towards Camp 3. It is situated about halfway up the Lhotse Face at approximately 23,500 ft. (7,121m).

The Lhotse Face is notably icier this year and requires good crampon technique! After 5 hours of climbing we reached our Camp 3 and took a long break to rest, hydrate, and eat a few snacks. We also had the privilege of enjoying an amazing view from Camp 3, looking down over Camp 2, the Western CWM, and Camp 1. We then descended the fixed rope designated for rappelling and made good time in our descent, reaching our Camp 2 just an hour later for a late afternoon lunch. It was a very productive rotation in that we accomplished our goal of climbing to Camp 3 to acclimatize . Additionally, we also familiarize ourselves with the steep and technical terrain of the Lhotse Face.

Rope Fixing Update!

Our Sherpas have been busy carrying loads of equipment to the South Col high camp (Camp 4) for the final stage of the rope fixing project . This involves setting the ropes from the South Col to the Summit of Mount Everest. They have done an exemplary job so far by setting two lines up to Camp 3. One for ascending and one for descending, as well as an additional line above Camp 3 to ease congestion on the route. We have received many compliments regarding how the lines are set in a safe and desirable fashion on the Lhotse Face which makes for efficient climbing.

Lines have also been set on the Geneva Spur, the final rock ridge before the South Col, so that climbers can go up and down on separate lines for safety and efficiency. At this time Sherpas have been utilizing these ropes to carry loads of oxygen cylinders, tents, food, and fuel to position at the South Col for the eventual summit attempt on Mount Everest!

Weather Forecast!

According to our weather forecasts, it appears that a major wind event is approaching Mount Everest, probably in the next day or two. Our Sherpas will make good use of tomorrows marginal weather forecast to position additional loads at the South Col high camp, and then see if the following day is appropriate for climbing above 8000 meters. The jet stream will likely cover the Mount Everest region for up to a week and no climbing will take place above 8000 meters during this time, so we are preparing to hold tight and wait for the opportunity when the Jet Stream passes and the winds are calm enough for a summit attempt! Until then we plan to rest and enjoy the amenities of our Everest base camp!