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Main Team Summits Mount Everest!

Congratulations to our Everest team for reaching the top of the world! All of the team is now safely back at Camp 4 on the South Col.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provides the happy news:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Everest team.  Today is May 23rd and today we summitted Mount Everest!  [garbled] We left about 9:30 PM from our high camp here at the South Col near 26,000 ft. and climbed through the night up the Triangular face to The Balcony and then up the South East ridge over the rock bands to the South Summit and then crossed the summit ridge, up the Hillary Step and then the summit!  We reached the summit just after 5:00 AM with the last of our members reaching the summit about 8:00 AM.

 

So, it was a nice day – a little windy and a little chilly up there – but everybody did really good.  The most important thing is that everybody made it back down to high camp this afternoon.  So, we are all back in high camp, safe and sound.  We are looking forward to descending down to Camp 2 tomorrow night and then base camp the following day on May 25th.  All’s well here at high camp!  Thanks for checking in.

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Tonight’s the Night!

Camp 4

This is it.  Because, tonight’s the night the past seven weeks in Nepal and preceding months of planning, preparing, and training have been building up to.  We go for the summit of Everest tonight!!!  It’s now morning in Nepal and the team will be spending the day resting and getting psyched for the final push up to the summit.  So, from the home office in Seattle, WA USA and from friends, family, and well-wishers all over the world we say, Go get it team – climb strong, be careful, make your mark and get up and down safely! Here’s Garrett Madison on the South Col of Mount Everest via satellite phone just minutes ago with today’s expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Everest team!  We are up at the South Col, high camp, on Mount Everest – nearly 26,000ft. or 8000m.  Everybody is doing great!  We got up here yesterday evening, had a nice dinner, tucked into our tents, and had a restful night sleeping on oxygen.  Today we just had breakfast, we’re up, moving around, sleeping, resting, breathing oxygen.

 

We are planning to leave this evening at 9:00 PM for our summit attempt.  Hopefully reaching the top the next morning, which will be May 23rd.  So, everybody’s doing great up here, the team did excellent coming up to high camp yesterday.  Everyone’s doing great today, in good sprits and we’re looking forward to leaving tonight and giving it our best shot to climb to the top of the world!  Alright, thanks for checking in!  We’ll call in tomorrow.  All’s well here at high camp on Mount Everest.

(photo:  2018 Everest Camp 4 from the Madison Mountaineering archives)

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Team at Camp 4

Just received a sat phone call from Garrett.  The team is tucked in at Camp 4 on the South Col of Everest.  Everyone did really well today on the climb up from Camp 3.  They may take a rest day and then go for the summit on the 23rd.  The sat phone call is very garbled and we will be working on a transcription and will update this dispatch soon:

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Mount Everest Rope Fixing Update: Camp 3 Established!

Camp 3 Established!

Our expert team of Nepal, Climbing Sherpas are very skilled technical climbers . Their job is to ‘fix’ the lines from Camp 2 all the way up the mountain to the summit of Everest. They have been working very hard since beginning. Our team were fixing ropes above Camp 2 on April 19th, and have now succeeded in fixing lines from the base of the Lhotse face all the way up to Camp 3.  They have installed 2 lines, an ‘up’ line and a ‘down’ line for climbers.

Camp 3 is now ‘open’ for climbers wishing to climb the fixed ropes up to Camp 3 to acclimatize. Furthermore, they can secure a camp place, or  carry loads of supplies to Camp 3.  Our expert Sherpa team will rest and then continue working on the next stage to fix the ropes up towards the Yellow Band, Geneva Spur, and to the South Col known as Camp 4 on Mount Everest.  We hope for good weather!

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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! 🙂

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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!

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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!

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