Tag Archive for: Camp 4

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.“

– 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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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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Summit Rotation Underway!

Morning light on Camp 1. Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

Our summit rotation is on and the team has settled into their tents at Camp 1! With good weather tomorrow, the team plans to continue their push up the Abruzzi Ridge. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Pakistan:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 (8611m/28,251ft) expedition. Today is July 23rd and our team is on the summit rotation and up at Camp 1 (6065m/19,900ft) now and planning to move to Camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft) tomorrow. However, it’s been tough weather recently and the rope fixing team has been delayed in Camp 2 for a couple of days, waiting to move up to Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft) where they would be fixing Camp 4 (7681m/25,200ft) and beyond. So hoping that tomorrow’s a better day and good weather, good route conditions so the fixing team can move up, our team can move up, and all the other climbers on the mountain who are making their summit rotation at this point. So fingers crossed that!

All is well here at K2! We are here hoping for good weather and praying for some great route conditions up there for the team. This is Garrett Madison checking in from Base Camp (4968m/16,300ft) – all is well.

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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Acclimatization Rotation: Complete

Morning light on the summit of K2 from the Madison Mountaineering base camp. Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo: Terray Sylvester)

After five nights spent on K2 during their acclimatization rotation, the team has safely and successfully descended back down to base camp! We had a great rotation up on the mountain, familiarizing ourselves with the route and acclimatizing to the altitude that we’ll experience during the summit rotation. The team plans to spend the next few days resting and preparing to make their summit push! With good weather in the forecast, the team will look to head back up the mountain soon, only this time going for the summit. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from K2 Base Camp:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 (8611m/28,251ft) expedition. Today is July 19th and our team is all in base camp (4968m/16,300ft) resting and doing well! Yesterday the team came down from Camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft), descending all the way from Camp 2 to Base Camp after concluding a great rotation – five nights of acclimatizing up on the route between Advanced Base Camp (5303m/17,400ft), Camp 1 (6065m/19,900ft), and Camp 2.

The weather has been really nice! Sunny skies, it’s warmed up quite a bit, and we are just getting ready to strategize for our final rotation – our summit push, which hopefully will come in a few days time. We’re watching the weather forecast and working with other teams, coming up with a good plan for fixing the final ropes from Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft) to Camp 4 (7681m/25,200ft), and onto the summit!

So everyone is doing well here in K2 Base Camp and 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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Top of the World!

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

We are thrilled to announce that the 2023 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition team has successfully reached the summit of the tallest mountain on Earth, and safely returned to their tents at Camp 4! The team all reached the top between 10:30 AM and 12:00 PM NPT (local time) and enjoyed a magnificent summit day complete with sunshine, little wind, great route conditions, and the route (mostly) to themselves.

Congratulations to the team and and a heartfelt thank you goes out to our rockstar Sherpa team and support staff! This incredible feat would not be possible without them.

Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with today’s dispatch as he tries to find the words for a truly special day on Mount Everest:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in from the South Col (7900m/25,919ft) for the Madison Mountaineering Everest (8848m/29,032ft) and Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) expedition team. We had a great summit today on Mount Everest! Best summit day ever that I can remember.

We started about 2:00 AM after a brief snowstorm here on the South Col, made our way up the triangular face to the balcony, up to the south summit, and up to the top of the world – summit of Mount Everest, about 9:30 – 10:00 AM. It was a glorious day! The best conditions and best route conditions that I can remember, perfect weather. It was warm, hardly any wind, hardly any other climbers on the mountain. We spent about two hours total, some of us, after summit just basking in the views, warmth and enjoying being at the top of Mount Everest. So, we had eight clients, four guides and 15 Nepal Sherpas get to the top today, including Aang Phurba Sherpa. And now, we’re all back safe in Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft)!

Our plan is to go to bed, we just had some dinner. Some of us are going to wake up in a few hours, and head off to climb Lhotse – a neighboring peak of Mount Everest, the fourth highest mountain in the world.

So, the perfect summit day! (I) can’t believe how lucky we were, it was so nice up there. So lucky in so many ways! It was a glorious day and glad we’re all back safe.

Tomorrow some of us will go to Lhotse, the rest of us down to Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft), and the following day down to base camp (5364m/17,598ft). All is well here on Everest! 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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Summit Push – It’s Time!

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

The 2023 Madison Mountaineering Everest expedition team is primed and ready to make their summit push on the world’s highest peak! In just a few short hours, the team will emerge from their tents, dawn their packs, and leave the South Col in the direction of Mount Everest’s summit ridge which will take them to the summit. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from the South Col:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest (8848m/29,032ft) and Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) expedition team. Today is May 23rd and we are up here at Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft) on the South Col. We got up here yesterday afternoon and had a good nights sleep, a restful day recovering and preparing for our summit attempt tonight. So the weather looks great, probably the best day of the season coming up, fingers crossed.

The team is ready and our plan is to wake up in a few hours time and head out around midnight to make our summit attempt on Mount Everest! So we are doing our last minute preparations here, finishing our dinner, filling our water bottles, we’ll sleep for 2 hours before we get up and go.

Wish us luck! We’ll check in 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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