Everest Base Camp Archives

Summit Success on Lobuche East!

Meanwhile down valley in the Khumbu, our Lobuche East climbers reached the summit and safely descended to the village of Lobuche! Congratulations team!! Madison Mountaineering guide Scott Webster reports in from Lobuche village with this recap of summit day:

Successful ascent of Lobuche East this morning (April 15, 2022). The team set out from high camp at 0200 and reached the summit (6119m/20,075ft) at 0730. The weather couldn’t have been any better with clear blue skies and hardly a breath of wind! After descending back to high camp we packed up and returned to Lobuche village. The clients then helicoptered back to Kathmandu! From the summit of a 6000m Himalayan peak to Kathmandu in less than 10 hours!

On the summit of Lobuche East!

Heading up from high camp on Lobuche East

Nearing the summit of Lobuche East

Climber Katherine Crociata and Tenji Sherpa on the summit of Lobuche East

Topping out on Lobuche East

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:

April 15, 2022/0 Comments/by Garrett

Everest 2022

Practice Makes Perfect

Our Everest team members are sharpening their technical skills on the ice. Here’s guide Terray Sylvester with today’s audio expedition dispatch from Everest base camp:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition! It’s Friday, April 15th.

Today our team of climbers ventured out on to the pinnacles of ice right next to base camp here on the Khumbu Glacier and we practiced fixed-line technique, traversing on fixed lines, ascending/descending. That’s one of the most fun things we do here in base camp. It’s just like a playground out there on the glacier.

So, everyone did great, it was beautiful weather, and most likely we will do more practice tomorrow. Tonight we are going to finish “Interstellar” (movie) and we’re looking forward to another great dinner here in the dining tent.

So, we will be in touch.

Climber David Courtney enjoying beautiful weather in the Himalayas

Climber Sara Safari ascending a fixed line

Climber Dwight Crow practices traversing on fixed lines on the Khumbu Glacier

Good times practicing technical skills

Climber Cameron Kenny practices ascending fixed lines on the Khumbu Glacier

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:

April 15, 2022/0 Comments/by Garrett

Everest 2022

Settling into Base Camp Life

The view from base camp as the moon rose over the west shoulder of Mount Everest

Our Everest team is settling into base camp life and today hiked up the slopes of Pumori to its camp 1 at 5486m. Guide Terray Sylvester has today’s audio expedition dispatch from Everest base camp:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition! It’s April 14th.

We continue to have to have great weather here in base camp. Today we had a little bit of snow overnight, a little cloudiness in the morning, but the rest of the day was really brilliant blue skies with very crisp clear views of Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse. The team hiked up to camp 1 on Pumori today higher than 18,000ft to acclimatize. It’s part of our continuing preparation for our first rotation up to Camp 1 and Camp 2, which will hopefully start in a few days.

So, everyone is doing well here! We had a great dinner of momos, chicken, and then watched the first half of “Interstellar” after dinner. We’ll finish that off tomorrow.

So, we will be in touch.

The team at Pumori Camp 1 on an acclimatization hike 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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

April 14, 2022/0 Comments/by Garrett

Everest 2022

Training and Organizing in Everest Base Camp

With our EBC trekkers and Lobuche/Island Peak climbers headed out from Everest base camp to continue their adventures, the Everest climbing team has started to turn their attention to getting things ready for their first acclimatization rotation in a few days by organizing their gear and starting some initial skills refresh. Expedition leader Garrett Madison provides a recap of the day:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest and Lhotse expedition team! Today is April 13th. We are in Everest Base Camp. We arrived yesterday and we are doing great! A beautiful sunny morning today, we saw off our trekkers who headed down valley back to Kathmandu by helicopter. The climbing team put on their crampons, grabbed our ice axes and went out for a walk in the lower Icefall to scope out the terrain.

It was a beautiful morning, lots of great views and we came back to camp and did a little gear organizing. We just had a relaxing afternoon. We’re going to have a good dinner now, watch a movie tonight, and we look forward to a good rest.

So, all is well here at Everest Base Camp. It is snowing here at the moment and we are really happy to be here.

Just thrilled to get up into the Khumbu icefall here in about a week’s time after we do our training.

Training in the Khumbu Icefall

A view from today’s training

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:

April 13, 2022/1 Comment/by Garrett

Everest 2022

Everest Base Camp!

Today our trekking and climbing teams completed the final segment of trekking to reach Everest Base Camp! Madison Mountaineering guide Terray Sylvester provides a recap of the day:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition! It’s April 12th.

Today our climbing and trekking teams walked from Gorak Shep (5170m/16,962ft) to Everest Base Camp (5310m/17,421ft). It was a beautiful day for the walk – really nice sunny weather. Everyone stopped for some group photos at “Trekker’s Rock” right at the bottom of base camp and then came on up to camp and we started moving into our tents.

Tomorrow our trekkers will fly out in helicopters back to Kathmandu and our Island Peak and Lobuche Peak climbers will head off down the valley. Then our Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse climbers will start getting into the routine of preparing for the ascent. So, tomorrow we’ll go over some climbing skills, make sure our gear is dialed in, and potentially take a little foray into the Icefall.

So, all is well here. Everyone is heathly. And yeah, it was a beautiful day here at just over 5000m.

So, we’ll be in touch!

Nearly to Everest Base Camp

The trekking team at the entrance to base camp

Garrett and Rob welcoming Everest climber Roi Negri base camp

Garrett and Rob welcome Everest climber Roi Negri to base camp

The climbing team at the entrance to base camp

Night shot looking up into the Khumbu icefall from our base camp

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:

April 12, 2022/0 Comments/by Garrett

Everest 2021

Everest 2021, it’s a wrap!

Definitely a challenging season on the world’s highest peak, but in the end Sagarmatha smiled and opened her arms, welcoming us to journey to her highest point. Our @madisonmtng team had magnificent summit days on May 11th and 23rd, with a total of 17 foreign climbers and 23 Nepal Sherpas reaching the top, of which 5 foreign climbers went on to summit Lhotse with 6 Sherpas. Among our team was Arthur Muir, now the oldest American to reach the top of the world and Kristin Harila who reached the top of Everest at sunrise and the top of Lhotse later that day at sunset.

Despite the pandemic, the harsh weather, and other challenges which forced many teams to cancel mid-late season, our team pulled together and remained focused on our mission, accomplishing what we came here to do, and everyone (foreign climbers & Sherpas) made it off the mountain safely.

We are very grateful to our clients who believed in and trusted us, our guide and Sherpa staff who went above and beyond, and the mountain for giving us the opportunity to test ourselves and admire the view from the top for a few fleeting moments. We look forward to returning to Everest in the spring of 2022, Namaste 🙏!

Everest 2021

June 6, 2021/1 Comment/by Garrett

Everest 2021

Post Climb Relaxing at EBC

Art Muir with climbing sherpa Pasang Bhote on the summit of Everest

Here’s expedition leader Garrett Madison with today’s dispatch from Mount Everest base camp:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse team. We are in Everest Base Camp.

We had a nice, restful day here in base camp – cloudy and snowy all day. We were going to head out today but no helicopter flights and we decided to delay one day, so we are planning to head out tomorrow. Some folks are going to be trekking down the valley over three days to Lukla and others are hoping to helicopter out if the weather clears. But the Cyclone Yaas out of the Bay of Bengal has created some very inclement weather here in Nepal in the Himalaya, so there might not be many helicopter flights coming soon.

Anyhow, we’re having a great time here, we’re savoring our summit success, and the fact that we all made it down safely and just enjoying our time together here as a team. It’s been a wonderful two months here together in Nepal on the expedition, trekking, climbing, suffering together (haha), and we’re just enjoy our last day together here before we all head out.

So, we’re doing well and looking forward to another good night of rest in base camp.

(photo: Madison Mountaineering team member Art Muir, at 75 years young, the oldest American to summit Everest along with climbing sherpa Pasang Bhote on the summit of Mount Everest!)

If climbing Mount Everest 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:

https://madisonmountaineering.com/maps/everest-2021

May 26, 2021/0 Comments/by Garrett

Everest 2021

Summit Photos and Team Celebration!

The team toasting the summit success at Everest Base Camp. Cheers!

Riding high on the team success, Garrett and the team call in from Everest base camp:

Hey! This is Garrett and the team here at Everest Base Camp. We just finished our team celebration dinner. We all got down safe to base camp through the Khumbu Icefall today.

What a WONDERFUL group of people! I’m so happy everyone’s down safe. We had a great time up there in a safe and successful climb! [big team cheer]

Best team ever!

Art Muir, now the oldest American at 75 years-young to summit Mount Everest, in the background: “Kurt, we could not have done it without all your help!”

Well, thank you Art. I’m just in awe of your amazing accomplishment. Wow! Just wow! From the home office in Seattle, hats off to all the team members, guides, and climbing sherpa, staff, and porters that really make the whole expedition possible. We are so proud of all of you!

From Everest’s SE ridge on summit day

Andrew H and Garrett on the summit of Everest

Kristin B and climbing sherpa Mingmar at the top of the world

Kevin W enjoying a Coke with Phurba Rita Sherpa upon arriving in base camp

If climbing Mount Everest 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:

https://madisonmountaineering.com/maps/everest-2021

May 25, 2021/3 Comments/by Garrett

Everest 2021

Team Safely Down to Camp II

Our Everest team is safely down to Camp II and expedition leader Garrett Madison provides the recap of the descent from the South Col via sat phone:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse expedition. Today is May 24th. It’s 8:07 PM and we are all safely down in Camp II.

Today we woke up at Camp IV on the South Col about 6:00 AM, had breakfast, started packing, and made our way down from the South Col, over the Geneva Spur, down the Lhotse Face, over the Yellow Band, and onwards down over the [garbled] at Camp III, down the Western Cwm into Camp II. We’re all safely back in Camp II.

We’re tired – it was a big effort getting down today. But, everybody’s doing okay here in Camp II.

Our plan is to get up tomorrow at 4:00 AM and head out by 5:00 AM to make our way down through the Khumbu Icefall to base camp. So we’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re down to Camp II, we’re doing well, and we’re just so fortunate and so happy that we had a beautiful summit day yesterday on Everest. Nine clients, four guides, and over twenty sherpas were all able to make the summit on what was probably the nicest summit day I’ve ever had – beautiful conditions up there. And some of our climbers were also able to make Lhotse. So very fortunate that everyone had good climbing and is down safe.

One more day to go here through the Western Cwm and the Khumbu Icefall to be back at base camp. We are looking forward to making our way towards Kathmandu and back home.

All’s well here in Camp II and we’ll check in soon!

(photo: Madison Mountaineering archives)

If climbing Mount Everest 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:

https://madisonmountaineering.com/maps/everest-2021

May 24, 2021/0 Comments/by Garrett

Everest 2021

Best. Summit. Day. Ever!

Via sat phone from Camp IV on the South Col of Mount Everest, expedition leader and now 11-time summiter of Mount Everest, Garrett Madison provides the happy news:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse expedition. Today is May 23rd, it’s 7:30 PM in Nepal. We are at Camp IV on Mount Everest’s South Col.

We had an amazing day. We left around midnight on the 23rd and summited Mount Everest this morning. It was a beautiful day! It was clear, calm, and probably the nicest summit day I’ve had on Everest out of my 11 summits!

Our team of nine clients, four American western guides, and over 20 Nepal sherpas all made it to the top of Everest and back down safe. So, we had a wonderful day! It was beautiful – amazing views as far as the eye could see and we spent a long time at the summit.

Tonight, we have some climbers heading out for Lhotse. In fact, one of our climbers, Kristin Harila, actually already summited Lhotse. From Everest to Lhotse today in record time! She is on her way down from the Lhotse summit now.

Big congrats to Kristin and to all the members of our team for making it up to the top of Everest today and back down to Camp IV safely.

We aren’t out of the woods yet; we have to get down to Camp II tomorrow. We are going to wake up, pack, and be safe on the way down the Lhotse Face to Camp II. But, we’re very happy that the weather forecast from Marc De Keyser worked out and we got a beautiful day here on the summit of Everest. It couldn’t have been better! We are very fortunate and are looking forward to a safe descent.

(photo: Madison Mountaineering archives)

If climbing Mount Everest 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:

https://madisonmountaineering.com/maps/everest-2021

May 23, 2021/2 Comments/by Garrett

Tag Archive for: Everest Base Camp