Tag Archive for: Everest Base Camp

Puja at EBC

The team after the Puja ceremony

After reaching Everest Base Camp yesterday, the team held their Puja ceremony today in which a Buddist Lama led the team in prayers for safe passage on the mountain.  Garrett Madison, expedition leader, has this update:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering / Mountain Hardwear Everest Expedition.  Today is September 16th.  We arrived at base camp yesterday on the 15th, settled in last night, and had a good night.

 

Today we did our Puja ceremony with the whole Sherpa team, all of the climbers, and trekkers!  It was a really good Puja ceremony; we had a Buddist Lama from Pingboche come up the valley and we had good weather for nearly all of our Puja ceremony.  So, it was a great day, great ceremony!

 

Tomorrow we are going to start climbing, work on the route through the icefall.  And also say goodbye to our trekking team who are going to head back down towards Lukla and Kathmandu.  All’s well here at Everest Base Camp.

 

We’ll check-in soon.  Thanks!

Puja!

Puja! (📸: Aang Phurba Sherpa)

Climbing team after the Puja ceremony

Climbing team after the Puja ceremony (📸: Aang Phurba Sherpa)

Garrett and Anag Phurba at the Puja

Garrett and Anag Phurba at the Puja (📸: Aang Phurba Sherpa)

The team after the Puja ceremony

The team after the Puja ceremony (📸: Aang Phurba Sherpa)

 

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the team as they trek to Everest Base Camp and then make their attempt to summit the world’s highest mountain 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:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Everest Base Camp!

2019 Autumn Everest base camp

Today the team reached Everest Base Camp (5280m/17,323ft.) around 09:43 AM UTC (2:43 AM PDT or 3:28 PM Nepal local time)!

Communications are still being set up but expedition leader, Garrett Madison, was able to provide this brief update via our Garmin inReach Mini:

Just arrived in EBC…the crew is psyched to be here…although it’s a little wet and cloudy.  Hopefully clear skies tomorrow morning for our Puja ceremony.  Everyone is doing great.  The base camp set up is nice!

Today’s hike was about six hours from Lobuche (4932m/16,181ft.) including a nice lunch break at Gorak Shep (5264m/17,270ft.) before continuing on to Everest base camp (5280m/17,323ft.).  Stay tuned for more dispatches as the climbing team settles into their home for the next month and begins the climbing!

RainOn tracking map of trek from Lobuche to EBC

Tracking map of trek from Lobuche to EBC

2019 Autumn Everest base camp

Our autumn Everest base camp dining tent. Check out the sweet stonework in the foreground. (📸: Aang Phurba Sherpa)

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the team as they trek to Everest Base Camp and then make their attempt to summit the world’s highest mountain 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:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Everest 2019 Spring Recap

Climbers nearing the summit on May 23rd

Congratulations to our Everest 2019 spring team in successfully climbing the world’s highest peak, but more importantly making it down safely! In contrast to what the media has portrayed, our experience on summit day was a pleasant one, due to a strong and experienced team. Our guides and Sherpas not only installed the fixed lines to the summit, which ‘opened’ the route on May 14th for all climbers on the south side of the mountain but also supported our climbers in a seamless climb of Mount Everest. The challenge of climbing Everest, coupled with the added uncertainty of the weather and other climbers on the route, can create adverse conditions. However, our team of professionals orchestrated a perfect expedition under the circumstances.

 

Climbers celebrating at the summit

Climbers celebrating at the summit

The Everest summit ridge on May 23rd

The Everest summit ridge on May 23rd

In my 12 expeditions to Everest, this was one of the finest teams of hard working, competent, positive, and pleasant Nepal “Sherpas”, many of who I have climbed with for the last 5 years. Big thanks for these incredible guys who helped us make our extraordinary success possible!

Madison Mountaineering rope fixing team on Everest summit day

MM rope team on summit day

Now our attention turns to the world’s second highest peak, K2. Today, our advance team of 100 porters and 2 Pakistan high altitude climbers left the village of Askole to begin the 100 km trek to K2 base camp.

K2 supplies headed to base camp

K2 supplies headed to base camp

Over 100 porters and staff leaving Askoli for K2

Over 100 porters and staff leaving Askoli for K2

We are excited to meet our climbing team in Islamabad in mid-June and make our way to ‘Chogori’, the savage mountain.

Our autumn Himalayan season following K2 will be action-packed, with our first ever Expedition to Everest in the fall!  We also have expeditions attempting Ama Dablam, as well as an unclimbed peak! Previously, we have had very high success on these peaks in the autumn. For climbers looking to climb the highest peak in Oceania, we also have a Carstensz Pyramid climb. We invite you to join us if climbing in the Himalaya or Oceania is on your ‘to do’ list this autumn!

Our Mount Vinson expeditions also have some availability, if climbing in Antarctica is on your mind, contact us for details!

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A toast to a safe, successful climb

A toast to a safe climb at our base camp with the Khumbu Icefall behind

With the Everest season quickly wrapping up, here’s expedition leader, Garrett Madison, with a final dispatch from the 2019 Mount Everest base camp:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Everest team.  Today most of our crew helicoptered down to Kathmandu and they are at the Yak & Yeti hotel, relaxing and enjoying a nice comfortable stay and a great dinner.  Myself, Conan and Stuart along with Joyce are still here in base camp with our Sherpa team – just packing up the camp and we are hoping to head out tomorrow down to Kathmandu.

 

But, it’s been a great season for us.  We have a very high success and safely all around with our team.  It was a challenging season, very windy on the mountain and cold this year with a narrow summit window.  And unfortunetly, there was a notable loss of life with climbers the last week on the mountain.  But we are happy to be down safe and looking forward to heading home soon.  All’s well here at base camp.  Thanks for following along!

Descending down from C2 with the Sun about to rise over Everest

Descending down from C2 with the Sun about to rise over Everest

Walking down the Western Cwm between C2 and C1

Walking down the Western Cwm between C2 and C1

Climbers descending the icefall

Climbers descending the icefall

A toast to a safe climb at our base camp with the Khumbu Icefall behind

A toast to a safe climb at our base camp with the Khumbu Icefall behind

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Everyone safely back to base camp

All climbers, guides, and Sherpa from the 2019 Madison Mountaineering Everest expedition have safely returned to base camp.  More details and recap of the climb coming soon…

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Wonderful time together at Everest Base Camp!

The 2016 Mount Everest trekkers had a wonderful time together at base camp! After our James Bond movie night everyone made their way back to their tents and got a good night sleep at 17,000ft. Throughout the night we could hear the cracks of the ice around us as the glaciers moved. What an adventure!! Getting up at sunrise we enjoyed a warm breakfast and clear skies across the mountains that surround base camp. We met many new friends in base camp and it has been a great time engaging with the climbers that will begin their first rotations up Mt. Everest in the days to come. It has been a wonderful jounrey and the team will now trek back through the Khumbu Valley toward Lukla. Congrats team! Onward!

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Trekkers and Climbers arrive to 2016 Mount Everest Base Camp!

Today both our trekkers and climbers arrived together to the Madison Mountaineering 2016 Mount Everest Base Camp!! We have been hard at work preparing the camp and are very excited to be able to come together and enjoy a night at base camp together. All team members picked out their tents and enjoyed spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. The weather was beautiful with the sun shining throughout the afternoon. We all enjoyed a great dinner together before our much anticipated movie night. We watched James Bond and had a welcome cake as well. Tomorrow the trekkers will depart from Everest Base Camp and make their way toward Lukla. Our climbers are excited to begin training in the icefall in the days to come before making their first rotations.

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Trekking team visits Lama Geshe in Pangboche

Today our trekking team hiked up the valley and visited Lama Geshe in Pangboche for a blessing, a very special occasion! Each trekker received a blessing and a special gift as we make our war toward Everest Base Camp. We then continued up to Dingboche to spend the night. We had another stellar day with great views of Mount Everest, Mount Lhotse, and Ama Dablam! Everyone is doing great and we look forward to another wonderful day tomorrow! The weather has continued to be absolutely beautiful in the day with temperatures dropping once the sun goes down.

Photo: A spectacular view of Ama Dablam as our trekkers make their way toward Everest Base Camp!

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Everest base camp Trekkers go on acclimatization hike

Today our Everest base camp trekking team went on a nice acclimatization hike and had amazing views of the surrounding peaks. After a hearty lunch our trekkers enjoyed one of the local bakeries where they have fresh apple pie and great coffee! Looking forward to the trek to Lobuche tomorrow, everyone is doing well and in good health! The weather has been absolutely beautiful with great views of the surrounding peaks. The team should be arriving into Everest Base Camp on April 11th and will have the exciting opportunity to spend the night before heading back toward Lukla.

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Beautiful shot on one of our acclimatization hikes!

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