Tag Archive for: Gasherbrum

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The Madison Mountaineering Karakoram expedition teams have settled into their base camp at the foot of K2! The team enjoyed excellent views of some of the world’s great peaks like the Trango Towers, Masherbrum, and Gasherbrums throughout the five-day trek from Askole. Now in base camp, the team has begun technical skills review and organizing for the climbing ahead. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from base camp:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 (8611m/28,251ft), Unclimbed Peak, and Broad Peak (8051m/26,414ft) expedition team. Happy Fourth of July here from K2 base camp (4968m/16,300ft) in Pakistan!

The team is doing well! We did training today. Tomorrow we’re going for an acclimatization hike up to advanced base camp (5303m/17,400ft). The weather has been great and we’ve been enjoying our time here settling into base camp, taking showers, having great meals, watching movies, and getting organized and ready for the climbing ahead!

We’re happy to celebrate the American Independence Day here! Great evening here with the team and we’re looking forward to some good days ahead. We’ll check in soon! All is well here at K2 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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.

Instagram:

The Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition team after arriving in Skardu!

The 2023 Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition is underway in Pakistan! Over the course of the last few days, our climbers, guides and Sherpa team arrived in Islamabad and are eager to keep the expedition moving. After a short stay at the team hotel and celebrating one climbers birthday, the team once again packed their bags and boarded another plane en route to Skardu. Tomorrow, the team will enjoy a rest day and do some sight seeing before continuing their expedition the following day to the trailhead where they’ll embark on this incredible journey towards K2. Expedition guide, Terray Sylvester checks in with todays dispatch from Pakistan:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the 2023 Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition – today is June 25th.

Over the last couple of days, our team arrived in Islamabad, and this morning we flew from Islamabad to Skardu (2220m/7283ft) up in Gilgit-Baltistan in the Karakoram mountains. It was a beautiful morning for the flight! We had great views of Nanga Parbat (8126m/26,660ft), and then off of the left side of the plane as we approached Skardu, excellent views of K2 (8611m/28,251ft), the Gasherbrums, Broad Peak (8051m/26,414ft) and other peaks in that zone.

We touched down, and then headed to our hotel, and spent the evening organizing and relaxing at the hotel. It’s pretty hot here, but we had a beautiful evening – beautiful sunset out over the Skardu valley – and then we enjoyed a nice dinner here at our hotel!

Tomorrow, we’ll take a rest day here in Skardu and then the next day we plan to drive to our trailhead at Askole (3040m/9,974ft) up in the mountains. So everything is going really well here in Pakistan and we’ll be in touch tomorrow!

The team preparing to board our flight from Islamabad to Skardu. Photo: Terray Sylvester

The team preparing to board our flight from Islamabad to Skardu. Photo: Terray Sylvester

The Madison Mountaineering K2 sherpa team, with two of our Pakistani staff. Photo: Terray Sylvester

The Madison Mountaineering K2 sherpa team, with two of our Pakistani staff. Photo: Terray Sylvester

A birthday celebration this evening for our climber, Yuri!

A birthday celebration this evening for our climber, Yuri!


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: