Gokyo Archives

Ama Dablam 2024

Phakding to Namche

Our climbers Thierry, Rob and Joe crossing the famous Hillary Suspension Bridge! (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The Madison Mountaineering Himalayan expedition teams continued on today, trekking up to Namche Bazaar and crossing the famous Hillary Bridge along the way. Blue skies and pleasant temperatures fueled the team as we walked, step by step up the trail taking in excellent views of the mountains above and river below. With a day of active rest to come, we’re excited to enjoy the comforts of Namche before venturing further into the Himalayas. Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Nepal:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the autumn Madison Mountaineering programs here in the Everest region of Nepal – today is October 23rd. Today we walked from Phakding (2610m/8,562ft) up to Namche Bazaar (3440m/11,290ft). Some of the highlights of today’s trek included entering Sagarmatha National Park and crossing the famous Hillary suspension bridge on our way up the hill to Namche. It was another beautiful day here in the Khumbu Valley! We had excellent views of Kusum Kanguru (6367m/20,889ft) – a really nice, snowy, craggy peak high above the Dudh Koshi River. And now from Namche Bazaar, we’re looking over at Kongde Ri (6187m/20,299ft) which is another very majestic peak here in this part of the valley.

We’ve settled into our lodge and our guests are relaxing at Sherpa Barista Cafe, which is a great restaurant here in Namche, and we’re looking forward to a great dinner later tonight! Also, many of our guests have signed up for sports massages with a local charity called Lehara, which provides economic opportunities to local women here in the valley. So, those massages are a nice benefit of being in Namche!

Tomorrow, we’re looking forward to an active rest day! We’ll hike up to the Everest View Hotel where if the weather is as clear as it was today, we’ll have excellent views of Everest (8848m/29,032ft), and Nuptse (7861m/25,791ft), and Ama Dablam (6812m/22,349ft), and other peaks in the upper Khumbu Valley.

So, all is well here in Nepal and we’ll be in touch tomorrow!

The team enjoying lunch in Jorsalle on the way to Namche. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The team enjoying lunch in Jorsale on the way to Namche. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

Our guests Mel and Tom on the scenic trails en route to Namche. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

Morning light in the Khumbu Valley. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

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:

October 23, 2024/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ama Dablam 2024

A perfect day to fly!

The whole team starting the journey up the Khumbu Valley! (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The Madison Mountaineering Himalayan expedition teams awoke early to their alarm clocks this morning with excitement for the day ahead of them. After checking out of the hotel and hauling our duffel bags downstairs, we loaded the bus and we’re on our way to begin the next leg of the journey – an exciting helicopter flight from the capital city to Lukla! After lifting off and flying high above the city below, the city streets soon disappeared and turned into steep terraced hillsides, which later revealed crystal clear views of the Himalayas as we climbed higher and higher into the sky. Full of excitement from an awesome flight and with bellies full after a nice breakfast, we hit the trail en route to our first stop on the way into the Khumbu. Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Phakding:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the fall 2024 Madison Mountaineering programs in the Khumbu Valley. Today we flew from Kathmandu (1400m/4,600ft) to Lukla (2860m/9,383ft) – we took helis! It was a beautiful flight, maybe one of the clearest flights that I’ve ever had coming into Lukla. We had great views of the mountains all the way in, landed in Lukla earlier this morning, then we had a nice breakfast at the Paradise Lodge, and walked here to Phakding (2610m/8,562ft)! And again, the weather was just fantastic all day – really nice temperature and good views of the hills and higher peaks around us.

We just had lunch and now we’re settling in with the nice white noise of the Dudh Koshi River, not too far away. We’re looking forward to another good day tomorrow when we’ll walk from Phakding up to Namche Bazaar (3440m/11,290ft)! We’ll be in touch then.

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:

October 22, 2024/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ama Dablam 2024

Hello from Nepal!

The team at their welcome dinner tonight!

The Madison Mountaineering team is back in Nepal this season with several different teams trekking and climbing around the Himalayas! After a long day of travel, everyone has arrived and is looking forward to the days ahead after some rest and final preparations. Together, we’ve gone through a gear check and orientation, capping off the day with a fun dinner at a nice restaurant nearby the hotel. Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Kathmandu:

Hello! This is Terray calling in from Kathmandu (1400m/4,600ft) for the Madison Mountaineering programs in Nepal’s Khumbu Valley this fall – today is October 20th. Over the last 48 hours, our guests have been arriving in Kathmandu. Today, we kicked off our fall programs with an orientation and gear checks here at the Yak and Yeti Hotel, and then we just wrapped up a really nice welcome dinner at Mezze restaurant in the downtown core of Nepal’s capital city, just a block from the former royal palace.

We have guests heading out on a variety of programs! We have our Ama Dablam (6812m/22,349ft) climbing team, we have guests heading to Everest Base Camp (5364m/17,598ft), and we have some people who will trek to Everest Base Camp and then climb Island Peak (6189m/20,305ft) and Lobuche East (6119m/20,075ft). We have some folks who are heading out on the three passes loop up into the Gokyo area, and then looping back in toward Everest Base Camp and some of the popular 6,000-meter peaks in the area.

So we have a lot of activity underway here in Nepal and we’re looking forward to a really great season! Tomorrow we plan to do our pre-expedition city tour here in Kathmandu, and then the following day hopefully, we’ll start making our way up toward Lukla (2860m/9,383ft). So, all is well here in Kathmandu and we’ll be in touch!

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:

October 21, 2024/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ama Dablam 2024

City tour in Kathmandu!

Members of our Fall Khumbu Valley programs pose for a team photo with a sadhu (Hindu holy man) at Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The Madison Mountaineering team ventured out into the bustling city of Kathmandu today for a tour of some of its most important sites! After a wonderful visit to both the Pashupatinath and Boudhanath Temples, the team was free to do as they liked and spent the rest of the day walking the city streets, resting, and packing for the move tomorrow! With good weather in the forecast, we’ll meet on the helicopter pad for our flight to Lukla where the trek officially begins. Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Kathmandu:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the fall 2024 Madison Mountaineering Khumbu Valley programs, our Ama Dablam (6812m/22,349ft) climb, Everest Base Camp (5364m/17,598ft) treks, and Island Peak (6189m/20,305ft), Lobuche East (6119m/20,075ft) climbs.

Today, we visited Pashupatinath Temple and Boudhanath Temple here in Kathmandu (1400m/4,600ft). That was our usual city tour before we fly out to the Khumbu Valley. It was a beautiful, sunny fall day here in Kathmandu and we had a really nice time visiting those two UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll wake up early and take helicopters up to Lukla (2860m/9,383ft) if all goes as planned and if the weather allows us to fly. So far the forecast is looking good! So, we’ll be in touch tomorrow.

The Madison Mountaineering team during our city tour at Pashupatinath Temple. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

Members of the team snapping photographs at Boudha Stupa. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

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:

October 21, 2024/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ama Dablam 2020

Ama Dablam Base Camp (4581m)!

Today the Ama Dablam team made the hike of the final hill to base camp. Garrett reports “all good here!” Tomorrow they will start dialing in the camp including getting communications set up. Hopefully, there will be some Wi-Fi so more photos can be shared.

The day’s hike from Pangboche to base camp was just about 3 hours and gained 700m of elevation. Now it’s time to climb! After a couple of acclimatization rotations up the mountain, they are targeting November 10 as a possible summit day. Stay tuned!

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

– Instagram:

October 31, 2020/0 Comments/by Kurt

Ama Dablam 2020

The Trek to Base Camp – Pangboche (4000m)

Another beautiful day for trekking in the Khumbu where our Ama Dablam team has moved to just one day away from reaching base camp. From the village of Pangboche, expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provides today’s audio dispatch recapping the day:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Ama Dablam expedition. We’re in Pangboche now at the base of Ama Dablam and we’re staying in the Namaste Lodge.

We arrived this afternoon after a wonderful trek from Deboche, up along the river to Pangboche. We had lunch here and then went for a walk this afternoon and visited the chief Lama in Pangboche up on the hillside above the village here and had a blessing with him. Tomorrow our plan is another blessing at the Pangboche Monastery and then we’ll head up to base camp! Great weather here and we’re enjoying our time here in the Khumbu.

It’s great to be reacquanted with some of our local friends and families who live here.

The 2020 Ama Dablam Team

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

– Instagram:

October 30, 2020/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ama Dablam 2020

The Trek to Base Camp – Debuche (3730m)

Departing the Panorama Lodge in Namche with blessings

Leaving Namche Bazaar today, the Ama Dablam team was blessed by our friends at the Panorama Lodge and started making their way towards Tengboche. Before reaching the lunch stop at the village of Phunki Tenga, they said farewell to the Gokyo trekking team as the trail split and the Gokyo trekkers headed north into the Gokyo Valley and the village of Mong. After lunch on the riverside terrace overlooking the confluence of the Dudh Koshi and Imja Khola rivers, the Ama Dablam team crossed the big footbridge and made their way up to the hill to the Tengboche Monastery and the always awesome Cafe Tengboche for some well earned Khumbu apple pie at 3855m / 12,648 ft.!

From there it was just a bit further on, downhill, to the Rivendell Lodge in Deboche for the evening.

[ UPDATE: Apparently the cafes in Phunki Tenga and Tengboche were closed due to the coronavirus so no apple pie! :-( ]

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

– Instagram:

October 29, 2020/0 Comments/by Kurt

Ama Dablam 2020

First views of Ama Dablam!

During today’s active rest day, the teams did an acclimatization hike up to the Everest View Hotel and caught their first views of Ama Dablam, Everest, and Lhotse. It was a beautiful, crystal clear blue sky day and the scenery was simply eye-popping.

Tomorrow the Ama Dablam team will head out of Namche and traverse the magnificent valley towards Tengboche. Along the way, they will say farewell to the Gokyo trek teams as they head north into the Gokyo Valley.

First view of Ama Dablam from the Everest View Hotel

Moe is excited to see Ama Dablam

Our Sirdar Aang Phruba is psyched to get climbing Ama Dablam

Ama Dablam

Namche Bazaar

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

– Instagram:

October 28, 2020/0 Comments/by Kurt

Ama Dablam 2020

The Trek to Base Camp – Namche Bazaar (3440m)

Chase M, Jenn D, Aang Phurba, and Garrett trekking to Namche

Today the teams trekked from Phakding up to Namche Bazaar under beautiful, sunny skies. Here’s expedition leader, Garrett Madison, with the update from Namche:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Ama Dablam team expediton and Gokyo trek teams. We are in Namche Bazaar.

We had a wonderful trek today from the village of Phakding up the Khumbu Valley to Namche. Beautiful views crossing the supension bridges over the river gorge and making our way up the big hill to Namche. We’re all doing good.

It’s very quite, very peaceful, very beautiful here in the Khumbu Valley. Just a few other trekkers we’ve seen so far. It’s really nice to be reaquanted with some of our local friends and family that we stay with when we come to visit Nepal. They’re very happy to see us.

We look forward to another great day here tomorrow in Namche!

Crossing the Larcha Dovan bridge to Namche (🎥: @eliasaikaly)

Jenn D studies the bridge before Namche

On the trek to Namche

Namche Bazaar (3440m)

At the Panorama Lodge, Namche

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

– Instagram:

October 27, 2020/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ama Dablam 2020

The Trek to Base Camp – Day 1

Early this morning the Ama Dablam and Gokyo teams flew by helicopter from Kathmandu to the mountain village of Lukla, where they started their treks. The first stop is the village of Phakding. Here’s expedition leader, Garrett Madison, with today’s audio dispatch from Phakding, Nepal:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Ama Dablam team expedition. We all made it to Lukla today and had a wonderful trek to village of Phakding. It’s great to be back up here in Khumbu Valley — clear views, fresh air, nice wonderful people. It feels like we are the only group here, which we may be.

We’re very happy to be up here and to be on our way!