Quick update on our third Mount Vinson expedition team:
On Friday (Jan 14th) made an attempt at the summit but were unfortunately forced to turn around due to wind and cold. Some other teams turned around as well. Yesterday (Jan 15th) was another stormy day, so the team hung tight at High Camp. Conditions are expected to improve on Monday, so they are hoping for another shot then.
Everyone is doing good and all’s well at Mount Vinson High Camp.
The team is in place at Mount Vinson High Camp and preparing to head for the summit tomorrow. Guide Terray Sylvester checks in with the details:
Hello, this is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson expedition. It’s the third climb of the season. Today’s January 14th.
We moved from Low Camp (2774m/9,100ft) to High Camp (3536m/11,600m) today. Now everyone’s tucked into bed and we’ll head for the summit tomorrow because tomorrow looks like the best weather – it may get a little windy after that.
So, we’ll be in touch 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:
– Instagram:
Congratulations to Sarah, Thomas, and expedition leader Garrett Madison for making the summit of Mount Vinson (4892m/16,050ft)!! Here’s Garrett via sat phone from High Camp with a recap of the day:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Vinson team number two. Today is January 2nd.
Today we reached the summit of Mount Vinson! We had a beautiful, glorious day all to ourselves up at the summit. Nobody else was around and hardly any wind, clear skies, great climbing conditions. So, a great day up there for myself, Sarah, and Thomas. We are back at High Camp (3536m/11,600ft), had dinner, and are heading to bed.
Tomorrow we’re going to get up and head down to Base Camp. So, all’s well here on Vinson…
[remainder of sat phone call was garbled and cut 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:
– Instagram:
To start the new year, our second Mount Vinson expedition team moved up to High Camp to position themselves for their summit push within the next couple of days. Terray Sylvester calls in today’s dispatch:
Hello, this is Terray calling in for the second Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson expedition of the season. It’s New Year’s Day.
Today we woke up and had bacon and french toast for breakfast and then moved from Low Camp (2774m/9,100ft) to High Camp (3536m/11,600ft). We had beautiful weather all day – clear, sunny skies and basically calm air, no wind.
Now we’re settled down in High Camp. We had hamburgers for dinner with risotto and veggies.
[remainder of sat photo call garbled and cuts 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:
– Instagram:
Great news! Garrett and the entire team made the summit of Mount Vinson today. Way to go team! Special congratulations to Jen for completing her Seven Summits quest!! Here’s Garrett via sat phone just minutes are from Mount Vinson High Camp with the details:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson expedition team. Today is Tuesday, December 28th and we reached the summit of Mount Vinson today – the highest point in Antarctica.
We had a beautiful day, just fantastic weather, and great route conditions. Myself, John, and Jen got up to the top around 5:30 PM, a beautiful evening summit with 24-hours of daylight here in Antarctica. We just got back to camp, had dinner, and heading to bed now at about 11 o’clock.
All’s well here and we’re heading down to Vinson Base Camp tomorrow. Hoping this great weather sticks around for a while.
We’ll check in soon. Thanks!
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:
– Instagram:
Team member John provides today’s expedition update from Mount Vinson High Camp. Spoiler-alert: tomorrow they will make a summit attempt!
Hello, everybody. This is John checking in from Vinson High Camp on behalf of my fellow teammate Jen and expedition leader Garrett Madison.
Today we enjoyed a very relaxing rest day advance of our summit day tomorrow. The weather was glorious today so we took advantage of it to taking some photos, walk around, get some exercise, and it’s an early night in bed in advance of our big day tomorrow.
All is well, spirits are high, and we look forward to giving you an update tomorrow night!
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:
– Instagram:
Vinson Team One made the move up to High Camp on Mount Vinson yesterday. It was a nice climbing day from Low Camp to High Camp up the steep fixed ropes. The team is now enjoying some good weather. Everyone is happy, healthy, and doing well — not to mention super psyched to be getting ready for the summit push! 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:
– Instagram:
After the Kilimanjaro summit, this incredibly strong team hiked all the way down and out – what a big day! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison calls in from Arusha with all the details:
Hello this is Garrett calling in for the Kilimanjaro dispatch. We got back from the summit late last night after reaching the top at 06:00 am on August 15th. It was a beautiful day, we had the mountain all to ourselves. Stunning views over the Serengeti. Myself, Drew, and his daughter Jordan made it to the top and back down, packed up our camp and just kept going! We got all the way out to the [Mweka] gate and back to Arusha in time for a late dinner.
Tomorrow Drew and Jordan are heading off on safari. It should be a beautiful time on the Serengeti and Ngorongoro game parks – good game viewing.
It’s been a wonderful Kilimanjaro expedition. He are very happy that we got to work with our crew here in Tanzania of porters, cooks, guides, … and support their livelyhood here. They’re just a wonderful group of guys and hopefully we will get to see them again very soon!
Sunrise on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro
Beautiful African Sunrise
Happy climbers summit Kilimanjaro
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:
– Instagram:
Earlier today, our Kilimanjaro team trekked the 2.7 miles below the southern face from Karanga Camp to our high camp on the Mweka Ridge: Kosovo Camp (4870 m / 15,978 ft).
We like to pass by the popular, and often very crowded, Barafu Camp and take an extra hour of climbing up to Kosovo Camp. This much quieter camp positions us for a slightly shorter summit day. After an early dinner, the team will hit the sack early to get some much-needed rest to be ready for tomorrow’s early morning, alpine start of SUMMIT DAY!
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:
– Instagram:
The team is now safely down to Vinson base camp and Conrad Anker reports on the day in this expedition dispatch:
Greetings sports fans! This is Conrad calling from Vinson base camp. It’s the 8th of January 2020. What a way to start this fresh, new decade. We’re all back here after a wonderful and adventurious and trying expedition to the summit of Antarctica, Vinson Massif.
We had bad weather and a couple clear windows and today we started out at about 6am in a blizzard and we had to pack up camp, and head down to Low Camp, and then all the way back to Vinson base camp. The team was really excited for everything that went on.
What we have now at Vinson base camp is probably about 45 climbers that are all backlogged hoping to get out on a flight tomorrow. But it’s been foggy and no flights here for the last week to get to Union Glacier, all be it with weather in the mountains. But our team was happy to have spent six nights at High Camp inside a small tent that turned into a Top Raman sauna everytime we cooked.
Taking our changes on less then optimal weather and getting shut down and then coming back to wake up on a beatiful crystal clear day and getting the summit. So that’s what you come to expeditons for is to challange yourself, to make new friends, to be in scene places, and maybe have a laugh along the way.
For all of us here a big shout out especialliy to Roxy – yup that’s her – for her Seven Summits success and everyone else on the team. So wishing you all the best. Take care and stay tuned. Bye
By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December! Contact our office for details.
In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica on:
– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:
– Instagram: