Early this morning our Everest team began their first acclimatization rotation up the mountain by leaving out of base camp about 2:00 AM. Climbing by headlight through the Khumbu Icefall they reached the mid-point (5727m) around 6:10 AM and pulled into a well-prepared Camp 1 (6059m/19,879ft) after climbing for 8-1/2 hours at 10:30 AM.
Unfortunately, the satellite modem was being a bit finicky so we have just the one photo (by Terray Sylvester) so far, but they will be spending two nights there at Camp 1, so expect to see and hear more before they move further up the Western Cwm to Camp 2 in the coming days.
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:
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.“
The Everest team took a rest day at base camp today while they waited for the snowstorm to move out. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison provides the day’s summary:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Everest expedition team. We’re in Mount Everest base camp and we had a great day here just resting up. The snow storm finally abated today about 4 or 5 pm, just before dinner time. It lasted since yesterday midday and we had about a foot of fresh snow accumulate here in base camp, larger in some spots with the spindrift. It was nice to have the sky clear up finially and get some good views.
We are looking forward to a good day tomorrow. We’re going to get prepared tomorrow for our move up to Camp I and II.
Everyone’s doing well in base camp. We are just happy to be here, having a great time – another great day, good meals, and a good movie. Everyone’s doing well and we’ll check in soon.
Evening view of a snow-covered Everest 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:
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PHOTO-2021-04-22-08-56-52.jpg1024768Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2021-04-22 15:59:152021-04-22 16:59:39Rest Day at EBC
The featured photo (above) is guides Kumar and Ming Dorchi on the summit of Island Peak with climber Rich D. earlier in the week. Congrats Rich!! For the recap of the snowy day at EBC, here’s Everest guide Terray Sylvester:
Today the forecast dictated that we spend a rest day in camp and defer, for at least one day, our ascent to Camp I. So we spent the morning going over some descending techniques down in the ice pyramids just below base camp. We practiced arm-wrap descending and repelling with a belay device, just to make sure that everyone’s efficient with those techniques when it comes time to actually descend the Lhotse face or descent through the Khumbu Icefall.
Just as we were arriving back at camp it started to snow. It’s about 7:30 now and it’s not actively snowing, but we got anywhere from four to six inches on the ground. And certainly more where it’s drifted up against the tents. Base camp has transformed from the rocky glacial landscape that it has been to a sort of snowly winter wonderland — it’s actually beautiful.
We just wrapped up dinner. Tonight it was pasta, green beans, and filet mignon. Then a desert of canned peaches. Now we’ll settle in with a movie.
Before dinner we also did a weather forecast presentation. We recieve detailed daily forecasts, so we put those up on the projector and work through that in detail. Just so everyone knows what’s in store for the next few days.
Right now it looks like we’ll probably see more snow coming in on the 22nd, which means that may yet again delay our ascent to Camp I. But after that, it looks like we’ll have some high pressure and clear skys and hopefully great conditions for climbing.
Okay, we’ll be in touch!
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:
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.“
Today we took our first foray up into the Khumbu Icefall. We left after breakfast and accended to about 18,500 ft. We had beatiful weather and great conditions in the Icefall. It was a great chance for our climbers to practise the ascending and repelling skills that they’ll need when we actually do head all the way up through the Icefall to Camp I.
Today we went approximately a third, or maybe a quarter, of the way to Camp I. And yeah, the weather was beautiful today, but it looks like we have some snow coming in tomorrow so we’ve delayed our actual accent to Camp I until, most likely, the day after tomorrow.
But, all is well here in base camp and we will be in touch!
Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall
Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall
Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall
Climbing into the lower part of the Khumbu Icefall
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:
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PHOTO-2021-04-20-04-56-45-4.jpg6831024Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2021-04-20 15:10:402021-04-21 00:22:08First foray into the Khumbu Icefall
Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, reports on the day’s activities for the team at Everest base camp which included an acclimatization hike up to Prayer Flag Point:
Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Mount Everest and Lhotse expedition team. We are in Everest base camp. He had a good day today. We changed our plans slightly because there was some activity in the Icefall. We were going to go for a walk in the Icefall today, but instead, we went on another acclimatization hike – just outside of base camp to Prayer Flag Point. We had some great views, good exercise, came back for lunch, had a restful afternoon, and had dinner. We just finished watching Top Gun tonight – a great Amercian film.
Our Sherpa team is doing well. They had a big day today on the mountain and we’re going to take an easy day tomorrow. We are going to go for a little walk in the Icefall but not too far, just explore the bottom part for two hours and then back to base camp.
All’s well here with our team in base camp and we’re looking forward to another nice day here on Mount Everest.
Team acclimatization hike above EBC
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:
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.“
https://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PHOTO-2021-04-19-09-35-29.jpg12001600Garretthttps://madisonmountaineering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logomm-300x138.jpgGarrett2021-04-19 16:36:352021-04-19 18:33:29Acclimatization before First Rotation Continues
