Tag Archive for: Himalaya

Our climbing team had a wonderful ascent of Haba ‘Snow Mountain’ above the village of Haba in the Yunnan province of China. The climb was only 3 days followed by some sight seeing in the historical city of Lijiang. The summit of Haba is 5,396m or nearly 18,000′ so this was not a small climb by any means!

We hiked from the village of Haba on our first day of the trip through the dense forest and along mountain streams then came to grassy meadows as we approached our base camp. By the afternoon we reached our camp and had a glimpse of the peak.

On summit day we awoke at 3 AM and departed camp around 4 AM for the summit. We climbed up the rocky slopes and gained the glacier just as the sun began to rise, where we roped up and donned crampons. We then climbed the snow and ice slopes  and reached the top at 10:30 AM. We saw only a few other climbers on our ascent, even though it was a holiday weekend in China. At the summit we found the peak marker and savored the moment before heading down to our camp. The next day we hiked down through the lush forest back to the village of Haba, then drove along the scenic ‘Tiger leaping gorge’ back to Lijiang, where we visited the beautiful ‘old town’ that dates back to the 1300’s and enjoyed a traditional Chinese dinner typical of the Yunnan province. It’s been a great adventure with climbers Scott, Florian, Lloyd and Rafael!

To higher places!

Garrett Madison

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To view our climbing team’s exact route to the summit you can view our RainOn mapping platform here!

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Yesterday after meeting up in Shanghai, Garrett climbers flew to Lijiang, a beautiful city in the Yunnan province on the way to Haba Xueshan. Today our team is departing Lijiang and driving to Haba, to organize equipment and prepare for the trek to Haba Xueshan base camp! At an elevation of 17,703ft (5,396m), Haba Xueshan is a beautiful glaciated peak in southern China. Go team!
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Throughout this expedition you can view our team’s location and progress by viewing our RainOn mapping platform here!
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Garrett & team of climbers from Shanghai setting off for Haba.
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Yangtze River
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Team passing by the famous Hu  Tiao Cha ‘Tiger Leaping Gorge’ and Yangtze River located between the Haba Snow Mountain and the Yulong Snow Mountain. With a vertical drop of 3,800 meters the view to the bottom of the Tiger Leaping Gorge is nearly twice as high as the Grand Canyon!
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Fried snakes or sea horses anyone?
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Local woman in traditional dress in Haba.
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The Madison Mountaineering Spring 2016 Everest trekking season has officially launched! Today our second trekking team of the season is arriving in the capital city of Kathmandu, Nepal. Trekking through the Khumbu Valley to Everest base camp is a life changing experience for many, as the spectacular mountain scenery integrated with Sherpa culture and Buddhist religion makes for a truly engaging combination. Our team’s will follow the same route to Base Camp as the Everest climbers and recount the historical ascents with the climbers who share our lodges along the way.

Beautiful photos taken by Fred Crosetto below from our first Spring 2016 Everest Trek! Enjoy 🙂

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Madison Mountaineering climbers around the world are gearing up for Everest 2016! In a few short weeks we will converge in Kathmandu, Nepal and begin the journey to Mount Everest, known by the locals as Sagarmāthā. Mount Everest is Earth’s highest mountain at 8,848m (29,035ft) above sea level. Here in Seattle,WA our team is actively preparing mountaineering gear, food supplies, and taking care of other important expedition logistics before our departure. We look forward to returning to Nepal to witness and share with you the growth and progress that has been made since last year’s season ending earthquake.

Expedition dispatches will be posted here as frequently as possible. Also follow us @MadisonMtng on Twitter , Instagram , and  Facebook.

Stay tuned!  🙂

Interesting Everest Fact: The international border between Tibet and Nepal runs across Everest’s precise summit point. 

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