Himalayas Archives

Burke Khang 2015

Burke Khang descent to Lukla airport

The Madison Mountaineering climbing team had a safe descent to Lukla airport by helicopter yesterday afternoon. Our climbing team decided to take a helicopter back to Lukla instead of the long trek down on foot. Everyone is in good condition and ready to relax and reflect on this exploratory expedition once back home. The climbing team will be picked up by plane and flown back to Kathmandu where the journey began. We will have a final dispatch written by Garrett Madison that reflects on this expedition of a lifetime in the near future.

If you have a few minutes, check out this article by CNN that discusses the physical attributes that make Sherpas superhuman mountaineers. An integral part of our high altitude expeditions is the assistance from our Sherpa family. Many thanks and continued companionship!

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Photos below were taken by Sid Pattison and Garrett Madison, enjoy!

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Sunset on Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse from our Camp 2. Photo by Sid Pattison.

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Throwing duffels on the helicopter pad before heading back to Lukla. Photo by Sid Pattison.

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Sorting gear at advanced base camp. Photo by Sid Pattison.

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Sid Pattison on the descent! Photo by Garrett Madison.

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Sid Pattison enjoying the view of a lifetime! Photo by Garrett Madison

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Looking across from Camp 2. Photo by Sid Pattison.

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Keeping it safe with fixed lines. Photo by Sid Pattison.

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Helicopter arriving at Camp 1. Photo by Sid Pattison.

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Hanging out with our sherpas at our high point, the corniced snow ridge just below the summit. Photo by Sid Pattison.

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Base Camp with prayer flags. Photo by Sid Pattison.

November 13, 2015/0 Comments/by Andrew

Burke Khang 2015

Burke Khang Advanced Base Camp

Burke Khang Expedition Update – November 5th, 2015:

Our climbing team has made it to Burke Khang Advanced Base Camp! The team is currently sleeping at an elevation of 17,713 feet. Yesterday the team made another acclimatization hike with views of giants Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, & Nuptse, we also spied more unclimbed peaks for next year! Check out our Facebook page for additional photos and beautiful panoramas!! Tomorrow the climbing team will head onward to our Camp 1 and up the very technical route of rock, snow, and ice towards the summit of Burke Khang!

For family and friends who want to watch the summit push check out this link, it will show you a basic map view of the climbing groups location as they push toward the summit. The data is refreshed every 10 minutes. My personal suggestion for watching this historic summit push would be to download Google Earth on your device. Once you have this software downloaded shoot me an email at: andrew@madisonmountaineering.com. I will send you an email with instructions on how to view the climbing team’s progress on Google Earth. We have been working hard to develop this technology and will hopefully have this available in a mobile application in the near future.

Team before rappel practice. Left to right: Paul and Denise Fejtek, Bill Burke, Kathy Meyers, Garrett Madison , Nick Logic

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Rappel onto glacier practice:

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View of our route to advanced base camp, towards Everest:

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View from our hike yesterday, the Ngonzoma glacier:

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Pics from our hike to advanced base camp:

November 5, 2015/0 Comments/by Andrew

Burke Khang 2015

Halloween Weekend and Advanced Base Camp Preperation

Hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend! We said good bye to our trekking team that accompanied us all the way from our start in Kathmandu to our base camp here at Gokyo’s fifth lake. It was hard to say goodbye after the last ten days of trekking together in the Khumbu region of Nepal. They are now heading towards Cho La Pass and then onwards to Mount Everest base camp before returning to Lukla and then Kathmandu.

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Our climbing team organized equipment at base camp today and took a walkabout around camp, scouting the glacier we will cross when we make our move towards our advanced base camp on our summit push. Our base camp is a very beautiful setting, with a nearby lake, and high peaks on all sides. A team of our Sherpa guides along with Madison Mountaineering guide Sid Pattison left today to head to advanced base camp. Tomorrow they will work on establishing the route to camp 1, at the top of the rock buttress, the first major technical section of the climb. This climbing involves around two thousand feet of steep snow and an ice arête (description and imagery here), after which we can establish our first high camp. Everyone is doing well and we look forward to our next acclimatization hike tomorrow.

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View of glacier above camp:

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Acclimatization hike:

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View of Mount Everest from our base camp:

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Burke Khang Base Camp:

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Team exploring near base camp:

November 2, 2015/2 Comments/by Andrew

Burke Khang 2015

Himalayan Valley Panorama Tea House

After receiving a kind hearted blessing from the owner of the Panorama Tea House, we trekked to Khumjung at an elevation of 12,600 ft. The team witnessed devastating destruction from the earthquake that struck Nepal earlier this year. We were thankful to meet Bill’s friend, Dr. Mingma, who gave us a tour of the school and hospital that Sir Edmund Hillary built in 1961. The school started off as a two classroom facility and now educates over 350 students. We have since continued through the beautiful Himalayan valley to Machermo, a small village in the Khumbu region among the snow capped peaks of eastern Nepal. It is nestled in the Dudh Kosi River valley at an elevation of 14,665 ft, just below the Ngozumpa glacier, the longest glacier in the Himalaya region. We are all enjoying the breathtaking views of Cho Oyu, the 6th highest peak in the world! The team is bonding very well, everyone is enjoying the spectacular views, the fresh air, friendly sherpa people, and good food! Tomorrow we will trek to the village of Gokyo, the last stop before we reach base camp. Moral is high and we are all very excited to make it to Burke Khang Base Camp. Captain Challenge continuously brings a laugh to everyone in the group. This is a truly special group of individuals!

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Trekking toward Burke Khang Base Camp

Garrett Madison and Bill Burke:

Team relaxing and soaking up the sun!

Our sherpa head guide, Ang Phurba:

October 27, 2015/2 Comments/by Andrew

Burke Khang 2015

Burke Khang Final Touches

With the team just about complete the day was spent putting final touches on packing, eating good food and everybody getting reacquainted. The weather today was in the 70’s with a low at night in the mid 50’s. The team has a great energy and can not wait to begin this historic climb. Today the expedition finally started to feel real, people were here, people were packed and people were psyched to head out! While Garrett finalized some logistical tasks at the office Sid helped the crew find minor pieces of gear they needed in Kathmandu. We all regrouped in the evening and went out for out first team dinner at Kilroys, a wonderful roof top restaurant known to serve up delicious fare. We laughed, ate and told stories of past climbs. Stuffed and happy we all made it back to the Yak and Yeti to zip up the zippers on our duffles for the 5am wake up to fly to Lukla to begin our 9 day trek to the very remote Gokyo Valley and eventually to our base camp. The team is gearing up for liftoff!!

Keep your browser set to this page because the expedition we are about to embark on is incredible!

October 21, 2015/0 Comments/by Andrew

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