Tag Archive for: Islamabad

Madison Mountaineering clients and guides hike over Gondogoro Pass. Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The sun is setting on the 2023 Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition with the team’s arrival back in Skardu! The team trekked out from K2 base camp over the last few days taking a different path than they did on the trek in, this time over Gondogoro Pass. After settling into their rooms in Skardu, the team enjoyed much needed and well deserved hot showers, before gathering together to celebrate the end of another great expedition!

Tomorrow, the team hopes to fly back to Islamabad for the final leg of their journey before heading their separate ways, back to everyone’s home country. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Skardu:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 (8611m/28,251ft) expedition. Today is July 31st and we are back in Skardu (2220m/7283ft)!

The whole team trekked out from K2 base camp (4968m/16,300ft) over the Gondogoro Pass and down to the village of Hushe (3050m/10,000ft) over the last three days. Today we arrived by Jeep into Skardu. We got in this afternoon, took a much needed hot shower, and then sorted some gear and had a very nice celebration dinner with all of our Pakistani and Nepal staff.

Our plan is to try to fly to Islamabad tomorrow! Everyone’s doing well, down safely, and we’re all in good spirits! Looking forward to heading home.


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:

The Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition team after arriving in Skardu!

The 2023 Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition is underway in Pakistan! Over the course of the last few days, our climbers, guides and Sherpa team arrived in Islamabad and are eager to keep the expedition moving. After a short stay at the team hotel and celebrating one climbers birthday, the team once again packed their bags and boarded another plane en route to Skardu. Tomorrow, the team will enjoy a rest day and do some sight seeing before continuing their expedition the following day to the trailhead where they’ll embark on this incredible journey towards K2. Expedition guide, Terray Sylvester checks in with todays dispatch from Pakistan:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the 2023 Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition – today is June 25th.

Over the last couple of days, our team arrived in Islamabad, and this morning we flew from Islamabad to Skardu (2220m/7283ft) up in Gilgit-Baltistan in the Karakoram mountains. It was a beautiful morning for the flight! We had great views of Nanga Parbat (8126m/26,660ft), and then off of the left side of the plane as we approached Skardu, excellent views of K2 (8611m/28,251ft), the Gasherbrums, Broad Peak (8051m/26,414ft) and other peaks in that zone.

We touched down, and then headed to our hotel, and spent the evening organizing and relaxing at the hotel. It’s pretty hot here, but we had a beautiful evening – beautiful sunset out over the Skardu valley – and then we enjoyed a nice dinner here at our hotel!

Tomorrow, we’ll take a rest day here in Skardu and then the next day we plan to drive to our trailhead at Askole (3040m/9,974ft) up in the mountains. So everything is going really well here in Pakistan and we’ll be in touch tomorrow!

The team preparing to board our flight from Islamabad to Skardu. Photo: Terray Sylvester

The team preparing to board our flight from Islamabad to Skardu. Photo: Terray Sylvester

The Madison Mountaineering K2 sherpa team, with two of our Pakistani staff. Photo: Terray Sylvester

The Madison Mountaineering K2 sherpa team, with two of our Pakistani staff. Photo: Terray Sylvester

A birthday celebration this evening for our climber, Yuri!

A birthday celebration this evening for our climber, Yuri!


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:

Garrett and Nelly reviewing climbing techniques nearby K2 base camp

Both the climbers and sherpas are making great progress through their first rotation on K2! The climbers will head up to Camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft) tomorrow, while the sherpas have fixed ropes all the way up to Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft). Here’s expedition lead, Garrett Madison, with today’s expedition dispatch from K2:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition team.

Today is July 3rd and all is well here on K2! Yesterday, our sherpa team made great progress and was able fix nearly all the way up to Camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft) – up the Black Pyramid and beyond. The route’s in good condition up to that point. Our climbers went up to Camp 1 (6065m/19,900ft) yesterday and are acclimatizing now, their second night, planning to head up to Camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft) tomorrow.

Yesterday I came down from our first rotation with two members of our climbing team who have decided to head home. They flew out today by helicopter to Skardu (2220m/7,283ft) and will make their way to Islamabad tomorrow.

But everyone’s doing well here on K2, we’ve had great weather and are really happy about the rope fixing progress that our sherpa team made – looking forward to more climbing here in the future.


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:

The team at base camp!

The team has said “goodbye” to the trekkers and looks forward to the days ahead leading up to their first rotation.

Hello! This is Garrett checking in for the K2 expedition team.

We are at K2 base camp (4968m/16,300ft) – it’s another beautiful day here and today we saw the last of our trekkers off. They were headed down valley with Fred Alldredge to trek down the Baltoro Glacier back to Jhola Camp (3151m/10,338ft), and then by Jeep to Skardu (2220m/7283ft). It’ll be a few days before they reach Skardu. Our other trekkers helicoptered out yesterday and made it all the way back to Islamabad just in a few hours time – amazing logistics that worked out!

The rest of us are here settling into base camp. We’re happy to be here, we’re going to do some training today and an acclimatization hike tomorrow. Everyone’s doing well and the weather’s just perfect at the moment – sunny and not a cloud in the sky! Our Sherpa team just reached Camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft) – first team of the season to make it up to Camp 2. They set up 5 tents for us and we’re looking forward to doing a first rotation here in a few days time.

All is well here at K2 base camp! We’ll check in soon.

Enjoying the evening light at camp

Enjoying the evening light at camp

Piers cutting the ham for an afternoon snack

Piers cutting the ham for an afternoon snack

Training on the ice today near base camp with K2 behind

Training on the ice today near base camp with K2 behind

Nelly enjoying the nice weather here in the Madison Mountaineering base camp

Nelly enjoying the nice weather here in the Madison Mountaineering base camp


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:

K2 expedition team returns to Skardu

Our K2 expedition team just arrived back in Islamabad, after the 100 km trek out from base camp to Askoli, 7-hour jeep ride from Askoli to Skardu, and a 34-hour epic drive from Skardu to Islamabad. All members of the team (climbers, Sherpas, Pakistan staff) are safely on their way home now.  (members Valerio, Gina, and Elizabeth had previously departed K2 base camp by helicopter)

It’s been a successful expedition in that we all returned safely, however, we didn’t achieve our secondary goal of reaching the summit. Although we reached Camps 3 / 4, and our Sherpas climbed higher to the Bottleneck area, we didn’t reach the top of the mountain.

This was a result of the snow conditions that were present during our summit attempt, as we learned from our Sherpas and from other teams who were above Camp 4 scouting the route below and above the Bottleneck. The conditions encountered during July 16-18 in this area were deep and unconsolidated snow, up to 2 meters in some places, resulting in 3 known avalanches in this area. Fortunately, no climbers were injured or killed in these avalanches, although some were carried down the mountain before stopping, and sections of the newly installed fixed-line were torn out during one slide. Clearly, this area of the route was very unsafe.

Given these dangerous conditions, we didn’t feel it was prudent to push another summit attempt since it would likely be many weeks or months before conditions would change enough to warrant a safe and reasonable attempt through this area.  A strong wind to blow this amount of snow off the slopes would likely not occur this season, or the alternative, a massive avalanche that would take the snow down the mountain leaving behind only hard pack snow or ice as we have climbed in the past.  Hence, we made the decision to conclude our expedition, along with other teams that arrived at the same conclusion, such as the Furtenbach, Imagine, Adventure Peaks, and smaller expedition teams such as Mike Horn’s team and the Czech team (approximately 80% of the climbers attempting K2 this season).  With these conditions, we felt this was the safest decision, shared by myself, co-guides Victor Saunders & Conan Bliss, and our Sirdar Aang Phurba Sherpa along with the other climbing Sherpas.

We later learned during our trek out that on July 24th several climbers reached the top of K2, led by a strong team of Sherpas and Nimral Purja (Nims). Adrian Ballanger’s private team was close behind them and also made the summit.  We were initially surprised by their success but also wanted to learn what allowed them to make the top.  Was it simply pushing hard through deep and unstable snow conditions (including the risk that posed) or did the conditions change in such a short time period to allow for safe and reasonable climbing?

I was able to have a WhatsApp conversation with Adrian after they got down to base camp, and he reported that essentially conditions had significantly changed since our attempt, allowing for safe and reasonable climbing.  In Adrian’s words “We sure were surprised…we could see it was stripped (the slope). Lots of signs of wind effect…some may have sluffed (avalanche). There was a big wind event on the morning of the 22nd…that may have stripped it. We fully recognize how lucky we got…I wouldn’t have guessed such a significant change was possible either, especially with no major weather change forecasted…know that your decision was absolutely the right one…with the available information.”  Our hearty congratulations to all those who reached the summit of K2 this season!  Well done!!

Hindsight is 20/20; if we were able to foresee the change in conditions from Camp 4 to the summit after the wind event on the 22nd that cleared the slope, and before the weather moved in on the 26th, then a short summit window would present itself. However, at the time we moved to Camp 3 (July 17th) and had to make a decision, we were acting on the best available information from our Sherpas and other climbers regarding the unsafe condition of the Bottleneck area, and our weather forecasting service which didn’t suggest any forthcoming weather activity to clear the slope.  It is likely that high winds the morning of the 22nd, in combination with an avalanche, cleared the slope. Fortunately, no climbers were on or above/below this area when it cleared, as it would not likely have been survivable. Luckily for Nims’ & Adrian’s teams, their timing was such that their scheduled summit attempts just happened to fall within the narrow weather window beginning on the 24th, whereas our team and most others that were slightly ahead of this schedule were attempting just a few days earlier when conditions were impossible.

It’s tough for us to come away without a summit, especially after putting in so much effort.  The training, time away from home, and the weeks spent on the expedition acclimatizing are all part of a monumental effort.  However, K2 is an extremely demanding mountain in good conditions by any measure, and with our primary dedication to safety, we are happy to have our entire team return in good health!

Conan, Victor, Rick, Brian and me are looking forward to a good rest here tonight in the Serena hotel after an “adventurous” drive from Skardu to Islamabad, but we’ll save that story for another time!