Tag Archive for: K2 base camp

K2 Base Camp

The view of K2 from base camp. (Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archive)

After days of travel and spending the last week trekking towards K2 base camp, the team has finally arrived and looks forward to a few days of rest ahead! While the views trekking through the Karakoram are spectacular in every direction one looks, the team is excited to be settled into camp and for the climbing to come. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this update from K2 base camp:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 (8611m/28,251ft) expedition. Today is July 3rd and we have reached K2 base camp (4968m/16,300ft)!

[Garbled] Concordia (4570m/14,993ft) had an amazing view of K2, Broad Peak (8051m/26,414ft). (We) arrived in base camp this afternoon, had lunch and just putting the finishing touches on our base camp here in the next couple of days. (We’re) looking forward to settling in and taking a couple of rest days! Everyone’s doing great and we’ll check in soon.

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:

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Off-roading to Askole!

Crossing a creek swollen with snowmelt en route to Askole. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

The drive towards the trailhead which leads teams towards K2 base camp is only the start of the adventure! Our team has arrived in Askole where they’ll begin their trek tomorrow. But not after an exciting drive with multiple stream crossings, unloading from their Jeeps on one bank only to load back up on the other side. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch after another adventurous day in Pakistan:

Hello! This is Garrett checking in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 (8611m/28,251ft) expedition.

Today we drove from Skardu (2220m/7283ft) to Askole (3040m/9,974ft). It was an adventurous and fun Jeep ride, had a couple of stream crossings where we had to get out and walk around, and let our drivers make it through to the other side before we got back in. (We) got to Askole here in the afternoon, had lunch, and have just been enjoying the camp, organizing equipment. We just finished our dinner, everyone’s doing well! We’re excited to start trekking tomorrow. It’s about a 20 kilometer day trekking to Johla Camp (3151m/10,338ft).

(We’re) excited to finally be underway here on the expedition and looking forward to the days ahead!

Luggage before being loaded on the Jeeps en route to Askole.

Luggage before being loaded on the Jeeps en route to Askole.

The team before departing from Skardu!

The team before departing from Skardu!

Along the Braldu River on the way to Askole! (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

Along the Braldu River on the way to Askole! (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

Siddhi, Garrett and Ryan posing for a portrait en route to Askole. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

Siddhi, Garrett and Ryan posing for a portrait en route to Askole. (Photo by Terray Sylvester)

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:

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Summit Push on the Way!

The team has begun their summit push, after members of our rope fixing team have fixed ropes and successfully reached the summit of K2!

The Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition team is tucked into camp 4 for the night, getting some rest and preparing for their summit push which is set to start in just a few hours! Expedition lead, Garrett Madison, checks in with today’s dispatch from K2 base camp:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in from K2 base camp (4968m/16,300ft) – today is Thursday, July 21st.

Our climbing team is up in camp 4 (7681m/25,200ft) on K2. Meanwhile, our sherpa team has been fixing lines since yesterday – they’ve made great progress up from camp 4 through the shoulder, the bottleneck, the traverse, and they are continuing up this evening!

Our team is planning to depart camp 4 in a few hours, around 10 PM tonight assuming the rope fixing team is able to continue their progress. Fingers crossed the route conditions will be good for them! The weather should hold – it looks like it’s going to be a great day tomorrow, so we’re really excited to monitor their progress tonight and tomorrow as they climb. Hopefully they’ll be standing on the summit of K2 (8611m/28,251ft) in about 12 or 14 hours from now.

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:

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Greetings from Camp 3!

K2 earlier during this expedition. Photo pulled from Madison Mountaineering archive. (📸: @terray_s)

The Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition team has reached camp 3 and our sherpa team has fixed ropes all the way to camp 4! With more good weather on the way, the team will continue on to camp 4 tomorrow, while our sherpa team plans to continue fixing lines above camp 4. Expedition lead, Garrett Madison, checks in with today’s dispatch from K2 base camp:

Hello! This is Garrett checking in for the K2 expedition team – today is Wednesday, July 20th.

Today our team climbed from camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft) up the black pyramid to camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft) on K2! Our team’s doing great. Everyone’s in camp 3 having dinner, getting ready to go to sleep, and have a restful night.

Today our sherpa rope fixing team was able to fix lines up to camp 4 (7681m/25,200ft). They reported some semi-deep snow conditions, but not too bad. They all returned back to camp 3 after their work today. So, the ropes are into camp 4 – that’s good news! Tomorrow they’re going to go back to camp 4 and work on fixing above camp 4 on the shoulder and through the bottleneck. Hopefully they’ll make good progress! Our climbing team is planning to climb from 3 to 4 tomorrow as well.

All is well on K2! It was a little breezy today at 7,000 meters, but clear at the moment! Looks like it’ll be a nice day tomorrow for climbing.

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:

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Relishing on the Abruzzi Ridge

Evening light on the panorama of peaks and ice fields visible from camp 2 on the Abruzzi Ridge. (📸: @terray_s)

The Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition team is settled into camp 2 for the night and plans to move up to camp 3 tomorrow! There has been good weather so far and the team hopes for good route conditions as they make their way higher up the mountain. Here’s expedition lead, Garrett Madison, with today’s dispatch from K2 base camp:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition team – today is Tuesday, July 19th!

Beautiful day here in K2 base camp (4968m/16,300ft) and today the team climbed up to camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft). They reported good conditions, a lot of climbers up on the route – mostly below them because they got an early start! The sherpa team got up to camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft), and then fixed lines part way up to camp 4 today (7681m/25,200ft). So, things are going well up on the Abruzzi route! Hopefully the team will climb up to camp 3 tomorrow and the sherpas will be able to continue fixing up to camp 4.

All is well here. It looks like good weather in the forecast, so fingers crossed for good route conditions high up on K2!

Sirdar and guide, Aang Phurba Sherpa climbing on the Abruzzi Ridge. (📸: @terray_s)

Sirdar and guide, Aang Phurba Sherpa climbing on the Abruzzi Ridge. (📸: @terray_s)

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:

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Summit Rotation is Underway!

A sunny afternoon at Camp 1 with Broad Peak across the valley. (📸: @terray_s)

The summit rotation is underway on K2 for the Madison Mountaineering team! The team has reached camp 1 and plans to push on to camp 2 tomorrow. Meanwhile, our sherpa team is planning to move up to camp 3 tomorrow, and start working on fixing the ropes above camp 3 in the coming days. Here’s expedition lead, Garrett Madison, with today’s dispatch from K2 base camp:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition team – today is Monday, July 18th.

Today our team started their summit rotation – so climbers left this morning at 3 AM from base camp (4968m/16,300ft), we saw them off. They arrived in camp 1 (6065m/19,900ft) around 10 AM. They reported good conditions and they’re all tucked in at camp 1 for the night, planning to head up to camp 2 (6700m/21,980ft) tomorrow.

Our fixing team of sherpa are up at camp 2 at the moment and they’re planning to head to camp 3 (7250m/23,800ft) tomorrow – so that’s four sherpa’s from our team working on the fixing project. Currently the ropes are not in above camp 3, so they have some work to do and also planning to work with some sherpa’s from a few other teams.

I’m in base camp reporting, all is well! We’ll check in soon.

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:

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Summit Rotation to Start Tomorrow!

Clouds clearing from K2 this morning. Today the stormy weather finally passed and sunny skies arrived! (📸: @terray_s)

Tomorrow is the day the team has been waiting for since finishing their first rotation, 10 days ago. Tomorrow morning, they will start moving towards Camp 1, which marks the start of their summit rotation! Expedition guide, Terray Sylvester, checks in with today’s dispatch from K2 base camp:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition – it’s July 17th.

Today, the clouds finally cleared from K2 here in the valley. We enjoyed sunny weather here in base camp (4968m/16,300ft) all day, which was great! It gave us a good solar charge to get our devices all powered up for the climb to come, do laundry, and take care of all our last minute to-do items before we start our summit push.

So the plan right now is to wake up early tomorrow morning and start heading up to Camp 1 (6065m/19,900ft).

We’re just wrapping up dinner here, enjoyed some beautiful alpenglow on the summit, and we’re looking forward to getting up higher! We’ll be in touch.

A team photo this evening before dinner - and before our climbers start their summit push!

A team photo this evening before dinner – and before our climbers start their summit push!

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:

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Sunshine has Returned to Base Camp!

Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, and climber, Nelly Attar enjoying todays sunshine in base camp. (📸: @terray_s)

After a few days of poor weather, the team was excited to welcome sunshine back to base camp! The team continued to prepare by distributing dehydrated meals and other materials, as their summit push is right around the corner! Expedition guide, Terray Sylvester, checks in with todays dispatch from K2 base camp:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering 2022 K2 expedition – it’s July 15th.

Today, we had a lot of sunshine here in base camp (4968m/16,300ft) which was a welcome change! Took showers, did some laundry – we also distributed dehydrated food, oatmeal, and other material for our summit push which is coming up soon. And we soaked up some vitamin D!

It’s just about dinner now. We’ll head into the dining tent soon and meanwhile, we’re enjoying some nice alpenglow on the summit of K2, which we haven’t seen for a few days.

So, everyone’s in good spirits and healthy here! We’ll be in touch tomorrow.

Nelly Attar with tonight's dessert: fresh fruit salad at 5,000 meters!

Nelly Attar with tonight’s dessert: fresh fruit salad at 5,000 meters!

Evening light on the summit of K2. (📸: @terray_s)

Evening light on the summit of K2. (📸: @terray_s)

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:

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Snow Today – Sunshine Tomorrow!

K2 base camp on a sunny afternoon earlier this season, with Broad Peak rising on the left and Chogolisa shrouded in clouds in the distance. (📸: @terray_s)

While K2 base camp saw snow today, the Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition teams spirits are high and hopeful for good weather on the way! Expedition guide, Terray Sylvester, checks in with todays dispatch from K2 base camp:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition – it’s July 14th.

Today was a snowy day here in base camp (4968m/16,300ft). We had another rest day – we kept ourselves busy by hiking around base camp and the Godwin-Austen Glacier, visiting with other teams, and enjoying lots of good food! So, we’re about to sit down to dinner and then we will watch a movie.

The forecast is calling for some sunshine tomorrow, so we’re looking forward to that and hopefully getting back on the mountain soon.

We’ll be in touch!

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:

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The Calm Before the Climbing!

Expedition leader, Garrett Madison working with climber, Nelly Attar during our oxygen training today. (📸: @terray_s)

The team looks forward to the coming days when they can move higher up K2! In the meantime, the team is preparing and staying ready by doing oxygen and strength trainings, resting, and eating nutritious meals. Madison Mountaineering K2 expedition climber, Nelly Attar, checks in with todays dispatch from K2 base camp:

Hi Everyone! This is Nelly Attar tuning in from K2 base camp (4968m/16,300ft) – today is July 13.

We have a few more days to go before hopefully we move higher up. Today we had some oxygen training – it was really nice and informative! Krisli is currently making some spaghetti, Cacho is cutting some ham, Garrett is reading on and off – it’s been a nice and chill day. During our lunch break, I actually had some friends come over and we did some strength training and I prepared some manakish for them. Manakish is a Lebanese breakfast – the best breakfast!

Everyone’s doing well, we’re all healthy, and we’re looking forward to moving higher up soon. Goodbye, everyone!

An exercise session lead by Nelly Attar in our Mountain Hardwear Space Station Dome.

An exercise session lead by Nelly Attar in our Mountain Hardwear Space Station Dome.

Guides, Cacho Beiza and Terray Sylvester during todays oxygen training. (📸: Nelly Attar)

Guides, Cacho Beiza and Terray Sylvester during todays oxygen training. (📸: Nelly Attar)

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:

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