Tag Archive for: Kathmandu

Active Rest Day in Namche Bazaar

Guide Cacho Beiza leading the group above Namche.

Enjoying an active rest day in Namche Bazaar, the teams hiked up to the Everest View Hotel and enjoyed…  (wait for it)…  some wonderful views of Everest and the surrounding peaks!  Madison Mountaineering guide Terray Sylvester provides a recap of the day:

Hello!  This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition!  It’s Wednesday, April 6th.  Today our trekkers and climbers hiked up to the Everest View Hotel, about 1,000ft above Namche Bazaar.  Along the way we had great views of Ama Dablam, Lhotse, and Everest in the distance – just cystal clear skies.  Then the clouds came in and we hiked back down to Namche.  Some of us took a detour thru Khumjung (3790m/12,430ft) where they saw what is purported to be a skull of a yeti in a museum and a few others of us when and visited a new Sherpa cultural museum here in Namche with some really interesting history and artifacts.

Tomorrow we’ll continue on up past Tengboche Monastery to Deboche (3820m/12,532ft) and we’re looking forward to that hike.  There should be more great views along the way!

So, all is well here and we’ll be in touch.

Ama Dablam in the distance.

Ama Dablam in the distance.

Approaching the Everest View Hotel with Thamserku in the distance.

Approaching the Everest View Hotel with Thamserku in the distance.

Garrett with climbers Sara Safari and Josh Garrison

Garrett with climbers Sara Safari and Josh Garrison

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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

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Team Arrives Namche Bazaar

Everest team on the trek to base camp

Today the climbing and trekking team continued the trek and moved from Phakding up to the “capital of the Khumbu” Namche Bazaar.  Madison Mountaineering guide Terray Sylvester provides a recap of the day:

Hello!  This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition!  It’s Tuesday, April 5th.  Today we all moved from Phakding up to Namche.  We actually had beautiful weather yet again!  The Khumbu Valley is really in bloom right now; lots of flowing trees, rhododendron, flowers along side the trail which made for a really pretty hike.

We made it to Namche Bazaar about 2 o’clock, maybe 2 or 3 in the afternoon.  Some folks headed out to enjoy town a litte bit – lots of good bakeries and cafes and scenery, of course.  Then we had a good dinner and tasty welcome carrot cake here at the Panorama Lodge in Namche.  We’re wrapping up the evening and heading to bed.

Tomorrow we’ll have an active rest day and hike up to the Everest View Hotel.  But we’ll be in touch with a dispatch tomorrow too.

Alright, 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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

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Into the Mountains!

Flying to Lukla

The trekking has started!  The weather Gods permitted the whole team to fly to the mountain village of Lukla (2850m/9,350ft) and complete the first day of trekking towards Everest Base Camp.  Madison Mountaineering guide Terray Sylvester provides a recap of the day:

Hello!  This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition!  It’s Monday, April 4th.  Today we flew from Kathmandu to Lukla.  We had good weather for our flights which was nice because it’s been a little rainy and hazy lately and there was some concern that we would not be able to fly up to Lukla.

Then we trekked on to Phakding (2640m/8,661ft).  So we’re here tonight, just starting dinner, and looking forward to our trek up to Namche (3450m/11,319ft) tomorrow.  The weather is nice, warm, a little cloudy, but dry!

We’ll be in touch!

Ready to fly to Lukla!

Ready to fly to Lukla!

Trekking to Phakding

Trekking to Phakding

Mani Stones

Mani Stones

Taking a break on the trek to Phakding

Taking a break on the trek to Phakding

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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Kathmandu City Tour

Pashupatinath Temple

Today the climbing and trekking teams enjoy a wonderful tour of some of the major sites of Kathmandu and are getting ready to fly up to the mountain village of Luka to begin the trek to Everest base camp tomorrow.  Madison Mountaineering guide Terray Sylvester provides a recap of the day:

Hello!  This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition!  It’s April 3rd.  Today our climbing and trekking teams enjoyed a tour around two of Kathmandu’s seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  We went to Pashupatinath Temple, which is the most famous Hindu temple here in the city and we went to the famous Boudhanath Stupa, which is one of the world’s largest Buddist stupas.

Tomorrow our plan is to fly to Lukla so we can begin our trek up to Everest Base Camp.  That’s an exciting day and so far the weather forecast looks good!  So if all goes as planned, our fixed-winged flights will depart Kathmandu early in the morning and will be in Lukla in time for breakfast.

So all is well here in Nepal and we’ll be in touch!

A stone carving at Pashupatinath Temple

A stone carving at Pashupatinath Temple

Trekker Ryan S. visiting a Buddhist Temple in Boudha

Trekker Ryan S. visiting a Buddhist Temple in Boudha

Butter lamps at Boudhanath Stupa

Butter lamps at Boudhanath Stupa

Pashupatinath Temple

Pashupatinath Temple

Boudhanath Stupa

Boudhanath Stupa

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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Ama Dablam team treks to Namche Bazaar

Ama Dablam 2021 team trekking to base camp

Today our Ama Dablam team continued their trek to base camp by reaching the Khumbu capital of Namche Bazaar.  Here’s expedition leader, Garrett Madison, with a recap of the day:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam expedition team.  Today’s Friday October 22nd and today we trekked up the Khumbu Valley over suspension bridges, crossing river gorges along raging rivers, and passing waterfalls up to village of Namche Bazaar, the iconic capital of Khumbu.

We rolled into Namche this afternoon, had a coffee, and explored the town a little bit.  We are getting ready for dinner here in the lodge.  We’re really happy to be back here with our good friends and are looking forward to a nice day tomorrow to do an acclimization hike.  Everyone’s doing well and we’re so happy to be here in the Khumbu Valley of Nepal and enjoying some nice weather, good views, and fresh air.

We’ll check in soon!

One of the many suspension bridges on the route to Ama Dablam base camp

One of the many suspension bridges on the route to Ama Dablam base camp

Stupas dotting the trail to Ama Dablam base camp

Stupas dotting the trail to Ama Dablam 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 daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Ama Dablam 2021 Kicks Off

Ama Dablam team arrives in Lukla

Our 2021 Ama Dablam expedition kicked off yesterday with the team arriving in Kathmandu, Nepal.  This morning they flew to the mountain village of Lukla to begin the trek to base camp.  Here’s expedition leader Garrett Madison with the details:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam expedition.  Today is October 21st and we arrived in Lukla, Nepal after a flight from Kathmandu this morning.  It was a beautiful flight up, clear skies, saw a lot of mountains.  And now we are trekking up the Khumbu to our first village,  Phakding.  Tonight we’re going to stay and then tomorrow work our way up to Namche.  Everyone’s doing well on the team, we’re excited to be up here in the mountains with some fresh air and some clear mountain views.

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 daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Puja!

Team after puja ceremony

Garrett Madison phones in from Everest base camp to provide the details of today’s puja ceremony which blessed the team and provided prayers for safe passage on the mountain:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse expedition.  Today’s April 18th and we had a wonderful day today.

We had our puja ceremony where we gathered together in base camp and had a Buddhist Lama come up and ask the mountain for safe passage.  It was a very nice ceremony and a beautiful day here – warm and sunny with some singing and dancing after the ceremony.  We had a restful afternoon and a nice dinner and a good movie tonight – a comedy – and now we’re heading to bed.

Everyone’s doing well here at base camp and tomorrow we’re looking forward to a foray up into the Icefall to climb up a couple of hours and check out the route and then back to base camp.  The weather is looking good, the team’s doing well, and we’re looking forward to another great day here is base camp.

Puja day in Everest base camp

Puja day in 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:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • 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.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Day 2 of Skills Training on the Khumbu Glacier

More skills training on the Khumbu Glacier just below EBC

Everest guide, Terray Sylvester reports on the day’s skills training from Mount Everest base camp.

Hi, this is Terray calling in for the 2021 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition.  It’s Friday, April 16th.

Today we woke up to beautiful sight of fresh snow on base camp and the Khumbu Glacier and the mountains above us.  We had a great breakfast of eggs and bacon and french toast with Vermont maple syrup and then we headed down for our second day of skills training on the glacier just below base camp.  We practiced ladder-crossing techniques, fixed-line ascent, and repelling again.  We’ll have one more of skills training before our Puja on the 18th.

Let’s see what else happened today…  Earlier this morning our former NFL wide-reciever Mark Pattison, who’s climbing Everest and Lhotse with us, was having some fun tossing around a football with some of our Sherpa staff and other members of our climbing team.  In the evening the clouds parted so we had great views of alpenglow on Nupste and farther up the valley.  Now the stars are coming out and the team is settled in watching another movie.

We’ll head to bed soon and we’ll be in touch!

More skills training on the Khumbu Glacier just below EBC

More skills training on the Khumbu Glacier just below EBC

More skills training on the Khumbu Glacier just below EBC

Ronan M. honing his skills

More skills training on the Khumbu Glacier just below EBC

More skills training on the Khumbu Glacier just below EBC

Practicing ladder-crossing on the Khumbu Glacier just below EBC

Practicing ladder-crossing on the Khumbu Glacier just below EBC

More skills training on the Khumbu Glacier just below EBC

Kristin B. getting in some more training and skill building

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:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • 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.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Skills Practice on the Khumbu Glacier

Skills practice in the Khumbu Icefall

Time for some climbing skills practice at EBC.  Terray recaps the day:

Hi, this is Terray calling in for the 2021 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition.  It’s April 15th.

Today we had our first day of skills practice down on the ice pyramids of the Khumbu Glacier just below our base camp.  We practiced descending fixed-lines and repelling.  We’ll have two more days of skills practice before we head on up to Camps I and II.

The weather was great today – we seem to be in a pattern of beautiful sunny skies in the morning which last until mid-afternoon and then we had a light snow fall.  And now it’s just slightly overcast and the team is relaxing after dinner watching The Blues Brothers.

So, in other news, our Island Peak climber successfully summited the mountian today.  He had trekked with us to base camp and then decended back down the Khumbu Valley, turned left at Dingboche and headed up to Island Peak.  It seems like he had a good climb with one of our guides.

So all is well and we’ll be in touch.  Bye!

Sirdar Aang Purba enjoying the icefall skills building

Sirdar Aang Purba enjoying the icefall skills building

Skills building exercise in the Khumbu Icefall

Skills building exercise in the Khumbu Icefall

A grinning Mark P building his fixed line skills

A grinning Mark P building his fixed-line skills

Skills building exercise in the Khumbu Icefall

Skills building exercise in the Khumbu Icefall

Skills building exercise in the Khumbu Icefall

Skills building exercise in 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:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • 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.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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Acclimatizing above EBC to Pumori base camp

The team enjoying a nice meal at EBC

The Everest team made an acclimatizing hike today and guide Terray Sylvester provides the details from Everest base camp:

Hello, this is Terray calling in for the 2021 Madison Mountaineering Mount Everest expedition.  It’s Wednesday, April 14th.

Today we did an acclimatization hike up to Pumori base camp – a little over 1,000 ft. above our base camp here on the Khumbu Glacier.  We had beautiful weather and from Pumori base camp there we had, of course, great views of Pumori itself but also Mount Everest, the Khumbu Icefall, Lhotse, the South Col, the North Col, and the south face of Nuptse.

Then we came back to camp, had lunch – it was salmon and fresh vegitable and other dishes.  Then we rested until dinner; we just wrapped that up.  That was pork chops with sauteed mushrooms, pasta, and a desert of mangos.

Now the team is cozy in the dinning tent, we’ve got the movie screen on and we’re watching a James Bond movie.  So spirits are high and tomorrow we’ll do some training here on the glacier; fixed-lines, ice climbing, repelling.  We will do a few days of training before we start our first rotation to Camp I and Camp II around the 20th.

All right!  We’ll be in touch!

Hiking up to Pumori Base Camp

Hiking up to Pumori Base Camp

The view of Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse from Pumori base camp

The view of EBC, Everest, Lhotse, and the west shoulder of Nuptse from Pumori base camp

Hiking back down from Pumori base camp to EBC

Hiking back down from Pumori base camp to EBC

Trekking team back in Kathmandu celebrating Nepali New Year!

Trekking team back in Kathmandu celebrating the Nepali New Year!

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:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • 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.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

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