Tag Archive for: Lhotse

Into the Himalayas!

Our team in Phakding. Photo: Terray Sylvester

The team had spectacular flying conditions today with views of the towering Himalayas before landing in Lukla! Upon their arrival, a few moments were spent in town before hitting the trail and heading to their next stop, Phakding. Expedition guide, Terray Sylvester checks in with todays dispatch:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam (6812m/22,349ft) expedition – it’s October 21st.

Today we had excellent weather for our helicopter flights from Kathmandu (1400m/4,600ft) to Lukla (2860m/9,383ft). Our entire Ama Dablam team plus our Everest Base Camp trekkers touched down in Lukla at about 2,900 meters in, yeah, just beautiful weather with excellent views of the mountains to the north. We had a great view of Everest (8848m/29,032ft) and Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) just before we touched down.

Then we hiked to Phakding (2610m/8,562ft). We’ve had a relaxing evening here with a walk up to the monastery above town. We just wrapped up dinner and we’re looking forward to a nice peaceful night, with the sound of the Dudh Koshi River below us.

We’ll be in touch tomorrow!

Inbound to Lukla. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Inbound to Lukla. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Climbers Jocelyn, Serge, Stephane and Alix after touching down in Lukla! Photo: Terray Sylvester

Climbers Jocelyn, Serge, Stephane and Alix after touching down in Lukla! Photo: Terray Sylvester

Walking to Phakding. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Walking to Phakding. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Visiting the monastery above Phakding. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Visiting the monastery above Phakding. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Ama Dablam climber, Stephane en route to the helicopter pad. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Ama Dablam climber, Stephane en route to the helicopter pad. Photo: 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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Everyone Safely Back to Base Camp

On the summit of Mount Everest - May 20, 2022

All of the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse team is safely back to base camp.  Expedition leader Garrett Madison calls in with today’s expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse expedition.  Today is Sunday, the 22nd of May.

We got down from Camp 2 today.   Our whole team made it down to base camp and we’re all back safe in Everest Base Camp.

We’re looking forward to heading home after a very successful expedition.  We had thirty (30) climbers reach the summit of Everest, that’s nine (9) clients, four (4) guides, seventeen (17) Nepal sherpa.  Another four (4) of us reached the summit of Lhotse, along with three (3) sherpa, seven (7) total.  And, of course, our private team summited Everest on May 15th with nine (9) members.  So it’s been a very successful here.

We’re just so fortunate and thankful that we had great weather and great route conditions and everyone had a good expirence and made it home safely.  So, we’re looking forward to packing up here tomorrow and making our way down the Khumbu Valley and back towards home.

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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Lhotse summits!

We are pleased to announce that the Lhotse climbing team of the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Everest/Lhotse expedition successfully reached the summit of Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) on May 21, 2022, between approximately 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM NPT (local time).

Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain in the world at 8,516m (27,940 ft), after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga.

# Name Country
1 Mr. Robert “Josh” Garrison 🇺🇸 United States
2 Mr. Cameron Kenny 🇺🇸 United States
3 Mr. Chase Merriam 🇺🇸 United States
4 Mr. Garrett Madison 🇺🇸 United States
5 Mr. Siddi Bhadur Tamang 🇳🇵 Nepal
6 Mr. Sange Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
7 Mr. Lakpa Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
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Entire Team Safely Down to Camp 2

The climb up Mount Lhotse in Asia

With the entire team safely down to Camp 2, expedition leader Garrett Madison recaps the day and shares some exciting news about Lhotse in this dispatch sat phone call from Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft) on Mount Everest:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse expedition team.  Today is May 21th.

We are all back safely in Camp 2.

We’ve got some exciting news:  today, myself, Chase Merriam, Cameron Kenny, Josh Garrison, along with three (3) of our Nepal staff, sherpas Siddhi, Sange, and Lakpa climbed Mount Lhotse this morning.  We woke up about 2:00am and got up to the summit of Lhotse between 6:00am and 8:00am and just had a beautiful summit day – great conditions.  Now we’re all back safely to Camp 2.  Our entire team’s back safely in Camp 2.

Big congrats to our Everest climbers.  Everyone on our team summited Everest; clients, guides, and sherpas who began the summit push here departing from Camp 2.  100% success!  A total of thirty (30) members, not counting our small private team which summitted Everest on May 15th with nine (9) members.  So, another very successful season!  We’ve just got to get down to base camp safely tomorrow and then celebrations are in order.

All’s well here at Camp 2 on Everest and everyone’s in good spirits and doing well.

We’ll check in soon!

(photo from the Madison Mountaineering archives)

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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Top of the World – Summit Success!!

Woohoo!  Our Everest and Lhotse expedition team all summited Mount Everest today!  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, calls in from Mount Everest’s South Col high camp with the happy details:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse expedition team.  Today is May 20th.

Today we summitted Mount Everest!  The whole team:  all nine (9) clients, four (4) guides, and our whole team of Sherpas summitted Mount Everest today around 7:00 to 8:00am.

We had some great views from up there, good route conditions, we had the whole route to ourselves, hardly another climber up there, and we made our way back down to high camp.  The whole team made it safely back to high camp by mid-afternoon.

We’ve been resting up and we’re getting ready to go for our Lhotse attempt.  A few of us are going to set off tonight around midnight and head off towards Mount Lhotse.  The rest of the team will sleep here at the South Col Camp 4 and pack up tomorrow morning, and head down to Camp 2.  So, we’ll all be heading down to Camp 2 eventually tomorrow afternoon.

Great job today to our whole team!  100% success!  We all made it up to the summit of Everest and down safe.  I’m very proud of this team.  I couldn’t be happier.  They earned it.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed for Lhotse tonight.  Hopefuly it works out for those of us going for the double header – Everest/Lhotse combination.

So, checking in for Madison Mountaineering.  We’ll check in tomorrow.

(photo from the Madison Mountaineering archives)

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 – Preparing to Head Up!

Camp 4

The Everest and Lhotse expedition team is staged to head up from Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft) to the summit very soon now!  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in via Garmin inReach Mini with this brief update:

Good morning from C4! Having brkfast now, inst oatmeal then dehy eggs, yum! But hardly any wind!..everyone doing well at the moment:) we’re the only team here! Resting up to probably head up tonight around 1:00am.

(photo from the Madison Mountaineering archives)

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 – Camp 4

The route up the Lhotse Face above Camp 3, over the Yellow Band and left over the Geneva Spur (📸: @terray_s)

The team is safely in place on Mount Everest’s South Col at Camp 4.  It’s now just over 24 hours before they will start out for the summit – weather permitting.  Everest guide Terray Sylvester sends today’s expedition dispatch via Garmin inReach Mini:

Hello from Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft) on the South Col of Mount Everest!

Today we had beautiful weather as we moved up from Camp 3 (7230m/23,720ft). There were no other teams on the route. So we moved efficiently without traffic jams and made great time. Along the way we had spectacular views back down the Western Cwm and of some of Everest’s giant neighbors, including Cho Oyu.

We plan to rest here tomorrow before heading for the summit.

We’ll be in touch!

(photo from the Madison Mountaineering archives, 📸: @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 Push – Camp 3

Tents at Camp 3 and the Western Cwm below it (📸: @terray_s)

The Everest and Lhotse expedition team has climbed from Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft) up the Lhotse Face to Camp 3 (7230m/23,720ft) on their summit push.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in via Garmin inReach Mini with this brief update:

Greetings from C3. Everyone made it up here today and doing great! Planning to climb to C4 tmrw. A little windy but all good.

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 – C2

Mount Everest and Lhotse (📸: @terray_s)

On their summit push, the Everest and Lhotse expedition team strategically took another rest day at Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft).  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in via Garmin inReach Mini with this brief update:

All is well in C2. Our main team is planning to move to C3 tmrw, targeting the 20th. Kenton & team all safely in EBC.

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 – Rest Day at C2

The team getting comfortable with their down suits before the climb to Camp 3 the following day

Our Everest team has extended their rest period at Camp 2 to time their summit attempt for the best-forecasted weather.  Everest guide Terray Sylvester sends this evening’s expedition dispatch via Garmin inReach Mini:

Hello from Camp 2!  All is well.

Our team rested here today, reading, napping and admiring the scenery, including a paraglider(!) who launched from the South Col. Our forecast indicates we’ll have the best summit weather if we rest here one more day before climbing higher. So our plan is now to move to Camp 3 on the 17th.

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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