Tag Archive for: Lukla Airport

The Madison Mountaineering expedition team is back in base camp and returning to Lukla today after a safe and successful expedition on the Unclimbed Peak! More details to come of their historic ascent… Here’s a brief message from expedition leader, Garrett Madison:

Just back in base camp from a successful climb of the unclimbed / unnamed peak. Flying out tomorrow morning to Lukla – Kathmandu.


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:

Departing base camp. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Our 2022 Ama Dablam expedition has come to its conclusion! 17 total members of the Madison Mountaineering team reached the summit of Ama Dablam, and are making their journeys home. Expedition lead, Garrett Madison, and a few of our climbers and sherpa team will continue their journey towards an unclimbed peak in the Himalaya, heading into the unknown for a chance at a first ascent! Expedition guide, Terray Sylvester checks in with one final dispatch from the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam expedition:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Ama Dablam (6812m/22,349ft) expedition – it’s  Friday, November 11th.

Our expedition has wrapped up! Our clients have departed from Ama Dablam base camp (4600m/15,100ft) – some of them decided to helicopter directly from base camp to Kathmandu (1400m/4,600ft). So, they arrived here in the capitol of Nepal a couple of days ago. Two of our clients decided to enjoy a pleasant hike down the Khumbu Valley. Those guests flew from Lukla (2860m/9,383ft) via fixed wing to Kathmandu yesterday.

So, we had one last celebratory dinner here in Kathmandu last night and people are starting to take their flights home.

All in all, we had a very successful expedition! 17 total members of our team reached the summit of Ama Dablam – that was eight of our climbers, plus two guides and seven members of our sherpa team. We had absolutely excellent weather and route conditions for that climb!

So from here, Garrett and two of our climbers from Ama Dablam as well as members of our sherpa team are turning their attention to an unclimbed peak (~6000m/20,000ft) here in the Nepal, Himalaya. If you’d like to stay up to date on how that climb is progressing, please just keep an eye on the dispatches here on the website! We’ll be in touch.

Guide, Hannah Smith in the excellent bakery in Phakding while trekking out from base camp!

Guide, Hannah Smith in the excellent bakery in Phakding while trekking out from base camp!

Guide, Hannah Smith with our climbers Mandy and Andrea in Namche Bazaar while trekking out from base camp.

Guide, Hannah Smith with our climbers Mandy and Andrea in Namche Bazaar while trekking out from base camp.

Our climber, Serge, preparing to fly out of base camp. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Our climber, Serge, preparing to fly out of base camp. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Ama Dablam base camp just before we packed it up and departed. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Ama Dablam base camp just before we packed it up and departed. 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:

Well, we’ve begun! The first leg of our journey to climb Burke-Khang is done. This morning we awoke around 4:30AM to catch our flight into the infamous Lukla airport, the portal the the Himalaya. Stoke was high as we filed into the small twin prop Dornier aircraft and soon we were in the sky, flying over deep, lush valleys, a stark contrast to the environment we are heading into just a short week away. The 45 minute flight deposited us into the unlikely hanging town of Lukla. Here we further sorted gear, helped (as much as we could) the porters pack the Yaks and before long we were off down the trail to the village of Phakding. The wonderful trail meanders through small villages and past tea houses with beautiful views the entire way. While wondering through the small villages we spoke with the locals and received best wishes for the journey ahead.

Here in Phakding, Garrett, Sid and the crew are resting, eating and preparing for the longer trek to Namche Bazaar in the morning where they will take an acclimatization day and prepare to head up to the Gokyo Valley and ultimately Burke-Khang.

image-2 image-5 image-6 image-7 image