Tag Archive for: Mount Vinson

Vinson Summit – making 3 for 3!

Climbing up Mount Vinson

This just in from expedition leader, Garrett Madison.  Our third and final expedition of the season reached the Mount Vinson summit making 3 for 3!

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for Mount Vinson expedition with Jim Lumberg and Garrett Madison.  Today is January 18th and we summited Mount Vinson today!  We had a beautiful summit day with the mountain all to ourselves.  We are back at High Camp about to have some pad thai dehydrated meals.

 

Our plan is to head down tomorrow to Vinson Base Camp and hopefully soon catch a flight to back to Union Glacier Camp.  It’s been a great climb so far.  We just have to get down the steep fixed rope section tomorrow and down on to Vinson Base Camp.

 

All is well here and it’s been a wonderful expedition!  This is Garrett Madison and Madison Mountaineering in collaboration with PolarExplorers.

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering 2019 team two)

/0 Comments/by

The move to High Camp

Branscomb Ridge

Our final Mount Vinson expedition, in conjunction with PolarExplorers, made the move to High Camp today as reported in the satellite phone dispatch from expedition leader, Garrett Madison:

Hi, this is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition number three with Garret and Jim Lumberg.  We are up at high camp today on January 17th.  We made the push from Low Camp up to High Camp after waking up this morning at Low Camp and having a nice breakfast.  Then we climbed up the fixed ropes about 1,000 meters or 3,300 feet to High Camp.  It was a little cool and windy once we got to High Camp.  But we managed to set up tents, get some water going, had dinner.  And now we are tucked into our sleeping bags, ready for a nice long sleep.

 

There were a couple of other teams that were up here and summitted today:  the Alpine Ascents and IMG crews.  They will be heading down tomorrow and it will be just us up here!  So we are looking forward to having the mountain all to ourselves.  We are going to take a rest day tomorrow and see what the weather forecast brings for a potential summit the following day.

 

Everything is great here on Vinson!  We will check in soon.

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering Vinson 2019 team two)

/0 Comments/by

Mount Vinson Team Two Photos!

/0 Comments/by

Union Glacier to Mount Vinson Low Camp!

Twin Otter aircraft at Vinson base camp

Our third and final Mount Vinson expedition for 2019 got going in style today, moving all the way from Union Glacier to Mount Vinson Low Camp as reported by expedition leader, Garrett Madison:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for Mount Vinson expedition number three:  Garrett Madison and Jim Lumberg in collaboration with PolarExplorers!  Today we left Union Glacier camp and flew via Twin Otter aircraft to Mount Vinson base camp at 7,800 ft..  We rigged our sleds and backpacks and started climbing up to Low Camp.  It took us about five and a half hours to get to Low Camp.  We arrived, pitched our tents, fired up our stoves, started melting snow for water, and cooked a great dinner.  Now we’re getting ready for bed.

 

Tomorrow our plan is to climb up the fixed ropes to High Camp, gaining just over 3,000 ft..  Then we will settle into High Camp around 12,400 ft. and see what the weather brings.  We are both doing well here!  It’s a beautiful day on Mount Vinson – sunny / no wind.  We are the only ones here in camp, so we have the mountain to ourselves!  It’s really special to be here.

 

We will check in soon.  Thanks!

(photo:  Vinson 2019 team two from earlier this week)

/0 Comments/by

From Vinson High Camp to Union Glacier camp

Our Vinson expedition team had a big day today as reported by expedition leader, Garrett Madison:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition team number two.

 

Today is Friday, January 11th and we have reached Union Glacier camp!  We had a great day descending from our high camp on Mount Vinson all the way down to Vinson base camp.  And then we were picked up by a Twin Otter aircraft and flown back to Union Glacier camp where we all are now tucked into our tents and looking forward to a good night’s rest.

 

The team will be here at Union Glacier camp for a few days until the scheduled flight back to Punta Arenas on the Ilyushin-76 aircraft on January 14th.  So all’s well here, everybody’s doing great.  We had a wonderful summit day, again yesterday.  Everyone made it to the top and down safe and we had wonderful views of Antarctica from the highest point on the continent.

 

Thank so much for following along.

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

/0 Comments/by

Summit Attempt Tomorrow!

Near High Camp on Mount Vinson

As the team readies for their summit attempt, team member Linda gets the honors and provides today’s dispatch from High Camp on Mount Vinson:

Hello, this is Linda calling in from the Madison Mountaineering Vinson team two.  We had a wonderful day here at High Camp, resting, enjoying the scenery, and getting ready for our summit attempt tomorrow.  The weather looks beautiful!  We just had our summit talk and a good dinner and we are getting ready to settle in.  We are going to get up early and hopefully head to the summit tomorrow!!

 

Sending our love to friends and family!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

/0 Comments/by

Vinson team two at High Camp

Vinson High Camp

Our Vinson team two is now at High Camp!  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, has this exciting update:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition team number two:  Conan, Garrett, Shawn, Fon, Linda, and Paul!  Today is the eighth of January and we are up at High Camp.  We had a great day climbing from Low Camp up the steep fixed ropes to High Camp at just over 12,400 feet on Mount Vinson.  Beatiful weather today, clear skies, sunny, very calm, just a slight breeze to keep us cool on the way up so that we didn’t overheat.

 

Tomorrow we’re probably going to take a rest day.  We are going to sleep in and get up and see what the weather is doing.  But most likely we’ll be resting here before looking at our summit attempt in the next few days.

 

Everyone is doing great here on Mount Vinson and we will check in again soon.  Thanks!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

/0 Comments/by

Vinson team two set to move up to High Camp

Vinson

Today, team member Shawn provides the update from Mount Vinson!

Hi this is Shawn calling in from the Vinson two team.  We are at Low Camp and just finished our haul up to High Camp.  Linda, Paul, Shawn, Fon, Garrett and Conan are all feeling healthy, happy, stable, strong and very enthused for our move tomorrow to High Camp.  The weather has been fantastic!  We hope it stays!  The food has been out-of-this-world!!  Thank you to Fon and Le Cordon Bleu.  So we want to send our love to our family and friends at home.

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

/0 Comments/by

Team Two Completes Carry

Guide Conan Bliss reports in for Vinson Team Two:

Hey good evening!  This is Conan calling in for Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson Team #2.  We are again at Vinson Base Camp.  Today we had a really good carry; caching food, fuel and extra equipment high on the upper Branscomb Glacier getting ready for our move tomorrow to Low Camp.

Stay tuned!  Talk to you tomorrow!!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

/0 Comments/by

New team on deck!

Our expedition leader, Garrett Madison phoned in this report from Union Glacier Camp:

Hi this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Vinson program with the Japanese group.  Today we flew back to from Vinson Base Camp to Union Glacier Camp in the morning.  The Ilyushin jet arrived and our Japanese team was able to successfully depart Union Glacier Camp and arrive in Punta Arenas, Chile.  So we had a wonderful expedition, very successful and safe and all is well!

 

Our second Vinson team has arrived:  (Guide) Conan with (climbers) Shawn, Linda, and Paul and they are currently at Vinson Base Camp.  They are setting up their camp and getting ready to make their first climb up the mountain tomorrow.  Myself and (climbers) Fon and Jimmy will be starting Mount Vinson in a couple days time.  Jimmy is completing his Ski-The-Last-Degree program to the South Pole and once finished, we will all head to Vinson Base Camp and start climbing, which we’re very much looking forward to.

 

We are all enjoying our time here in Antarctica and wishing everyone back home well.  Thanks very much!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

/1 Comment/by