Tag Archive for: Mount Vinson

Best Christmas

Great news from Antarctica where 100% of our first team reached the summit of the continent’s highest peak, Mount Vinson!  Here’s Garrett’s report from High Camp:

Hello, this is Garrett Madison calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition team #1. Today’s December 27th and we reached the summit of Mount Vinson today, the highest peak in Antarctica! The team did great.

 

We left at about 9:30 AM from High Camp after a quick breakfast and climbed all day, had some windy conditions and a bit of a cold on the way up, and then the weather got a little bit nicer and we got up to the summit ridge.  Got up to the summit, had it all to ourselves for a bit, took some photos and then made our way back down to High Camp.

 

We got back to High Camp around 6:00 PM and just finished up some dinner.  So, heading to bed early tonight and looking forward to heading down to Vinson base camp tomorrow and onward back to Union Glacier camp.

 

So it’s been a great climb here on Mount Vinson with the first team, very successful.  We were lucky with good weather and good route conditions and great climbers.

 

We’ll check-in soon.  Thanks!

(photo:  Garrett Madison’s overused Vinson summit pic from the Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.


In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica 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

Instagram:

Near High Camp on Mount Vinson

The Vinson team had a nice, relaxing rest day at High Camp (3536m/11,600ft) today making their preparations for their summit attempt tomorrow.  Garrett Madison, expedition leader, provided the update via sat phone:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition team #1.  Today is December 26th also Boxing Day for Candians and we had a wonderful rest day here at Vinson base camp, sorry!, High Camp, Vinson High Camp(!).

 

We are getting ready to go for the summit tomorrow.  The weather looks good, we had a good day, just finished a big dinner, and heading to bed soon.

 

Our plan is to wake up around 7:30-8:00am tomorrow and head out of camp around 9:00am.  Hopefully we’ll get to the top of Vinson in the afternoon and back down in the evening time.  People are feeling great, good weather, and we are excited for the summit climb tomorrow!

 

We’ll check in soon.  Thanks!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.


In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica 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

Instagram:

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

Vinson High Camp

With Christmas wishes to everyone following along, expedition leader Garrett Madison provides an update of today’s climbing on the highest mountain in Antarctica:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition.  Merry Christmas, it’s December 25th and we made our way from Low Camp up to High Camp today.

 

We had a great day climbing up the fixed lines and beatifull views, hardly any wind, no clouds in the sky, just perfect conditions all around.  We made it up to High Camp, dug out our cache, set up our tents, and cooked some dinner.  Now we are tucked in our sleeping bags, ready for bed.

 

We are not exactly sure what we are going to do tomorrow.  We are either going to rest or we might give it a shot going to the summit.  We’ll see how we’re feeling.  The forecast looks good, so we are happy to be up here.  Everyone’s doing well and we’ll check it soon.

 

Merry Christmas!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.


In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica 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

Instagram:

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

Today on Christmas Eve, the Vinson team took a rest day at Low Camp.  Garrett Madison, expedition leader, called in with the following details:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson expedition.  Today is December 24th.  We had a great day here at Low Camp, perfect weather all day – warm, sunny, no wind.  We had a rest day here – slept in late, had a nice breakfast, and did some training today.

 

And then climbed partway up the route to check it out.  All looks good and we’re excited to be heading up to High Camp tomorrow!  We will check in on Christmas Day when we get up to High Camp tomorrow.

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.


In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica 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

Instagram:

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

We are excited to once again be heading off to Antarctica to climb the southernmost of the Seven Summits, Mount Vinson.  The first of our two expeditions this season heads out on December 18th.  Stay tuned here for daily updates once we get underway.

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on Mount Vinson for the 2020/2021 season next December!  Contact our office for details.


In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow the teams as they make their attempts to summit the highest mountain in Antarctica 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

Instagram:

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

Union Glacier Camp

Our final Mount Vinson expedition of the season was able to go all the way from Mount Vinson High Camp to Union Glacier Camp in a day.  Listen in to expedition leader Garrett Madison‘s audio expedition dispatch:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition with Jim Lumberg and Garrett Madison (in conjunction with PolarExplorers).  Today is January 19th and we have arrived back at Union Glacier Camp.  We had a great summit yesterday on Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica.  Today we woke up at High Camp, packed up our camp, descended down to Low Camp, and then all the way to Vinson Base Camp.  We were very fortunate to be met by a Twin Otter aircraft which then shuttled us 45-minutes back to Union Glacier Camp, the main hub here in Antarctica.

 

The plan is that tomorrow we hope to fly out on the llyshun jet back to Punta Arenas, Chile.  Then, in the next few days, be homeward bound.  We were very lucky to get out today from Mount Vinson to Union Glacier.  We are both doing well, just had a great dinner, and looking forward to some much needed rest.

 

Thanks for following along.  We will check in soon.

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering 2019 Mount Vinson team two)

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)

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)

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)