Exhilarating electrical storm on Mount Everest

Lightning, Thunder & Storm!

Last night at around 3 AM we had an exhilarating electrical storm here on Mount Everest complete with lightning, thunder, then a few inches of snowfall. Today our advanced climbing team (Ed & Ant) moved up from Everest base camp and will stay at Camp 2. The ‘Everest Link’ Internet WiFi system that most of the climbers here in Everest base camp rely upon was knocked out by a lightning bolt. So, repairs are under way and hopefully the system will be back up and working again soon!

All of our climbing Sherpas are up in camp 2, and it was a good thing today because the winds have been very high at camp 2 . As a result many teams had tents damaged or completely blown away. Fortunately our Sherpas were able to secure and protect our tents in camp 2 from blowing away.

Our plan is to re-evaluate the weather tomorrow and see if rope fixing to the summit is reasonable over the next few days given the weather forecast. Hopefully, the winds will die down in the near future and make climbing possible.

Our main team of climbers is tentatively planning to move up from Everest base camp to camp 2 on May 11th . Then, will take a rest day at camp 2 and reassess the weather, route conditions, and feasibility of making a summit attempt. Everyone here in base camp is doing well and resting up for our final rotation. That is, our attempt at the summit of Mount Everest!

May 9, 2018/0 Comments/by Andrew

Everest 2018

Day 23 & 24 : First Rotation complete, Rope Fixing Update!

Today all of our climbers and guides in our main team descended from Camp 2 down to Everest base camp after a great first rotation! We ended up staying an extra night at Camp 2 for acclimatization because everything was going so well for us up at our “Advanced Base Camp”. This will assist us in our acclimatization process as we prepare for our ‘summit rotation’. We spent two nights at Camp 1 and three nights at Camp 2 while we were up on our ‘first rotation.

Today, while we were preparing to descend to base camp at 6 AM from Camp 2, we received information that the icefall route had changed . Our team at basecamp were saying that it was in the process of being repaired. So, we delayed our descent to around 10 AM when we had confirmation that the new variation in the Khumbu Icefall route was complete, arriving base camp this afternoon. Our team is excited to be back in Everest base camp where the air is thick, the food amazing, and the accommodations seeming very plush after nearly a week up high on the mountain.

Rope Fixing Update:

Over the last few days our expert team of Nepal Climbing Sherpas were able to fix ropes to the Geneva Spur, just short of the South Col (Camp 4) high camp on Mount Everest, despite the windy conditions and the icier than normal slope on the Lhotse Face. Now, with an up line and a down line in place from the base of the Lhotse Face to Camp 3, and then a single line going above that to the Geneva Spur, teams will be able to acclimatize and position loads up higher on the mountain.

Our rope fixing team is preparing to head back up and fix ropes all the way to the South Col in the coming days and then position oxygen and equipment for the ‘summit fixing’ project at the South Col so that when the weather conditions permit they can begin fixing ropes from the South Col up towards the Balcony, the South Summit, and onward to the summit of Mount Everest. They will also install a second ‘down line’ in places to ease congestion on the route such as on the Yellow Band, the Geneva Spur, and at other bottlenecks along the route. All is well here on Mount Everest and we hope for good weather and route conditions to continue!

April 25, 2018/0 Comments/by Garrett

Everest 2018

Mount Everest Rope Fixing Update: Camp 3 Established!

Camp 3 Established!

Our expert team of Nepal, Climbing Sherpas are very skilled technical climbers . Their job is to ‘fix’ the lines from Camp 2 all the way up the mountain to the summit of Everest. They have been working very hard since beginning. Our team were fixing ropes above Camp 2 on April 19^th, and have now succeeded in fixing lines from the base of the Lhotse face all the way up to Camp 3. They have installed 2 lines, an ‘up’ line and a ‘down’ line for climbers.

Camp 3 is now ‘open’ for climbers wishing to climb the fixed ropes up to Camp 3 to acclimatize. Furthermore, they can secure a camp place, or carry loads of supplies to Camp 3. Our expert Sherpa team will rest and then continue working on the next stage to fix the ropes up towards the Yellow Band, Geneva Spur, and to the South Col known as Camp 4 on Mount Everest. We hope for good weather!

April 22, 2018/1 Comment/by Garrett

Kilimanjaro 2016.10

Kilimanjaro team arrived back in Arusha, Tanzania after summit success

Our Kilimanjaro climb concluded as we just arrived back in Arusha, Tanzania. We had a fantastic adventure on Mount Kilimanjaro, culminating in our summit of the peak on October 6th. All members of our team reached the top of the mountain, this was a magical moment as the sun rose over the plains below, and the weather was perfect! This was especially appreciated by our group as we had a couple of days of inclement earlier in the climb. We had the appropriate clothing and equipment to wear in the rain, hail, and snow, but it was still challenging weather conditions to climb in. Our climbers pulled together and supported one another as we climbed higher on the mountain throughout the week, and especially on summit day as we left our high camp at midnight and climbed through the dark, to reach the summit of Uhuru peak at 6 AM. All members are now on their way home now or spending a few days on safari here in Tanzania, savoring the experience of reaching the roof of Africa! –Garrett Madison

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To review our climbing team’s summit route you can view our LIVE RainOn mapping platform here.

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Beautiful pictures by Madison Mountaineering adventure photographer Petr Jan Juracka from Charles University in Prague! Enjoy 🙂

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