Mountaineering Archives

Vinson & South Pole 2017

Ski the Last Degree team reaches 89.14 degrees

Hi this is Garrett calling in for the South Pole team skiing the last degree, that’s the last 60 nautical miles or 110 kilometers. Today is Friday, January 6 and we had a great day skiing, we skied from 9:30AM to 5:30PM. We traveled a good distance, we are now at 89.14. Beautiful day today, no winds, clear skies and no clouds. Just a beautiful day to be out on the polar plateau at about 9,000ft. Just snow in every direction on the horizon. Everybody is doing great, and we just had a good dinner of quesadillas and salmon and looking forward to another day of skiing tomorrow. We will check in soon. Thanks.

.

January 7, 2017/0 Comments/by Andrew

Vinson & South Pole 2017

South Pole team reaches 89.07 degrees!

Hey this is Garrett Madison calling in for the ski the last degree to the South Pole team. Today is our second day on our ski journey, we started off from camp at about 9am and skied till about 3pm this afternoon. That’s all daylight, 24/7 down here. Had a good ski today and we got to 89.07 degrees and we are going to 90. We are still probably 6-7 days out from the South Pole minimum. Everyone is doing well, we had a little wind today. The team is strong and feeling good. We had dinner and are tucked in to bed for a good nights rest then get in another day of skiing tomorrow. Hope all goes well on the other side, we will check in soon. One final note we did see a kite today that we believe is Mike Horn. Mike Horn is from South Africa who has been skiing from the coast to the South Pole. I believe we are the first sign of human life that he has seen in the last couple months, it was fun to see Mike Horn on the kite. We will check in again soon.

.

South Pole Team 2017

January 6, 2017/0 Comments/by Andrew

Vinson & South Pole 2017

Ski last degree team departs for the South Pole!

Hello this is Garrett calling in it is Wednesday, January 4 for the ski last degree team. Today we were dropped off in a DC 3 Basler aircraft after flying from Union Glacier Camp about four and a half hours down towards the South Pole at the 89th degree. We skied for about an hour, about one mile, and set up camp and now we are tucked in camp and just had dinner and getting ready for bed. Tomorrow our plan is to get up around 7 and head out by 9 and ski for a full day and cover some of the distance between here and the South Pole, which is about 60 nautical miles away, around 110 kilometers. We are happy to be here beautiful weather blue skies a horizon of ice as far as the eye can see in every directions, everyone is having a great time. We will check in again tomorrow. Thanks.

–Garrett Madison

.

Preparing team gear for the high adventure ski trip

Preparing team gear out of the DC3 Basler aircraft

.

ski last degree team

.

Ski Last Degree Team

January 4, 2017/0 Comments/by Andrew

Vinson & South Pole 2017

Flight from Punta Arenas Chile to Antarctica

The weather looks optimal today for our flight from Punta Arenas Chile to Antarctica so we are making final preparations before we board our aircraft this evening, an Illushyn 76. The flight will take about 5 hours to cover the nearly 2000 miles from Punta Arenas to Union Glacier camp, Antarctica, also near Mount Vinson. Once we arrive in camp we will organize equipment for the first objective, skiing the last degree (60 nautical miles or 110 km) to the South Pole. If everything goes according to plan we should reach the South Pole by January 12. After a celebration at the Pole, we will fly by DC 3 aircraft back to Union Glacier camp, where 5 members of the team will then continue via the Illushyn 76 for transport back to Chile. Eight of us will stay at Union Glacier camp and then fly by twin otter aircraft to Mount Vinson base camp, just a 45 minute flight. We will utilize 2 high camps above base camp before making a summit attempt on Antarctica’s highest peak. After climbing Mount Vinson we will fly back to Union Glacier camp and then onward to Chile and then home. Please follow our daily updates with live tracking of the team while in Antarctica.

–Garrett Madison

.

Our journey begins in the Tierra del Fuego or ‘Land of Fire’ in Chile’s southernmost city of Punta Arenas, located on the straight of Magellan. A large statue of the famous explorer towers over the town square. Legend has it that those who kiss the statue are destined to return!

January 3, 2017/0 Comments/by Andrew

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

.

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

.

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

_dsc2438

.

_dsc2755

.

_dsc2784

.

_dsc3715

.

_dsc5070

.

_dsc5093

.

_dsc5117

.

_nd50283

.

_nd50465-hdr

.

dji_0102-hdr

.

_nd58615

.

_nd50505

.

_nd51622-hdr

.

_nd52549

.

_nd52896

.

_nd58452

October 8, 2016/0 Comments/by Andrew

Kilimanjaro 2016.10

Kilimanjaro team reaches the Roof of Africa!!

At 11:30pm last night our Kilimanjaro team departed for the Roof of Africa and made it to the summit at 6am for a beautiful sunrise. After a safe descent the team is now resting at lower elevation enjoying a well deserved hot-tub at the resort. Way to go team!

.

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

Processed with Snapseed.

.

Audio dispatch by Dante (climber) after their successful summit!

October 6, 2016/0 Comments/by Andrew

Kilimanjaro 2016.10

Kilimanjaro team reaches the Roof of Africa!

At 11:30pm last night our Kilimanjaro team departed for the Roof of Africa and made it to the summit at 6am for a beautiful sunrise. After a safe descent the team is now resting at lower elevation enjoying a well deserved hot-tub at the resort. Way to go team!

.

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

Processed with Snapseed.

.

Audio dispatch by Dante (climber) after their successful summit!

October 6, 2016/0 Comments/by Andrew

Haba Xue Shan China 2016

A successful climb of Haba ‘Snow Mountain’

Our climbing team had a wonderful ascent of Haba ‘Snow Mountain’ above the village of Haba in the Yunnan province of China. The climb was only 3 days followed by some sight seeing in the historical city of Lijiang. The summit of Haba is 5,396m or nearly 18,000′ so this was not a small climb by any means!

We hiked from the village of Haba on our first day of the trip through the dense forest and along mountain streams then came to grassy meadows as we approached our base camp. By the afternoon we reached our camp and had a glimpse of the peak.

On summit day we awoke at 3 AM and departed camp around 4 AM for the summit. We climbed up the rocky slopes and gained the glacier just as the sun began to rise, where we roped up and donned crampons. We then climbed the snow and ice slopes and reached the top at 10:30 AM. We saw only a few other climbers on our ascent, even though it was a holiday weekend in China. At the summit we found the peak marker and savored the moment before heading down to our camp. The next day we hiked down through the lush forest back to the village of Haba, then drove along the scenic ‘Tiger leaping gorge’ back to Lijiang, where we visited the beautiful ‘old town’ that dates back to the 1300’s and enjoyed a traditional Chinese dinner typical of the Yunnan province. It’s been a great adventure with climbers Scott, Florian, Lloyd and Rafael!

To higher places!

Garrett Madison

.

To view our climbing team’s exact route to the summit you can view our RainOn mapping platform here!

.

September 20, 2016/0 Comments/by Garrett

Haba Xue Shan China 2016

Garrett and climbers setting off for Haba Xueshan!

Yesterday after meeting up in Shanghai, Garrett climbers flew to Lijiang, a beautiful city in the Yunnan province on the way to Haba Xueshan. Today our team is departing Lijiang and driving to Haba, to organize equipment and prepare for the trek to Haba Xueshan base camp! At an elevation of 17,703ft (5,396m), Haba Xueshan is a beautiful glaciated peak in southern China. Go team!

.

Throughout this expedition you can view our team’s location and progress by viewing our RainOn mapping platform here!

.

Garrett & team of climbers from Shanghai setting off for Haba.

.

Yangtze River

.

Team passing by the famous Hu Tiao Cha ‘Tiger Leaping Gorge’ and Yangtze River located between the Haba Snow Mountain and the Yulong Snow Mountain. With a vertical drop of 3,800 meters the view to the bottom of the Tiger Leaping Gorge is nearly twice as high as the Grand Canyon!

.

.

Fried snakes or sea horses anyone?

.

.

Local woman in traditional dress in Haba.

September 15, 2016/0 Comments/by Andrew

Everest 2016

Climbers arrive into base camp after successful second rotation

After departing Camp 2 at around 5am this morning, members of our climbing team wrapped up a successful second rotation and returned to base camp. The team had a positive experience up on the mountain and as you can see below enjoyed spectacular views along the way (more pictures to come!). The weather was cold and windy at night and heated up considerably during the day while climbing. Billy, Joel and Jim are spending an additional acclimatization night at Camp 2 with Brent and will be coming back down to base camp tomorrow. The team is in good health and we all look forward to a week of R&R before our last rotation.

The many teams at base camp from around the world are working together now to fix the ropes up through Camp 4, we expect this to happen tomorrow. At this point we will be able to begin to put in place the gear and oxygen necessary for our summit rotation. Michael Fagin, our meteorologist based in Seattle, will soon be reporting to us the weather window for summit day. Our team has been training for months in preparation for the days to come, we are all very excited to begin the ascent to the top of of the world. Stay tuned!

.

Screen Shot 2016-05-04 at 10.03.58 PM