Tag Archive for: Nepal

Safety Quarantine Day 3

Team dinner at the Mezze in Kathmandu

Day 3 of the pandemic safety quarantine in Kathmandu at the Hotel Yak & Yeti and expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks-in with today’s dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Ama Dablam expedition and Gokyo trek teams.  We are at the Yak & Yeti hotel in Kathmandu and finishing up our quarantine here over the next few days.

We’re wondering if the Khumbu is going to remain open, as there have been some cases there.  We’re planning to head up to the Khumbu in a few days, but if not, we might be changing plans and heading off to climb another mountain here in Nepal.

Everybody’s doing great.  We’ve been enjoying some good dinners here and some exercise at the hotel – some yoga and stretching out on the grass lawn.

We’re all in good spirits!  Everone’s doing well and we’ll check in soon.  Thanks!

Gear check at the Hotel Yak & Yeti

Gear check at the Hotel Yak & Yeti

Enjoying an Everest beer in Kathmandu with Kenton Cool

Enjoying an Everest beer in Kathmandu with Kenton Cool

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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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Arrival Quarantine in Kathmandu

picture of hotel and swimming pool

Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, and the Ama Dablam team have arrived in Kathmandu and have started their mandatory 7-day safety quarantine (in style) at the Hotel Yak & Yeti.  Adhering to the current Entry Protocol for Mountaineering Expeditions and Trekking in Nepal, all were required to present a negative COVID-19 PCR test result taken less than 72 hours before travel before boarding their planes and upon arrival in Kathmandu.  After 5 days in quarantine, they will all take another COVID-19 test and, with another negative result, will be able to finish the arrival quarantine after 7-days and start the Ama Dablam expedition.  Our Gokyo Ri / Lobuche / Island Peak team is also in arrival quarantine.  Here’s Garrett with the details from Kathmandu:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Ama Dablam climb expedition, as well as our private Gokyo trekking programs.

We made it to Kathmandu, Nepal!  It was smooth flying all the way from the U.S. to Nepal, had a couple of layovers along the way.  But very smooth flying.  Got into Nepal, no issues with our visas.  We had all of our documents in order and just made it to the hotel.

We’re all checked in at the Yak & Yeti hotel.  We are, actually, the only group here at the Yak & Yeti hotel – the Madison Mountaineering teams for Ama Dablam and the Gokyo treks.  We’ve got it all to ourselves!  Looking forward to a great day here tomorrow, breakfast, and some exercise here in the courtyard at the Yak & Yeti.

Everyone’s doing great and we are looking forward to enjoying our quarantine period here in 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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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Safely Returning to Nepal!

This week we kick off our safe return to Nepal for some Autumn trekking and climbing adventures.  The teams are now making their way to Nepal.  Ama Dablam expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in from LAX while en route to Kathmandu:

Hello, this is Garrett Madison calling in – kicking-off the Ama Dablam expedition along with our Gokyo trek private trips.  We are waiting to board here in Los Angeles to fly to Kathmandu.

We are following all of the safely protocols: masking up, wear the face shield.  (We are) really excited to be the first people, we know of, going back to Nepal! and taking pride in safely bringing much needed tourist revenue to the Nepalese people as well as the funds from our GoFundMe campaign to support our Sherpas.

So, we are very excited to heading over to Nepal, to see all of our friends there, and to head up to the Khumbu Valley and make our way up towards the high peaks that we love so much.

We’ll check in soon.

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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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Virtual Everest 2020 – Support the Sherpas

Climbers on the Lhotse face

Normally, at this time, our Everest climbing team would have just finished two nights at Namche Bazaar and trekked on to the village of Deboche where they would be spending the evening with our friends at the Rivendell Lodge and looking forward to six more days on the trail towards Everest Base Camp.

But as you know, this terrible COVID-19 pandemic has changed just about everything for all of us.  Our thoughts are with everyone impacted from the dire to the inconvenienced.  Included in that are all of our Nepal staff, including Sherpa and other mountain workers who depend on the spring climbing season for such a large percentage of their annual income.  Income that is used to support their families, buy food, pay school costs, maintain their homes, and more.  This year’s loss of income will be a considerable hardship for many of them.

While Madison Mountaineering will be doing what we can to lessen the loss, we need your help!  Please consider making a generous donation to the GoFundMe campaign we have established to assist our impacted Nepal staff.  All proceeds will be distributed directly to them.

Also, friend of Madison Mountaineering, Alan Arnette, who for many years has been providing excellent daily coverage of the Everest climbing season (and other climbing expeditions year-round) has this year created a wonderfully entertaining fictional day-by-day ‘coverage’ – Virtual Everest 2020 – that we hope you will follow and enjoy!

We will get through this together and be climbing again soon!

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Nepal announces all expeditions cancelled for Spring 2020

Climber on Mount Everest

Late last week amid all of the rapidly evolving global cancelations and shutdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the government of Nepal officially announced the cancellation of all Spring expeditions along with additional changes to their tourist visa requirements.

While we are saddened that all of the hard work and preparations of our team members, our guides, Sherpa, and staff won’t allow us to enjoy the challenge and beauty of Himalayas this spring, we applaud and respect Nepal’s decision.  The health and wellbeing of all of us global citizens is top priority.

The mountain will always be there — let’s go climb Everest next season together!

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Welcome to Everest 2020!

The Everest summit ridge on May 23rd

Welcome to Everest 2020! Our annual spring Mount Everest expedition begins in just 30 days. Our strong team of international climbers will gather at the Hotel Yak and Yeti, our Kathmandu home-base and the launching point of countless Mount Everest expeditions over the years. Here in Seattle, we are now gathering expedition equipment, food and supplies, making logistical arrangements with our Nepal support staff, and ensuring that all of our climbing team members and trekkers have everything ready to go. Busy times at Madison Mountaineering HQ! We are looking forward to our continued best-in-class rate of success and safety on Everest. Leaders in setting the fixed ropes, we have put the first team on top in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.

We are excited by the upcoming season and hope that you will all follow along with our expedition dispatches as the team makes their way to base camp and then up the mountain!

If climbing Mount Everest is in your future, please contact our office, we would love to have you climb with us!

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 Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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Ama Dablam Summit Success!

Expedition leader, Conan Bliss, and the team have returned to Ama Dablam base camp and Conan provides the happy news:

Ama Dablam Expedition Summary: At 7:40 am on November 4th, the Madison Mountaineering team stood alone on the summit of Ama Dablam. The sky was cloudless, offering amazing 360-degree views including Everest, Lhotse, and Makalu. This was the culmination of weeks of effort, patience, and perseverance and we were fortunate with an excellent weather window. The team is back at base camp today resting and will trek out tomorrow and the following day. We would like to say special thanks to our amazing Nepali crew, both climbing Sherpas as well as our outstanding base camp crew. Thanks for following us on this epic adventure; we hope to see you in the mountains soon!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archives)

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Acclimatization Rotation Complete

Ama Dablan

Conan Bliss, expedition leader, checked-in today with an update on the Ama Dablam expedition:

The Ama Dablam team arrived back at BC after a successful acclimatization rotation. We stayed 2 nights at C1 and made a climb up to C2, ascending the famous Yellow Tower yesterday. Tomorrow we’ll have a rest day then plan our summit push on the 2nd, weather permitting.

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First rotation up next

Training around Ama Dablam base camp

Expedition leader, Conan Bliss, checks in with today’s update:

The Ama Dablam team is enjoying another training session this morning at BC. We’ll relax this afternoon and get packed for our two-night acclimatization rotation starting tomorrow (29th/30th). We’ll stay both nights at C1 and plan to climb to touch C2 on the 30th. We’ll check back in on the 31st when we are back in BC.

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Base Camp established!

Ama Dablam base camp

Expedition leader, Conan Bliss, checks in with today’s update on the Ama Dablam expedition:

The Ama Dablam team arrived at BC yesterday (October 25 – local). It was a snowy evening but clouds are breaking today. We had a fun and productive morning doing rope training. Tomorrow we’re planning an acclimatization hike to Yak Camp and will spend the next 2 nights in BC. Weather permitting we aim to climb to C1 on the 28th or 29th for two nights. Thanks for checking in.

Ama Dablam base camp

Ama Dablam base camp

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