Tag Archive for: Seven Summits

Climbers depart for second Everest rotation to Camp 3

Today guides Brent and Geoff departed for their second Everest rotation with John and Anders. They will climb to Camp 2 for two nights and then touch Camp 3 before returning to base camp. Back at base camp we had a housekeeping day where we cleaned our personal tents and re-centered our dining tent. Each week the glacier underneath our base camp shifts, so to keep our camp flat we have to reposition the rocks (picture below). After our tidy up at base camp we relaxed and caught up on laundry and rest.

In the icefall today guides Sid and Billy went through training with our Everest Express climber John. He will continue to train in the icefall and sync up with the main group’s second rotation in the days to come. The weather was warm and sunny from the morning to afternoon today with light winds. Our main climbing group is planning to move up on their second rotation on the 30th night. Over the next three days our climbers will go on acclimatization hikes around EBC and rest up. Beautiful photographs from our team below!

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In-between Camp 1 and 2

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Khumbu Icefall

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Everest Base Camp

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Beautiful night shot by Randy Christofferson!

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Camp 1

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Camp 1

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View from above the icefall

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Ascent in the Khumbu Icefall

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Basecamp bonding during our Puja ceremony

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Everest Base Camp

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Our amazing Sherpa team!

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Camp 2

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Antony Dubber’s amazing dessert 🙂 

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“Mickey Mouse” Sherpa (14 Everest ascents)

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Icefall crossing

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Beginning of our second rotation

second Everest rotation

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Basecamp tidy up

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Working on our propane systems at base camp

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Leveling our dining tent 

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Guides Sid and Billy with our Everest Express climber John

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Climbers arriving into Everest base camp after first rotation

Today our second wave of climbers returned to Everest base camp after a successful first rotation. The weather has been cold and clear with beautiful views of the mountains in the day and a sky full of stars at night. Tomorrow Garrett and team will come down from Camp 2 to complete our first rotation. Our climbers are feeling well and will rest and recover over the next few days. Antony made a superb dinner followed by a bitter chocolate cake with caramelized apples for dessert. We will now have 3-5 days rest here at base camp before moving up on our team’s second rotation. Onward!

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Antony’s dinner at base camp

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Khumbu Icefall

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Garrett Madison at Camp 2

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Base camp lunch

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Beautiful view from base camp

Everest base camp

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Drew at Camp 1

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Conan Bliss

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Camp 1

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Icefall descent

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First group returns to base camp after successful first rotation

Today guides Brent and Geoff returned to base camp with John and Anders after a successful first rotation. The weather at base camp has been cold with steady snowfall over the past two days. Our climbers up on the mountain are doing well and tucked in at Camp 1 and 2 on Mount Everest. They will follow the same schedule with two nights at Camp 1 and two nights at Camp 2 before returning back down to base camp.

Our Sherpa team reports that the route fixing team has moved up to Camp 4. We predict that the first Sherpa summits will be in the next one to two weeks. Beautiful photos below taken by our first rotation team!

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successful first rotation

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Changing Everest weather as teams move up

Today at base camp we woke up to sunshine and by early afternoon we had steady snowfall accumulating, Everest weather changes quickly! Our second wave of climbers pushed through the Khumbu icefall and made it to Camp 1 early this morning. We now have climbers acclimatizing at Camp 1 and Camp 2 on Mount Everest. Our third and final group will depart for Camp 1 early this morning. Everyone is doing well and in good spirits.

For daily photo updates follow us on Instagram @MadisonMtng.

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Everest weather

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Everest weather

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Everest weather

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Everest weather

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Everest weather

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Climbers moving up on first Everest rotation

Our first Everest rotation is in mid-swing with our second wave of climbers moving up in a few hours. Beautiful day at base camp today with ample time to enjoy the sunshine. Our climbers at base camp continued icefall training with difficult courses set up by our guide staff. Up at Camp 1 our team is doing well with heavy clouds reported throughout the afternoon. Tomorrow our Camp 1 team will move up to Camp 2 where they will spend two days acclimatizing.

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first Everest rotation

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first Everest rotation

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first Everest rotation

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Sid Pattison reports a successful ascent of Island Peak (pictures below):

Bookended by a forecast of wind and snow our team squeaked in a summit of Island Peak at 6:15am on the 17th. Our climb began at 12:15am and after climbing steadily up tallus fields and ridges we made it to Crampon Point as the sun rose. We put on crampons and roped up to cross the very broken and bridged glacier, after an hour we made it to the base of the final 750ft headwall. The steep climbing was strenuous but we moved steadily up to the summit ridge. From the summit the beautiful Himalayan mountain range was on display, Lhotse, Taboche, Cholatse and Ama Dablam fueling dreams of future climbs. The descent went smoothly, we packed up basecamp and made the final trek back to Chhukung and slept soundly. Today we made the long trek to Namche and Lukla tomorrow.

“We couldn’t have asked for better conditions, this summit is the culmination of weeks of hard work” Jared Moravec reflected on the climb.

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Island Peak Expedition 2017 

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First ascent climbing team safely to Camp 1

Today our first ascent climbing team pushed through the Khumbu icefall in great time and are now safely resting at Camp 1. Initial reports from Brent Bishop and team are that the icefall is in the best condition he’s seen it, which is great news to hear. We will have two additional waves on the first rotation that will be departing base camp in the next 1-2 days. Current agenda is to spend two nights at Camp 1 and two nights at Camp 2, then return to Mount Everest base camp. Weather today was pleasant, sunny in the morning with clouds rolling in during the afternoon with light snowfall.

Our evening movie choice has been rotating between climbers and tonight we enjoyed the original Indiana Jones. Tomorrow we will continue to train in the icefall then rest and hydrate before moving up the mountain. Antony made an amazing dessert tonight that you can see below. I’m sure the climbers will miss his cooking while up on rotations!

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first ascent climbing

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Icefall training and acclimatization hike to Pumori base camp

After a delicious breakfast we had another great day of training on the ice followed by an acclimatization hike toward Pumori base camp. This afternoon our Sherpa team packed their first loads and will be taking off toward Camp 1 and 2 in the next few hours. Guide’s Brent Bishop and Geoff Schellens will also be moving up toward Camp 1 with two private climbers around 5am. Over the next three days our entire team will be moving up on their first rotation on Mount Everest. Everyone is excited to start climbing!

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Pumori base camp

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Joyful Puja ceremony filled with laughter and dancing

The high Buddhist monk journeyed to Mount Everest base camp this afternoon and blessed our team with a joyful Puja ceremony. Our climbing and Sherpa team gathered together as one to give thanks to Sagarmatha and present gifts for safe passage. The lama was graceful and presented each climber with a blessing. After the ceremony concluded our friends on the Gurkha team (Nepal and UK) came down to our camp and joined in the festivities. Winds have finally settled down and we were all able to relax outside together and enjoy the cultural Nepalese experience.

In the afternoon, a few members of our team went out into the Khumbu icefall for additional training on the ice. We are all settling down for the night now and about to enjoy another of Antony Dubber’s amazing meals, I do believe that we are all gaining weight up here with his extraordinary high altitude culinary skills. After supper we typically partake in watching a film in our the movie theater, tonight we watched Top Gun.

Tomorrow we will not be climbing or training in the icefall in remembrance of the 2014 icefall tragedy. Our team will rest and prepare equipment for the first rotation in the days to come. The stoke is high and we are all ready to move up the mountain. To higher places!

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Joyful Puja ceremony

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Everest 2017 climbing team preparing for their first rotation

Today our Mount Everest 2017 climbing team had an amazing day training in the Khumbu icefall. The winds have been fierce the past few days, gusting to 50mph at times. While we have been training between the ice towers we are protected for the most part. The sun was out all day today and the recent snowfall is slowly melting.

After a few rounds on the training circuit with fixed lines and ladders, we enjoyed a few laps of epic ice climbing on a sweet Serac. We practiced with ice climbing tools and then a select few climbers were able to scale the ice with just crampons. From the top of the ice we had great views of Everest base camp and the surrounding glaciers.

Tomorrow we will have our Puja ceremony here at base camp. Our weather forecasts are predicting decreased winds and sun, we hope this is accurate! Soon after our Puja ceremony we will begin preparations for our first rotation up to Camp 1. Enjoy the photos from today!

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Everest 2017 climbing

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Everest 2017 climbing

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Everest 2017 climbing

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Everest 2017 climbing

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Everest 2017 climbing

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Wild thunder and lightning storm last night

After a wild thunder and lightning storm last night, we awoke to about 8 inches of fresh snow here at Mount Everest base camp! Our team of climbers set off for their first day of technical training in the Khumbu Icefall. Our guides reviewed the basics to refresh our team and covered best practices for a safe climb on Mount Everest. Our amazing base camp chef, Antony Dubber, continues to impress our taste buds with amazing meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had a special guest join us for lunch today. Ueli Steck, from Switzerland known as the ‘Swiss Machine’ shared a meal with our team and we chatted about our past and upcoming ascents.

Tomorrow we will continue our icefall training and build a more difficult course for our climbers to navigate. On the 17th we will have our Puja ceremony here at base camp where we will all be blessed for a safe season on Everest. Enjoy the pictures below!

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lightning storm

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