Our season has progressed very well so far, our fingers are crossed for good weather and climbing conditions in the days ahead! At this point our climbers have completed 2 ‘rotations’ on Mount Everest, reaching Camp 3. Of our 10 climbers & 4 American mountain guides, 3 climbers have left the expedition in recent weeks due to medical / altitude complications, although everyone on the team is very strong and qualified, sometimes the mountain decides that it is not your season to climb to the summit.
Our plan is to climb up to Camp 2 on May 10th and evaluate the weather forecast and the summit route fixing progress, and if all looks good then we will likely make a summit bid between May 14-16. Currently, our 7 climbers and 4 guides, along with most of our 18 climbing Sherpas will be in position to go for the summit should conditions allow, as well as our high altitude cameraman. Our plan is to climb together, as a team, so that we can choose the best day in the weather forecast for our summit bid as well as have all of our resources and manpower available to ensure a safe and successful summit attempt . This definitely sets our team apart from others in that we are the largest / strongest ‘stand alone’ guided team on the mountain that climbs together. While there are a few larger teams at base camp, they don’t climb together but rather have to stagger their climbers in separate summit attempts on different days to accommodate their large group size, thinning out resources / manpower and often not able to take advantage of the best weather for a summit day.
We are very proud of our climbing Sherpas who have contributed to the rope fixing effort high on Mount Everest, alongside a few other well equipped teams on the mountain. While there are about 20 teams on the mountain this year, it’s only a small few that are able to set the route. Our team of climbing Sherpas has been working hard carrying loads and fixing ropes up high on the mountain, they will be climbing with us over the next few days.
We hope Mount Everest (Chomolungma / Sagarmatha) will allow us to visit her summit and return safely. If, after arriving at Camp 2 and evaluating the weather forecast / summit fixing progress we do not feel we have an optimum chance for our summit attempt between May 14-16, then we will focus our efforts on the next weather window, most likely sometime around May 19-20.
-Garrett Madison
Early this morning our team departed base camp for Camp 2. They should be arriving shortly and will rest most of the afternoon. Yesterday we had a large snow storm that knocked our communication system offline. Things seem to be back to normal now and I will plan to post this evening at 10pm our time.
-Andrew
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Garrett ~ Expedition Leader
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Andrew ~ Base Camp Manager
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Conan ~ Guide
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Billy ~ Guide
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Fred ~ High Altitude Camera Man / Guide
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Brent ~ High Altitude Camera Man / Guide
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Bhola ~ Base Camp Sirdar
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Jim ~ Climber
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Jeff ~ Climber
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Ankur ~ Climber
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Nick ~ Climber
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Stuart ~ Climber
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Joel ~ Climber
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Lisa ~ Climber
