Summit Push Archives

K2 2019

Resting up at Camp 2

After yesterday’s big initial push up from base camp, the K2 team has been resting up at Camp 2 today and will move up to Camp 3 tomorrow. Garrett fills us in on the details:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the K2 climbing team. Today is July 17th, and we decided to take a rest day here in Camp 2 on the Cesen route. The weather is great! Litte bit of uncertainty regarding the rope fixing up high, so we decided to wait a day, give ourselves a little more time, and also rest up from the big push we did yesterday from base camp up to Camp 2 (about 4,500 vertical feet). Our plan is to climb up to Camp 3 tomorrow. Everybody’s doing well. We’ll check in soon. Thanks!

Our Mountain Hardwear tents at Camp 2 on the Cesen route

July 17, 2019/1 Comment/by Garrett

K2 2019

In a big kick-off push, the K2 team climbed from base camp (4990m) to Camp 2 (6325m) on the Česen route today. A steady, steep climb of over 9 hours positioned them very well for moving to Camp 3 (~7000m) tomorrow. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, has this update:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the K2 climbing team. Today is July 16th and we have started our summit push. We left base camp at 3:00 AM today and climbed up the Česen route to Camp 2, a gain of about 4,400 vertical feet or 1330m. Everyone did really good today on the way up and we had nice weather, great views. And we are looking forward to another nice day climbing up to Camp 3 tomorrow.

July 16, 2019/1 Comment/by Garrett

K2 2019

The week mountaineers dream of…

On the eve of their summit push, climbing team member Dr. Rick Thurmer provides today’s K2 expedition dispatch. The plan is to climb to Camp 2 (6327m/20,757ft) on the Cesen route tomorrow morning. C3 on Wed, C4, on Thu, and make their summit attempt on Friday, July 19th. This is it – the week mountaineers dream of! Stay tuned here for updates. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, is planning to bring a portable satellite terminal up the mountain, so we expect to be receiving photos and high-quality audio dispatches for the entire summit attempt! Godspeed team!

Hi, this is Dr. Rick Thurmer. We’ll be heading up K2 for our summit bid at 3:00 AM tomorrow morning! Let me tell ya, we are all very, very excited. We’re all packed, prep’d, and ready! And I can tell you honestly, I’ve dreamt of this my whole life for this very moment. So keep us all in your prayers, good night, and God bless.

K2 Cesen and Abruzzi Google Earth map

July 15, 2019/4 Comments/by Kurt

Burke Khang 2015

Burke Khang Summit Day Approaches

The Burke Khang summit is in sight! Our climbing team has reached an altitude of 20,371 feet. Unfortunately our team mate Kathy flew out with one of our Sherpas. She was dealing with a respiratory cold and is back in Kathmandu now. She is feeling better and we are thankful that all is well. Camp One has a beautiful view and the team is preparing for the final push for the summit. Weather has been great these past few days with blue skies. Check out the photos below and stay tuned for the summit push. Updates from expedition leader Garrett Madison will be uploaded here first. Will post dispatches as quickly as possible for this final push.

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For those interested in Nepal’s new Constitution and the developing political environment, read this NY Times article.

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Check out this Youtube video for a live chat with King5 news here in Seattle, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST5M4XnBmRI

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Bill Burke Climbing to Camp One from Advanced Base Camp:

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Bill Burke Climbing to Camp One from Advanced Base Camp:

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Burke Khang Camp One at 20,371 feet:

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Beautiful photo taken by Garrett Madison while climbing!

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Climbing toward Camp one from Advanced Base Camp:

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Climbing toward Camp one from Advanced Base Camp:

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Expedition Leader Garrett Madison staying warm!

November 8, 2015/1 Comment/by Andrew

Burke Khang 2015

Burke Khang Advanced Base Camp

Burke Khang Expedition Update – November 5th, 2015:

Our climbing team has made it to Burke Khang Advanced Base Camp! The team is currently sleeping at an elevation of 17,713 feet. Yesterday the team made another acclimatization hike with views of giants Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, & Nuptse, we also spied more unclimbed peaks for next year! Check out our Facebook page for additional photos and beautiful panoramas!! Tomorrow the climbing team will head onward to our Camp 1 and up the very technical route of rock, snow, and ice towards the summit of Burke Khang!

For family and friends who want to watch the summit push check out this link, it will show you a basic map view of the climbing groups location as they push toward the summit. The data is refreshed every 10 minutes. My personal suggestion for watching this historic summit push would be to download Google Earth on your device. Once you have this software downloaded shoot me an email at: andrew@madisonmountaineering.com. I will send you an email with instructions on how to view the climbing team’s progress on Google Earth. We have been working hard to develop this technology and will hopefully have this available in a mobile application in the near future.

Team before rappel practice. Left to right: Paul and Denise Fejtek, Bill Burke, Kathy Meyers, Garrett Madison , Nick Logic