Tag Archive for: Summit Push

Summit Push Ahead!

Photo pulled from Madison Mountaineering Archive.

The Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition team has arrived in their high camp and are primed for their summit push! While the anticipation built, the team spent the evening relaxing, eating dinner, and packing their bags for their alpine start. Stay tuned to hear if they make the summit! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in with today’s dispatch before the team goes for the summit tomorrow:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua (6961m/22,837ft) expedition climb. Today’s February second, Thursday, and we are up at our high camp (5989m/19,650ft), Camp 3 Colera at about 19,600 feet. Everyone’s doing great!

It was a beautiful day climbing up here – not much wind and clear skies as far as the eye can see, great views all around! We just finished our dinner, did a little packing and preparation for tomorrow. The plan is to wake up at 3:00 (AM) and depart by 5:00 AM, go for the summit on the third of February, and fingers crossed we’ll get lucky with good weather and route conditions!

We’ll check in tomorrow after we get back down, but the weather is looking good right now at the moment. Really happy to be here and the team’s doing great!

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Entire Team Safely Down to Camp 2

The climb up Mount Lhotse in Asia

With the entire team safely down to Camp 2, expedition leader Garrett Madison recaps the day and shares some exciting news about Lhotse in this dispatch sat phone call from Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft) on Mount Everest:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse expedition team.  Today is May 21th.

We are all back safely in Camp 2.

We’ve got some exciting news:  today, myself, Chase Merriam, Cameron Kenny, Josh Garrison, along with three (3) of our Nepal staff, sherpas Siddhi, Sange, and Lakpa climbed Mount Lhotse this morning.  We woke up about 2:00am and got up to the summit of Lhotse between 6:00am and 8:00am and just had a beautiful summit day – great conditions.  Now we’re all back safely to Camp 2.  Our entire team’s back safely in Camp 2.

Big congrats to our Everest climbers.  Everyone on our team summited Everest; clients, guides, and sherpas who began the summit push here departing from Camp 2.  100% success!  A total of thirty (30) members, not counting our small private team which summitted Everest on May 15th with nine (9) members.  So, another very successful season!  We’ve just got to get down to base camp safely tomorrow and then celebrations are in order.

All’s well here at Camp 2 on Everest and everyone’s in good spirits and doing well.

We’ll check in soon!

(photo from the Madison Mountaineering archives)

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Top of the World – Summit Success!!

Woohoo!  Our Everest and Lhotse expedition team all summited Mount Everest today!  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, calls in from Mount Everest’s South Col high camp with the happy details:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse expedition team.  Today is May 20th.

Today we summitted Mount Everest!  The whole team:  all nine (9) clients, four (4) guides, and our whole team of Sherpas summitted Mount Everest today around 7:00 to 8:00am.

We had some great views from up there, good route conditions, we had the whole route to ourselves, hardly another climber up there, and we made our way back down to high camp.  The whole team made it safely back to high camp by mid-afternoon.

We’ve been resting up and we’re getting ready to go for our Lhotse attempt.  A few of us are going to set off tonight around midnight and head off towards Mount Lhotse.  The rest of the team will sleep here at the South Col Camp 4 and pack up tomorrow morning, and head down to Camp 2.  So, we’ll all be heading down to Camp 2 eventually tomorrow afternoon.

Great job today to our whole team!  100% success!  We all made it up to the summit of Everest and down safe.  I’m very proud of this team.  I couldn’t be happier.  They earned it.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed for Lhotse tonight.  Hopefuly it works out for those of us going for the double header – Everest/Lhotse combination.

So, checking in for Madison Mountaineering.  We’ll check in tomorrow.

(photo from the Madison Mountaineering archives)

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/5 Comments/by

Summit Push – Preparing to Head Up!

Camp 4

The Everest and Lhotse expedition team is staged to head up from Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft) to the summit very soon now!  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in via Garmin inReach Mini with this brief update:

Good morning from C4! Having brkfast now, inst oatmeal then dehy eggs, yum! But hardly any wind!..everyone doing well at the moment:) we’re the only team here! Resting up to probably head up tonight around 1:00am.

(photo from the Madison Mountaineering archives)

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Summit Push – Camp 4

The route up the Lhotse Face above Camp 3, over the Yellow Band and left over the Geneva Spur (📸: @terray_s)

The team is safely in place on Mount Everest’s South Col at Camp 4.  It’s now just over 24 hours before they will start out for the summit – weather permitting.  Everest guide Terray Sylvester sends today’s expedition dispatch via Garmin inReach Mini:

Hello from Camp 4 (7900m/25,919ft) on the South Col of Mount Everest!

Today we had beautiful weather as we moved up from Camp 3 (7230m/23,720ft). There were no other teams on the route. So we moved efficiently without traffic jams and made great time. Along the way we had spectacular views back down the Western Cwm and of some of Everest’s giant neighbors, including Cho Oyu.

We plan to rest here tomorrow before heading for the summit.

We’ll be in touch!

(photo from the Madison Mountaineering archives, 📸: @terray_s)

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Summit Push – Camp 3

Tents at Camp 3 and the Western Cwm below it (📸: @terray_s)

The Everest and Lhotse expedition team has climbed from Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft) up the Lhotse Face to Camp 3 (7230m/23,720ft) on their summit push.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in via Garmin inReach Mini with this brief update:

Greetings from C3. Everyone made it up here today and doing great! Planning to climb to C4 tmrw. A little windy but all good.

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Summit Push – C2

Mount Everest and Lhotse (📸: @terray_s)

On their summit push, the Everest and Lhotse expedition team strategically took another rest day at Camp 2 (6500m/21,325ft).  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in via Garmin inReach Mini with this brief update:

All is well in C2. Our main team is planning to move to C3 tmrw, targeting the 20th. Kenton & team all safely in EBC.

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Plan to head for the summit tonight!

Camp 2 on Ama Dablam

Our Ama Dablam team has set the plan to head for the summit tonight!  Here expedition leader Garrett Madison with the team dispatch from 6000m at Camp 2:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in from Camp 2 on Ama Dablam.  I’m in the tent here with Jon and J.B.  Tonight is our summit night.  Next door is Morgan and Shine and our Sherpa team is not far away.  It’s November 7th at 5:30 P.M.

Our plan is to have some dinner, go to sleep, and wake up around midnight to set off for the summit.  Hopefully we’ll have good weather and route conditions and get lucky.

We’re looking forward to a beautifull day up there.  So, we’ll check in when we get back from our summit day tomorrow.  All’s well here at Camp 2 on Ama Dablam!

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 daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

/0 Comments/by

The Summit Push is On!

Camp 1 and Ama Dablam

The summit push is on and the team headed up from base camp to Camp 1 (5792m/19,000ft) today.  Garrett Madison provides today’s expedition dispatch via a somewhat garbled and truncated sat phone call:

Hello, this is Garrett Madison calling in for the Ama Dablam expedition team.  Today is November 6th and today we left base camp to begin our summit push.  Our summit rotation day one means we climbed from base camp up to Camp 1 today, gained about 4,000 vertical feet, and the team did great today.  Everyone – J.B., Morgan, Shine, and Jon – all did really well.  Myself and Aang Phurba… [garbled] …team… [garbled] …Sherpas… [transmission dropped]

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 daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

/0 Comments/by

Kilimanjaro Summit Push is ON!

Karanga Camp on Kilimanjaro

Our Kilimanjaro team is just finishing up breakfast and getting ready to leave Kosovo high camp and head for the summit!  The Summit Push is on!  You can follow the team in real-time with our location tracking map:  https://madisonmountaineering.com/maps/kilimanjaro-2021-07

Godspeed Kili team, godspeed!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering photo archive)

If climbing Kilimanjaro 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 on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my Madison Mountaineering flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

– our Garmin inReach Mini powered real-time tracking map:

/0 Comments/by