Summit Push Archives

Ama Dablam 2020

Summit Push – Camp 1

First day of the summit push, the Ama Dablam team made the move from base camp to Camp 1. Courtesy of his Instagram feed, team member @moealthani provides the recap of the day in this expedition dispatch:

Hi guys! This is Moe Al Thani calling you from Camp 1 (5800m). It’s freezing cold, I’m wearing my big down jacket, enjoying the most beautiful sunset in the world. Behind me is Ama Dablam, it’s so close I can almost touch it but at the same time it seem so far.

Just want to let you all know that we’re doing amazing, we’re doing great! The oxygen and the air is thin, but we’re all strong over here. So, we are looking forward our move to Camp 2 tomorrow and we’ll keep you posted!

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:

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

https://madisonmountaineering.com/maps/ama-dablam-2020/

November 9, 2020/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ama Dablam 2020

The Summit Push is On!

Heading around the puja to begin the summit push

The summit push is on! Garrett and the Ama Dablam team just left base camp moments ago heading for Camp 1. You can follow their progress on this real-time map: https://madisonmountaineering.com/maps/ama-dablam-2020/. Here’s Garrett’s message as they were leaving base camp this morning:

Well, it’s November 9th and we are off this morning on our Summit Rotation for Ama Dablam!

We just had breakfast, packed up, and walked around the puja – doing one last ceremony as we head off here up towards Camp 1. It’ll be a six hour, seven hour hike today to Camp 1. And then the plan is Camp 2 tomorrow night and then wake up around midnight and go for the summit!

So hopefully, we’ll be back down here in a few day’s time. All’s well here and we’re looking forward to gettin’ up on the mountain!

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:

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

https://madisonmountaineering.com/maps/ama-dablam-2020/

November 9, 2020/0 Comments/by Garrett

K2 2019

Summit Push Aborted

The season’s snowfall on the upper slopes of K2 has won out, and unfortunately, the summit will have to wait for another year. Today the team made the prudent decision to abort the summit push. While one team member and his climbing Sherpa partner ascended to Camp 4 to spend the night, the remainder of the team descend from Camp 3 and are doing well in base camp. We expect everyone to be in base camp tomorrow. Here’s Garrett’s update:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the K2 climbing expedition. We made a great attempt on K2 and unfortunately the snow conditions were just too unstable, too deep, and the avalanche risk too high for us to climb up past Camp 4 into the Bottleneck and the Traverse area. Magnificent job by all pulling together as a team and working hard and in position for a summit, but The Mountain said no this time. So, we’ve respected the mountain and we’ve come down to base camp. All’s well here, and we’ll check in soon.

Descending the fixed ropes after we made the decision to turn around

Descending the Cesen route on K2

July 19, 2019/4 Comments/by Garrett

K2 2019

K2 Cesen Camp 3

The team made the move up to K2 Cesen Camp 3 today under beautiful conditions. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, has this update:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the K2 climbing team. Today we climbed from Camp 2 (6311m) on the Cesen route up to Camp 3 (7013m). Everyone did good today. We had nice weather. And we arrived Camp 3, settled into our tents, and now melting some snow for water, getting ready to have some dinner soon. We’re looking at the options for tomorrow. But ah, beautiful views here today, spectacular visas, looking out over the Karakoram peaks in China and Pakistan. So, very happy to be here. Everyone’s doing well. Check in soon.

K2 Camp 3 (7000m)

The incredible view from Camp 3 on the K2 Cesen route

Hanging out at K2 Camp 3 on the Cesen

July 18, 2019/1 Comment/by Garrett

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

Team at Cesen Camp 2

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