Tag Archive for: Summit Success

Successful end to another season on Aconcagua!

The team atop the highest point in all of the America's!

It’s been another great season on Aconcagua for us! Our teams enjoyed spending time on the highest peak in the Andes and pushing to new heights. While not every climber we had made the summit, all had a fun and safe experience on the highest peak in the southern and western hemispheres. We pride ourselves on our small groups, high quality guiding / logistics and attention to detail throughout our program on Aconcagua. As noted in the recent Explorer’s Web Aconcagua article, the mountain is sometimes dangerous and fatal, so should not be underestimated. We look forward to returning to Aconcagua next season for more good times in the Andes mountains!

The whole experience you’ve assembled is just a total class act! So pleased to have this opportunity to spend some time with you on the mountain!” – Bill Chapman, 2023 Aconcagua

Above the clouds after an alpine start on summit day!

Above the clouds after an alpine start on summit day!

Breaking to refuel with food and water!

Breaking to refuel with food and water!

The camp hangout spot sitting below Aconcagua and alpenglow on the upper mountain!

The camp hangout spot sitting below Aconcagua and alpenglow on the upper mountain!

Guides, Garrett Madison, Ed Viesturs and Cacho Beiza working hard!

Guides, Garrett Madison, Ed Viesturs and Cacho Beiza working hard!

Taking in the views above camp!

Taking in the views above camp!

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

Aconcagua Summit!

Photo pulled from Madison Mountaineering Archive.

We’re ecstatic to announce that the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition team successfully reached the summit of South America’s tallest peak and have returned safely and soundly to their comforts in Camp 3! While it was a long day, the team had great weather on the ascent, and was able to enjoy a hot meal before crawling into their tents this evening. Expedition guide, Ed Viesturs, checks in with this dispatch after a successful summit on Aconcagua:

Hello everyone! This is Ed Viesturs reporting for Madison Mountaineering. We’re back at Camp 3 (5989m/19,650ft) now, we had an amazing day!

We reached the summit (6961m/22,837ft) today after an eight and a half hour climb. We had spectacular weather – it was sunny, very little wind, and once we reached the summit, the afternoon (inaudible) kind of rolled in and we got a little snow and it got a little spicy. But all in all, it was a great climb! 13 hours round trip and we’re safe and sound back at Camp 3. We just had a nice hot meal, called guamen, and tomorrow we’re heading down back to base camp (4367m/14,327ft).

Thanks for checking in!

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

Summits all around on Aconcagua!

The whole team on the summit of Aconcagua!

It’s with great pleasure to announce that the entire Madison Mountaineering team reached the summit of Aconcagua last week! After returning to Mendoza from the mountain, the team celebrated with one last dinner in Argentina – also celebrating the birthday of one of the team members! Their meal was well-deserved and served as a great way to conclude the expedition, sharing the memories and friendships gained that are sure to be carried on after everyone said their ‘goodbyes.’

While it was a long summit day, the team made strong work on their ascent, and ultimately all stood on the summit before returning down safely. Below is the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua Summiteers List from Monday, January 16:

# Name Country
1 Mr. Javier “Cacho” Beiza Argentina
2 Mr. Thierry Dhers USA
3 Mr. Naveen “Nav” Kotecha USA
4 Mr. Rein Madissoon Estonia
5 Ms. Rein Madissoon Estonia
6 Mr. Frank McCarthy Ireland
7 Mr. Nicholas Pangallo Canada
8 Mr. Seth Sklare USA
9 Mr. Peter Veloo USA
10 Mr. Bruno Vizzaccaro Canada

We are grateful for the experiences shared and new friends made over the course of the last few weeks! Now, we’re looking forward to doing it all over again as we kick off another Aconcagua expedition on January 25th with guides Garrett Madison, Cacho Beiza, and legendary mountaineer, Ed Viesturs!

Stay tuned for more…

The team during their summit push under blue skies on Aconcagua!

The team during their summit push under blue skies on Aconcagua!

A well deserved celebration dinner after 100% summit success on Aconcagua!

A well deserved celebration dinner after 100% summit success on Aconcagua!

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

Everyone Safely Back to Base Camp

On the summit of Mount Everest - May 20, 2022

All of the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse team is safely back to base camp.  Expedition leader Garrett Madison calls in with today’s expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Everest and Lhotse expedition.  Today is Sunday, the 22nd of May.

We got down from Camp 2 today.   Our whole team made it down to base camp and we’re all back safe in Everest Base Camp.

We’re looking forward to heading home after a very successful expedition.  We had thirty (30) climbers reach the summit of Everest, that’s nine (9) clients, four (4) guides, seventeen (17) Nepal sherpa.  Another four (4) of us reached the summit of Lhotse, along with three (3) sherpa, seven (7) total.  And, of course, our private team summited Everest on May 15th with nine (9) members.  So it’s been a very successful here.

We’re just so fortunate and thankful that we had great weather and great route conditions and everyone had a good expirence and made it home safely.  So, we’re looking forward to packing up here tomorrow and making our way down the Khumbu Valley and back towards home.

We’ll check in soon!

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

Lhotse summits!

We are pleased to announce that the Lhotse climbing team of the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Everest/Lhotse expedition successfully reached the summit of Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft) on May 21, 2022, between approximately 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM NPT (local time).

Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain in the world at 8,516m (27,940 ft), after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga.

# Name Country
1 Mr. Robert “Josh” Garrison 🇺🇸 United States
2 Mr. Cameron Kenny 🇺🇸 United States
3 Mr. Chase Merriam 🇺🇸 United States
4 Mr. Garrett Madison 🇺🇸 United States
5 Mr. Siddi Bhadur Tamang 🇳🇵 Nepal
6 Mr. Sange Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
7 Mr. Lakpa Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
/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

Everest team summits!

We are pleased to announce that the main team of the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Everest expedition successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest (8848m/29,029ft) on May 20, 2022, between approximately 7:00 AM and 8:00 AM NPT (local time).

Congratulations to the entire team and a heartfelt thank you to our climbing sherpa and all of the expedition support staff.  You are the ones who make it happen and it can’t be done without you.

# Name Country
1 Mr. Todd Ammerman 🇺🇸 United States
2 Mr. Carter Beck 🇺🇸 United States
3 Mr. Dwight Crow 🇺🇸 United States
4 Mr. Robert “Josh” Garrison 🇺🇸 United States
5 Ms. Saskia Jacobson 🇺🇸 United States
6 Mr. Cameron Kenny 🇺🇸 United States
7 Mr. Chase Merriam 🇺🇸 United States
8 Mr. Roi Negri 🇮🇱 Israel
9 Ms. Sara Safari 🇺🇸 United States
10 Mr. Garrett Madison 🇺🇸 United States
11 Mr. Robert Smith 🇮🇪 Ireland
12 Mr. Terray Sylvester 🇺🇸 United States
13 Mr. Javier “Cacho” Beiza 🇦🇷 Argentina
14 Mr. Aang Phurba Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
15 Mr. Siddi Bhadur Tamang 🇳🇵 Nepal
16 Mr. Kam Dorchi Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
17 Mr. Ming Dorchi Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
18 Mr. Rinji Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
19 Mr. Shere Thapa Magar 🇳🇵 Nepal
20 Mr. Pasang Bhote 🇳🇵 Nepal
21 Mr. Temba Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
22 Mr. Chiring Bhote 🇳🇵 Nepal
23 Mr. Sange Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
24 Mr. Lakpa Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
25 Mr. Pemba Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
26 Mr. Kami Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
27 Mr. Mingma Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
28 Mr. Dhana Tamang 🇳🇵 Nepal
29 Mr. Dawa Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
30 Mr. Chheder Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
/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

First team summits!

We are pleased to announce that the first team of the 2022 Madison Mountaineering Everest expedition successfully reached the summit of Mount Everest (8848m/29,029ft) on May 15, 2022, at approximately 4:25 AM NPT (local time).

Congratulations to the whole team and especially Mr. Kenton Cool who has now made 16 summits, more than any other foreign (i.e. non-Nepali) climber.

# Name Country
1 Ms. Rebecca Louise Smith 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
2 Mr. Elia Saikaly 🇨🇦 Canada
3 Mr. Kenton Cool 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
4 Mr. Pasang Kaji (PK) Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
5 Mr. Dorji Gyalzen Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
6 Mr. Chheten Dorjee Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
7 Mr. Chowang Dorjee Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
8 Mr. Kami Rita Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
9 Mr. Dawa Jangbu Sherpa 🇳🇵 Nepal
/1 Comment/by
,

Summit Success on Lobuche East!

Topping out on Lobuche East

Meanwhile down valley in the Khumbu, our Lobuche East climbers reached the summit and safely descended to the village of Lobuche!  Congratulations team!!  Madison Mountaineering guide Scott Webster reports in from Lobuche village with this recap of summit day:

Successful ascent of Lobuche East this morning (April 15, 2022). The team set out from high camp at 0200 and reached the summit (6119m/20,075ft) at 0730. The weather couldn’t have been any better with clear blue skies and hardly a breath of wind! After descending back to high camp we packed up and returned to Lobuche village. The clients then helicoptered back to Kathmandu! From the summit of a 6000m Himalayan peak to Kathmandu in less than 10 hours!

On the summit of Lobuche East!

On the summit of Lobuche East!

Heading up from high camp on Lobuche East

Heading up from high camp on Lobuche East

Nearing the summit of Lobuche East

Nearing the summit of Lobuche East

Climber Katherine Crociata and Tenji Sherpa on the summit of Lobuche East

Climber Katherine Crociata and Tenji Sherpa on the summit of Lobuche East

Topping out on Lobuche East

Topping out on Lobuche East

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:

/0 Comments/by