Tag Archive for: Tingri

Back in Advanced Base Camp

Photo pulled from the Madison Mountaineering archives.

The Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu expedition team returned to their advanced base camp today which sits at the foot of the climbing route. After spending the last few days at lower elevations, the team is psyched and ready for a possible summit attempt in the coming days! The team will evaluate weather and route conditions before starting up the mountain. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this update from Cho Oyu:

Hello, this is Garrett checking in for the Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu expedition team – today’s October 7th.

We have returned to advanced base camp. We left Tingri this morning at 8:00 a.m., and drove up to the trailhead and started trekking at 9:00 a.m and got into camp about 6:30-7:00 p.m. this evening.

So it was a good day! We’re glad to be here, and a lot of snow here in our advanced base camp. But, everybody’s doing well. We’re looking forward to a good night’s rest!
Nice to be reacquainted here with our Sherpa team. They’ve done a great job holding down camp here the last few days, and we’re going to see what lies ahead! 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:

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Waiting to move back to ABC

Waiting out the storm in Tingri!

The Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu expedition team is in Tingri, waiting out the snow storm that hit the Himalayas over the last few days. A huge shoutout to our Sherpa team who has been keeping the camp in order! Without them, these expeditions would not be possible. The team is looking forward to moving back up to camp again soon! Once back in advanced base camp, our sights will turn to the summit with the highly anticipated summit rotation set to start when weather and route conditions allow. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Tibet:

Hello, this is Garrett checking in for the Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu (8,188m/26,864ft) expedition team.

We are down in Tingri at about 14,500 feet. We dropped down a couple of days ago from advanced base camp to wait out the big snowstorm that hit the Himalayas the last couple of days. Sounds like our advanced base camp got about four feet of snow. So we’re very thankful that our Sherpa team was up and taking care of our tents to make sure they didn’t collapse under the big snowfall.

We’re going to try to head up to advanced base camp tomorrow if we can to rejoin our Sherpa team there and set our focus on the climb of the upper mountain.

So fingers crossed we get some good weather and good route conditions in the days ahead, and 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:

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Resting up for the summit rotation!

Cho Oyu

The Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu expedition team is back in Tingri resting up and getting ready to make their summit rotation! With some weather expected to roll in over the weekend, the team is taking advantage of the lower altitude to rest, breathe in some extra oxygen, and enjoy a few acclimatization hikes. Once the weather clears, the plan is to head back up to Advanced Base Camp on Monday and continue the climb! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this dispatch from Tibet:

Hello! This is Garrett checking in for the Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu expedition team.

We have dropped down from Advanced Base Camp to Tingri at about 14,000 feet to wait out the big snow storm that’s expected to hit later tonight for a couple of days over the weekend. So, our plan is to hunker down here in Tingri and enjoy the lower elevation, soak up the oxygen, get in a few hikes, and then we’ll head back up to Advanced Base Camp on Monday to resume our expedition climb.

Hopefully we get lucky with some good conditions up there on the upper mountain! We had a good first rotation last week – couple nights at Camp 1, we climbed higher up towards Camp 2. Beautiful views up there, but we decided to drop back down to rest up. Fingers crossed for good weather next week and hopefully a summit attempt!

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:

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Hello, from Tibet!

The view after crossing the border into Tibet! (Photo by Chris Thompson)

We’re excited to share that the Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu team is in Tibet! The team received their visas last week after a wonderful few days of trekking in the Langtang region. That said, they were all psyched and ready for the next part of the journey into Tibet, and onwards to Cho Oyu. After an adventurous border crossing by road, the team settled in for their first nights stay in Tingri. Here, they’ll take a rest day and get prepared for the move into their base camp! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this exciting dispatch from Tibet:

Greetings! This is Garrett checking in for the Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu (8,188m/26,864ft) expedition team.

We are in Tingri (4348m/14,268ft)! We crossed the boarder from Nepal into Tibet today. It was a very exciting crossing by road with lots of landslides we had to walk around on the way, but we made it in!

We’re very happy to be up on the Tibetan Plateau here in Tibet, China and moved into our hotel here in Tingri. We had a nice dinner and are going to take a rest day tomorrow, do some hiking as we get prepared to move up to base camp (4,800m/15,750ft) here in a few days time.

Everyone’s doing well and we’re really excited to be here and have the expedition underway! We’ll check in soon.

Here we go! Across the Nepal - Tibet border (Photo by Chris Thompson)

Here we go! Across the Nepal – Tibet border (Photo by Chris Thompson)

The team waiting at the border crossing (photo by Chris Thompson)

The team waiting at the border crossing (photo by Chris Thompson)

The team fueling up with Tibetan cuisine! (Photo by Chris Thompson)

The team fueling up with Tibetan cuisine! (Photo by Chris Thompson)

Navigating a landslide on the way to Tingri (photo by Chris Thompson)

Navigating a landslide on the way to Tingri (photo by Chris Thompson)

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:

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Cho Oyu Summit Success!

Summit photo on the top of Cho Oyu!

After several years off the mountain, it comes with great pleasure to share that 100% of our 2024 Cho Oyu expedition team has successfully reached the summit of the world’s sixth-highest peak! We are so proud of the team for their hard work and determination after a challenging season weather-wise. A HUGE shoutout and thank you goes out to our Sherpa team – these feats would not be possible without you. We’ve returned safely to base camp and will begin our departure home soon! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this celebratory dispatch from Cho Oyu base camp:

Hello! This is Garrett checking in for the Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu (8188m/26,864ft) expedition team!

We are back down in base camp today and yesterday, October 7th, we summited Cho Oyu, the sixth-highest mountain in the world. All team members made it – 100% success! (I) couldn’t be more proud of our team. Everyone did awesome! We were so lucky with the weather. We had a beautiful, bluebird day, views in all directions (with) great views of Everest (8848m/29,032ft), Lhotse (8516m/27,940ft), Nuptse (7861m/25,791ft), Makalu (8485m/27,838ft), Shishapangma (8027m/26,335ft). Just so happy that this climb worked out! It was a little tenuous there last week with the big storm, all the snow, and the season being delayed about a week here in Tibet. But, all is well!

We’re packing up base camp today. We’re going to start trekking out tomorrow, Jeeps down to Tingri (4348m/14,268ft), and onwards to Lhasa (3,656m/11,995ft). There’s no land border crossings back into Nepal open at this point after the massive flooding, they’re all washed out. So, we are going to be flying back from Lhasa! So, very excited about that.

It’s a beautiful day here in base camp! We’re doing well, and happy, and looking forward to getting home soon.

High Camp with otherworldly views of the surrounding Himalayas!

High Camp with otherworldly views of the surrounding Himalayas!

Views of Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse from high on the mountain!

Views of Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse from high on the mountain!

Evening light high in the alpine.

Morning light high in the alpine.

The team on our summit rotation under blue skies!

The team on our summit rotation under blue skies!

Climbing up on the summit rotation!

Climbing up on the summit rotation!

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:

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Moving up on Cho Oyu!

Advanced Base Camp earlier in the expedition.

Here we go! The Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu expedition team is ready to begin their summit push. Well-rested and highly motivated, the team plans to depart from their advanced base camp soon to Camp 1 and will continue climbing up to the higher camps in the days following en route toward the summit. Good weather and route conditions will be important for our summit push, which we’ll continue to assess as we move on up the mountain. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this pre-summit push dispatch from Tibet:

Hello! This is Garrett checking in for the Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu (8188m/26,864ft) expedition – today is October 3rd.

We have been back at base camp a few days after a good rest down in Tingri (4348m/14,268ft) and we are ready to make our summit push! We’re going to head up tomorrow to Camp 1, and next day from there up to Camp 2, and next day maybe go for the summit. So, fingers crossed for good weather, good route conditions. We’ll be checking in as soon as we get down off the mighty Cho Oyu, sixth-highest mountain in the world!

All is well here at base camp and we look forward to checking 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:

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Cho Oyu team arrives in Tibet!

The Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu expedition team after arriving in Tibet!

The Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu expedition team has officially arrived in Tibet! This long-awaited expedition is off to a great start so far and spirits are high after getting one step closer to reaching the mountain. We’ll continue our journey tomorrow and will be arriving in base camp soon! Expedition leader, Garrett Madison checks in with this celebratory dispatch from Tibet:

Hello! This is Garrett checking in for the Madison Mountaineering Cho Oyu (8188m/26,864ft) expedition team. Today is September 12th and today we entered Tibet!

We drove from Kathmandu (1400m/4,600ft) and across the border and got to our hotel here in the village of Kerung (2774m/9,101ft) in Tibet. We’re really happy that everything has gone perfectly so far and according to our schedule! Our Sherpa team is with us and we’re excited to head to the town of Tingri (4348m/ 14,268ft) tomorrow where we’ll be a couple of nights acclimatizing, and then the following day to Chinese Base Camp (4900m/16,076ft) at Cho Oyu! So, the team’s doing great and we’re so happy to be here. (We’re) really excited for the climb ahead.

We’re also following our team over on Manaslu (8156m/26,759ft) led by Terray Sylvester as they’re up on the mountain doing their first rotation above base camp! So, having a good fall season in the Himalayas and looking forward to checking 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:

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