Vinson Massif: Phase 1- Kick Off

Across the past few months, I've had some friends ask to provide overall mechanics of the Vinson Climb and explain in greater detail what I thought could be broken down into four phases: (1) Kick off- the effort to travel to Antarctica from Punta Arenas; (2) Preparation and travel to Vinson Massif Base Camp; (3) The climb itself; and (4) The experience from Vinson Base through return to Punta Arenas.  This post is dedicated to Phase 1- gearing up in Punta Arenas and all the excitement surrounding the experience of getting to Antarctica.

 

Happy Thanksgiving from Antarctica!

ALE's charters depart from Punta Arenas based on weather window, where for safety reasons the flights will not go if gusts exceed 30 knots or Union Glacier’s bulletproof blue ice runway isn’t relatively free of snow.  One of only three glacier runways globally, wheeled medium lift planes land in the direction of the wind- primarily to limit the issue of crosswinds and in a manner where flights can get in and out. To be clear, this isn’t Denver International where you miss one plane and there’s another one in two hours.. Union Glacier’s transcontinental ‘airport’  is weather dependent and about as rugged as you’ll find this side of Theater. When word comes, you go.. if it doesn’t, you don’t.  It’s basically that simple, and fortunately for us word arrived the day after our orientation.



Antarctica and Union Glacier maps sketched in my journal during hours of down time

A few minutes before 06:00, the gentle bingling of my alarm wrenched me out of one of those coma-like sleeps that leave you waking up in exactly the same position you passed out in.  A few minutes later the established forecasting window would begin for flights to/from the White Continent, and if the call came we might only have 15 minutes of strip alert to get out the door.  I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and quickly had everything bundled into one backpack/one gear bag for Antarctica and one daypack full of civilian clothes to leave in Punta Arenas. Leaving one bag back provided memories of Everest where a duffel full of clothes stayed at Yak & Yeti for a solid two months. Upon return to Kathmandu, I found that losing 30 lbs from climbing and endless bowls of dalbat let me needing parachute cord to keep my jeans on.  Vinson is a much shorter trip, but the parallels were there and the memories made me all the more excited to get going on this particular adventure.

But then the waiting game began. 6 became 7.  7 became 8.  At 08:30, after pacing around my shoebox-sized room listening to Chilean TV and growing bored of testing the theory of water spiraling down the drain (does the Coriolis Effect make water spiral down the drain in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere from the Northern Hemisphere?  Let’s discuss), I hiked up to the top floor of our hotel for late breakfast and met Michael, always in good spirits but looking like he’d been there for quite some time. We chatted for all of 30 minutes over endless cups of coffee, entirely convinced the flight wasn’t going until Ozzie bursts in with a huge grin, saying “hey guys, we have 20 minutes!” Wow, it’s actually happening! Minutes later, we are in the lobby settling up and the ALE busses appear.

With great excitement we board and the collective group drive back out to the airport where we jump off, head through security and then sit tight in a holding area until our plane is ready for boarding. It’s here that I bump into Mostafa, one of my older climbing buddies who is meandering through the terminal, and when I see him I do a double take: “Mostafa!”  He wheels around, does a double take of his own and it’s on- we spend the next 30 minutes in the terminal connecting and catching up on things from the past seven years- family updates, friends in far-off places and recent conquests. He’s heading to Antarctica to do the Messner Traverse- a challenging and exhausting ~5 week ski evolution that tests the limits over 566 miles before wrapping up at the South Pole. He's been delayed in Punta Arenas for a solid week waiting for a weather window- or more passengers to arrive- to get to Antarctica and on his way.  Our group may have tipped the scales in his favor: there are 32 mountaineers, a handful off to see Emperor Penguins and a few Ski the Last Degree folks heading down as well, making it a rich group of interesting and intrepid adventurers off on individual adventures of a lifetime.

The bus slowly rolls past the Illushyn-76 we'll take on the way out, a vestige of the Cold War developed by the then-Soviet Union as a medium sized transport with four jets coupled to oversized gull wings providing high lift on short runways.  It’s as hardy a plane as you’ll find, designed and built in the mantra of most things Soviet- Make it simple, make it durable, make it last. In Iraq we saw dozens of these planes fly through Theater with no issues and even a decade later they still take to the air, successfully delivering payloads in some of the most challenging places on earth. They may be piloted by a bunch of grumbly and stern-faced Russians, but they do the job reliably, consistently and with an iconic design silhouette. Once you see one, you are drawn to the attractive shape and simply can’t take your eyes off it.

We do, however....  this time. Our mission is taking us to another bird, one that was unveiled to us only yesterday. This plane, a Boeing 757, is owned and operated by Icelandair, who know a thing or two about getting into and out of icy and snow-covered runways globally. It is souped up for the task at hand: two specialized Rolls Royce engines, high tread tires and outfitted with a crew that’s specialized to landing in these sorts of climes. Ultimately, this is a proof-of-concept.. no commercial passenger planes have landed in Antarctica- ever. Some have crashed, but until this plane conducted one single proof-of-concept flight a few days earlier, none have ever gone Feet Dry in Antarctica and delivered passengers. Hi, historic moment. Not quite the same as the hardships, level of effort and duration of Cook, Amundsen and Shackleton, but in the evolution of human history and technological progress I’m pretty excited deep down that we (the human race that is) continue to stretch the bounds of Possible. And with that, make places that just a century ago were so inhospitable that now we can land a commercial airliner where previously that was unthinkable.  Not surprisingly, my feelings and opinions are not universally shared, but to each their own and I’m proud that not only is the capability there, but that we live in a world where we can discuss such things openly.

Boarding in Punta Arenas

With nervous excitement we arrive at the 757, parked a distance out on the Punta Arenas grinder and watch as one after another grab packs and board the plane. ALE have provided one last barrier to any baddies hitching a ride with us: we step in an antibacterial "soup" to cleanse the treads of our boots before boarding the plane.  Sure, there are plenty of other places for hobo vermin or bacteria to hitch a ride in our stuff, and at least the company is trying.  I get the whole Life Finds a Way to Survive message, but given how insane the conditions are down there what unexposed bacteria could make it but a minute anyway.  Then again, maybe Europeans thought the same thing before infesting the New World with rats so I get the point and happily go along with the cessation plan.

Step, step. Squishy feet, up the boarding stairway we go. I stroll down the aisle to find a seat and see Mostafa smiling and offering the seat next to him, which a quickly accept. We sit back and continue our catch-up while the Drake Passage, filled with angry slate green seas drifts by far below and we wing South toward remote, barren encased ice. It’s a great, enriching conversation that harkens back to 2008 when first crossing paths with Mostafa at Fire & Ice in Kathmandu. Yet here we are, together on a plane loaded with the smallest group of highly experienced climbers and explorers cruising over the Antarctic Peninsula and embarking on another journey to the territory ahead.

 

Looking down on the Drake Passage hidden below the clouds

The flight passes quickly and before long a Flight Attendant comes on the intercom, announcing that cabin temperature will drop as low as possible to match the -20 surface temperatures. It's finally time to start donning our gear.  Once the door opens at Union Glacier, we'll be in the thick of it, so we protect ourselves from the elements and dress in Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man fashion. Struggling, twisting and breaking a sweat because the plane temp will only drop to 50 degrees, we don the last of our protective layers while our pilots start the slow approach to Union Glacier and an endless landscape of white.

Within minutes mountains come in to view, if barely. I'm reminded of the scene from Aliens where a dropship full of Colonial Marines descend down to LV-426 and the terraforming colony drifts into view. As cameras snap on both sides of the aisle and fifty sets of eyes stare unblinking at passing terrain, the ground comes up to meet us. The weight of knowing that this is to be our existence for an unknown set of days smacks of reality.  Readying for the challenges, successes and failures ahead, we prepare for the hostilities of weather coupled with drive and teamwork to succeed in the objective that has brought us all here.

Gearing up with 30 minutes flight time to go

The plane slams down and for a moment tilts sideways, bounces several more times and finally glides to a halt. "Great. We came all this way to die in a plane crash" definitely crossed our minds but soon we are all relieved that the landing is over, and the 757 slowly taxis to our disembarkation point. The door opens, cold air blows through the length of the cabin and we shuffle off the plane one at a time into the coldness of what is to be our home over the next several weeks.  It's a surreal if not highly captivating landscape. We find ourselves nestled in a series of bowls that protect us from winds that made landing at the previous ALE runway much more complex, as we come to learn. We mill around for a bit, grab our gear and board specialized 4x4 or 6x6 trucks that take us the ~10km from runway to Union Glacier base camp.

Final socializing before departing Union Glacier runway for base camp

The driving process  'downtown' takes 30 minutes, but this time goes by quickly. Those of us experiencing our first trip here have eyes glued to the windows, looking out at the mountains passing by and stark beauty of this remote place. Tre-c, our driver and who will become one of my closer friends on this trip basically pilots our truck to camp while pointing out a bunch of highlights and landmarks along the way. One of the more entertaining items is the 'tree' located a few miles out from camp, made out of metal and designed to look like a pine tree silhouette. It's completely out of place but is welcoming in all it's quirkiness. 

Upon arrival at camp, we walk the camp boundary receiving an orientation on the do's and don'ts of life at Union Glacier. This is a highly interesting hour- we learn about how solar and jet fuel power just about everything in camp, how the team working here have developed a highly efficient set of protocols to make life not just sustainable, but comfortable even through the harshest of conditions. The camp is built up every Austral Spring, and torn down every Austral Fall. Each ounce of trash, barrel of waste, gallon of fuel is accounted for and our time here highly regulated under ALE's ability to function through the Antarctic Treaty System.  It's a highly fascinating process that we watched during a video shown on our first night at Union Glacier. I tried to find the video on YouTube and came up dry, if I do find it down the road I'll be sure to hang it here in this posting because it shows not only the amount of effort that goes into setting up the camp but also the detail and thought that has been built on 20+ years of experience getting people to/from this place safely and securely.

Update: Here's the Video. Thanks for the link Todd, you rock!


Getting oriented as our gear arrives



Medical and comm shelters with skiway in the distance

Tent City- Clamshells for rent at Hotel Union Glacier

Simple instructions in how to use the commode at Union Glacier

Lecture time in one of the Union Glacier dining tents

 

Finally, it's time for bed! We had a great meal that left me stuffed to the gills and I'm pretty excited to crawl into the tent Michael and I share to pass straight out.  Looking out across the miles of ice being scoured by Katabatic Winds, I hoof it over to the comm tent to call Maggie- it's Thanksgiving and the families are starting to gather for turkey, stuffing and all sort of great food. Earlier, I had purchased an Iridium pre-pay card that allowed me 30 minutes of calling time and I was thrilled to get through, report on the day's progress and more importantly hear about how things at home were going.  Everyone was in great spirits and after a great conversation, crunch crunch crunch  across super dry snow and make my way back to our tent and the relative comfort of my -60 bag.  In no time, I drift off to the gentle knocking of tent flaps blowing in the breeze, snow batting the tent like grains of sugar and the comforting knowledge that I have the absolute best support network manning the Home Fires several thousand miles away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vinson Massif: Getting There

Success!! Our team topped out 05 December somewhere in the late afternoon (~17:00 local time) and having the support of friends and family back home while climbing at the bottom of the planet made it easy to focus on the task at hand. Maggie was fantastic in posting updates and being an unwavering pillar of strength, each time I had a chance to call back it was awesome to know she was keeping the home fires burning. I couldn't have done it without her.

Overall, our team also couldn’t have asked for a better route and experience- the first of five climbing rotations that ALE(Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions) establishes each Austral season, we were more or less traveling through spring-like weather (or as close as I guess you’d get to that) composed of moderate storms, snow, winds and dips in temperatures that other climb rotations don’t experience.. or, not with the frequency that Rotation 1 gets at least.  As the first rotation, we established boot pack across miles of glacier, built campsite platforms and blazed a trail that future teams will fall in on this season. All during snowstorms, howling winds that left fingers and faces at serious risk of frostbite and low visibility that thanks to an overwhelmingly stark environment easily blended sky with ground. It’s as remote and hostile an environment as I have ever experienced in nature.. subzero temperatures that dipped as low as minus 90 and snow bridges crossing hundred foot wide crevasse. Yet, there is an unbelievably breathless beauty to the place.  Looking out across an endless landscape of the whitest of white you almost get the sense of being a time traveler-  reflecting on the sheer massiveness of glacier thousands of feet deep and million years old doing their slow, methodical march to the ocean.


Vinson Base Camp at 2am

 

To put it in perspective, when the Romans were busy conquering Europe this area looked exactly the way it looks now. Nothing changes, locked in an icy prison with seasons defined more by varying degrees of cold and sunlight rather than leaves falling or flowers blooming.  Time passes by: days blend to weeks, weeks become months, months drift in to years in this wintery landscape.  Man first visited this continent only ~100 years ago and climbed Vinson during the 1966-67 season, with only an estimated 1,400 summits since that first US expedition.  Over the more recent decades, visiting teams have followed an exacting process of ensuring No Trace.. taking everything out that they bring in, save a few small spots to drop #1 along the route.  You don’t really find climbers here that don’t know what they are doing or violate the Boy Scout motto of leaving the area in better shape than it’s found.  As a result, the mountain is and remains extremely clean.  The entire trip, I think I saw two pieces of trash- not intentionally tossed, but more likely something that fell out of a pocket- starkly different from other mountains around the world. There just really isn’t anything along the ~12 mile trail other than boot marks, a few fixed lines, your occasional Pee Hole and nature. Tons and tons of overwhelming, unbelievably striking and entirely unforgiving nature.

Looking Down To Vinson Base Camp From The Trail

And that’s pretty much the understanding you go into this climb with. All gear you bring has to be necessary while supporting your existence in a place where fingers go numb in a matter of seconds. In preparing for this trip, I pulled a bunch of Himalaya gear out of mothballs.. a -60 sleeping bag, equipment designed for 8000m summits, beefy crampons and a wide variety of durable gear soon filled our living room. At a time when Santa was making his list and checking it twice, mine was being reviewed thoroughly to make sure not to make the naughty list. Given the environment, equipment isn’t a place to skimp or shortcut, but having gear from previous trips at the ready probably saved several hundred-if not thousand- dollars to make sure the climb was both a success and comfortable at the same time.  

Getting There & Our Team

As mentioned in a previous post, the only real option to climbing Vinson is to go with an outfitter(ALE won’t allow self-guided climbs), and coordinate via ALE themselves, who basically established the Antarctic climb experience supporting Dick Bass and Frank Wells in 1985. This is the team that defined commercial travel to/from Antarctica and have the whole process down to a finely tuned machine through years building up knowledge and an incredibly deep bench of staff experience.  

Pre-Antarctica ALE Orientation

Once in Punta Arenas, we joined an orientation session designed to keep us alive in Antarctica and familiarize with ALE processes, which also involved specifics on Union Glacier Camp. This camp functioned more or less as our Forward Operating Base (FOB) once on the continent- complete with a blue ice runway that allows for medium lift transport flights from South America and has thorough medical, cook, comms and logistic support. This worked extremely well for us in providing comforts of home and to maintain sanity through several days at the beginning and end of the trip when to pass time we spent hours playing poker, watching movies and taking in the occasional lecture served up by ALE experts.

It was at this meeting that we learned we would be taking a Boeing 757 flown by Icelandair down to Union Glacier rather than the traditional IL-76 channel flight. Surprise!  This plane is unbelievably cool- outfitted with supercharged Rolls Royce engines to help take off on solid ice, all business class seats and a crew experienced in operating through extreme polar environments. They had made a proof of concept flight earlier; this would be the first 757 landing with passengers on Antarctica- ever.  Pretty cool, but also provided at least a little apprehension among the teams traveling down. As we waited to fly, I bumped into an good climbing buddy of mine- Mostafa Salameh!  He’s already complete with the Seven Summits and on the final leg of completing the Explorer’s Grand Slam- the tallest peaks on every continent and travel to North & South Poles. We catch up- it’s literally been years. Trading stories of family, friends and home, it’s great to see an old friend and familiar face. We sit next to each other on the flight down and talk for the whole flight down, surrounded by a flight full of bold climbers, skiiers, scientists and explorers from around the world. The whiteness of the Great Arctic Thing which floats over polar regions making everything cloudy for miles and miles soon extends from Punta Arenas to Antarctica itself- we don’t even see the peninsula as we slide by.  But after time, the whiteness of the cloudy Thing became an ever brighter and more vivid white as glacier and snow-capped mountains begin to take shape. Our 757 slides slowly toward the ice runway and with touchdown are greeted with a WHAM!!!!!  The plane slams down and lurches at least 10 feet in the air, tilting and drifting for a brief few seconds before bouncebouncebouncebouncing down the runway and finally coming to a stop, taxiing back down to where we are to disembark.  It made for an exciting and interesting welcome to this continent, definitely getting the adrenaline pumping and setting the stage for events to come.


757 Flight From Punta Arenas to Antarctica

Final Approach- Looking out to Union Glacier Camp

Union Glacier's Blue Ice Runway

Catching Up With My Buddy Mostafa

Our team is small, made up of a party of three- Ossy (our guide), Michael and good old moi.  For the climb itself, I chose to climb with Mountain Madness, knowing from previous expeditions that they provide top tier guides, great food, solid team equipment and an overall safe trip.  They also tend to keep teams small in size, which I prefer.. a team with more than 5 tend to need a veteran guide specializing in psychology to accommodate a range of personalities and issues.  In my experience, smaller teams tend to move with greater agility, covering the gaps more effectively than on a large team with multiple moving parts. This is of course my personal taste and nothing more than that, with plenty who disagree.  Over time, each person in this sport learns what sort of climbing they prefer, and like anything in life, once you develop your own formula for success you should stick with it.  For example: I like climbing on teams rather than solo. I have climbed solo many times, but just plain don’t like it.  Instead, I enjoy sharing the overall experience with people and creating unique bonds with teammates. I have also found that I like climbing on teams that have at least one other US person on it- man or woman, who I can then throw out dumb movie quotes with.  Others are great to climb with, but culturally wouldn’t know a Will Ferrell quote from Old School if it Frank the Tank himself asked to bring green hats and go streaking.  Nothing more or less, and probably not the best of reasons to explain what I enjoy in teammates, just a bit of perspective on my decision to go with the team I did, what sort of climbing I enjoy and why I liked the team we had for the trip.  I won’t say that for this climb that we were the fastest or most efficient team on the mountain (we weren’t), but at the end of the day we had a team that supported each other consistently. Further, as a testament to the camaraderie and closeness all five teams on the mountain shared, each team on this rotation looked out for each other, got along great, and supported each other throughout- which was really special and helped us all know we were there for each other in a shared goal.  

Our Team: Michael, Ossy & Me

And so we embarked on our trip- three intrepid climbers setting out for the unknown (at least for us) with eyes wide open looking for a challenge, which we would find, meet and overcome.  Sure, going as the first rotation would require us to deal with the challenges and uncertainty of weather moreso than teams climbing later in the Austral Summer. But we went into it with eyes wide open, an excited sense of innocence and wonder placing one foot in front of the other until we were feet dry, stepping firmly onto Antarctic ice and beginning our journey.

Katabatic Winds Scouring Landscape

Good Pieces of Gear: Tech

The knowledge that you were treading in an area with no life outside a small number of climbers inhabiting the trail and no expectation of hearing the familiar buzzing of civilization- planes, phones, cars.. it’s surreal.  The only contact with the outside world is a satellite phone, and even that is a challenge- only one provider (Iridium) supports Antarctica and the costs are north of $1/minute, so calls are brief and intermittent. The relative infrastructure of Union Glacier allows for the purchase of pre-pay cards at $35/30 minutes of call time, but once on the mountain this restricts down to a more valuable commodity- your phone’s battery life. Only solar chargers give devices power and my electronics gave me fits from the start. iPod? Didn’t hold a charge on the first day and never left Base Camp. GoPro? Died on my way to Low Camp and was left in my cache bag. Two external batteries proved useless as well- and were left behind. The only two things that did work:
 

-          My Lumia cell, which became my MP3 player, portable game player and camera. I kept it nestled in my chest pocket to not gamble with the temperatures but even when left outside overnight by accident, fired up quickly and held a decent charge throughout, even on the summit in those unbelievable temps. This thing was rugged, too.  At one point at Low Camp, it fell out of my pocket and I didn’t notice it on the snow until stepping on it with full weight. This left two sharp holes in the glass and a fancy network of spiderwebbed glass across the rest of the phone. Even with all this going on, the phone proved to be a workhorse and never faltered. Say what you will about the Windows Operating System, but the phones are almost indestructible.

-          A Goal Zero portable solar panel, which worked unbelievably well.  It’s amazing what sort of technological revolution solar is going through, and this robust portable panel is testament to the strides being made. It even worked charging my phone in the tent.

 

Good Pieces of Gear: Climbing
As with other areas of the world, there are tried and true pieces of equipment that I relied on throughout this expedition- both for the climb, and to maintain a bit of creature comfort along the way:

-          Feathered Friends -60 Snowy Owl. I’m really the last person in the world to be promoting Feathered Friends, especially after my 8000m climbing suit failed.. at 8000m while on the Hillary Step. That, coupled by their toxic reaction when in their store explaining what happened makes this a tough sell. But when it comes to bags, this one is top shelf. It kept me warm no matter what camp or temperature, it’s a great piece of gear.

-          North Face Summit Series jackets, pants and gloves proved durable, warm and reliable throughout the trip, no matter what layering combination or phase of the climb.

-          Mountain Hardware Trango tents were widely used across climb teams and while I’m not really a fan of the clips used to hold tent poles in place, these tents are bomb proof. One team climbing a day behind ours ended up getting caught in a storm at High Camp for 4 ½ days with 50kt sustained winds and now absolutely swear by the tents durability. One of my friends actually bought the tent he spent all that time in the storm, a testament to how much climbers rely on gear they trust.

-          My USMC ILBE (Improved Load Bearing Equipment) Main Pack Generation 2 is made by Arcteryx and modeled after the Bora 90 is one of the most reliable packs I've come across. It's rugged, durable, versatile and has proven it's worth climbing around the world- from the Himalaya to Pacific Northwest, and now Antarctica.  It's limitation comes from being heavy, but given its carrying capacity and how solid a pack this is, I'll happily deal with it.



My Gear (Most of  It) Spread Out At Vinson Base Camp

Safe and Sound - Union Glacier

Doug's team managed to catch the last plane from base camp back to Union Glacier today!!! So he is back to Antarctic "civilization." It sounds like they are expecting some weather to move in so flights to Punta Arenas might not happen for a few days but my fingers are crossed for an early return home.

Unfortunately, the other client climber on Doug's team got frostbite on a few of his fingers and on his nose so he's spending the night in the infirmary hut. Doug volunteered to look after him overnight so he's enjoying the warmth before heading back to sleeping in tents tomorrow. Thoughts and wishes to Michael for a speedy recovery!! I wish I could overnight the Russian frostbite cream Doug got when he was climbing Elbrus - that stuff worked like magic. But besides the frostbite everyone is well and back at Union Glacier. :)

On top of the bottom of the world!!!

Just got a phone call from the SUMMIT of Vinson Massif!!! THEY DID IT! :D I might be the proudest wife in the world right now!! They're at the summit right now (1:15PM PST) taking photos. But it sounded pretty cold so they'll be heading back down to high camp soon!

WOOO HOOOOO! Highest peak in Antarctica? Check.

Tsk Tsk, but really YAY!

I haven't heard from Doug since Monday, hence the tsk tsk in the title (someone's sat phone better be out of batteries :-P ) But have no fear! I've done some internet sleuthing and Mountain Madness (the guide group Doug is climbing with) has posted an update!

Mt Vinson Expedition reports that the team is at high camp and will make summit attempt tomorrow. Wishing them all the best for a successful summit and safe return!

TOMORROW!! That's the YAY part!!! It looks like the weather has kept nice and everyone is healthy and in good shape. Cannot wait to hear news of a successful and safe summit! :)

[photo: Mountain Madness]

Made it to Massif

I got a chance to talk to Doug yesterday. The team made it safely from Union Glacier camp closer to the base of Vinson Massif in the ~2-3 days since the last update. Yesterday they did their first altitude run up to about 10,600 feet and dropped a bunch of supplies. The plan for today is to move up to low camp.

He's met some of the climbers on the other teams and apparently they're pretty cool, so he's having fun. The clothes and sleeping bag he took are keeping him warm but apparently when the sun goes away it gets "holy smokes" cold really fast.

That's all for now! Over and out.
- Maggie

Happy Thanksgiving - Touchdown Union Glacier

Hi all! Maggie here, taking over comms for Doug who has officially gone dark as of this morning. So while we were enjoying our delicious turkey dinners, Doug was making his way down to Antarctica.

The group got a thumbs up on the weather to fly so they headed to the airport. Doug hopped a 757 (a proof of concept pilot program that I guess they usually fly around Iceland). He actually ran into an Everest buddy of his and ended up sitting next to him on the flight.

The plane landed safe and sound on Union Glacier. (I've included a picture of what I assume Camp Union Glacier looked like... Doug will have to validate the accuracy of the photo when he gets home.) In terms of how frigid it is, apparently it's "not that bad" until the wind blows and then it's "really freaking chilly." It sounds like there are a number of climbers there from the Everest climbing community and someone brought a football, so I'm not worried about him getting bored or not having any fun.They may be hunkered down at the Union Glacier camp for a few days since the wind has picked up but I'm sure they'll make the most of it. I'll keep everyone posted on when they make their move towards Vinson.

Ok, time for me to sleep off this turkey! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Gear! Gear! Gear! Said the Sergeant

 

 

 

 

Today started off with a bang- Michael, Ossie and I grabbed breakfast in the hotel and connected on the plan for the day.  First up was to do a gear check to ensure nothing critical was missing, filter through the nice-to-have's and do a weight/value consideration on if it goes or not.  At about 10:30, ALE (Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions) - the only show in town who are authorized to fly non-military/government air onto the continent- did a quick weight check and then whisked away our team supplies and personal gear duffels. We won't see them until on Union Glacier, although we did separate pack key items like down jackets, boots and several warming layers. These go into your backpack that is hand carried at all times. which isn't that bad a plan should you need to put additional layers on in short order once on Antarctica.

 

With bags enroute, the rest of the day was then spent orienting ourselves with lovely Punta Arenas- walking the streets, checking out statues of Magellan, great pizza joints and generally exploring while tying together a series of last details before going dark on the world. Ossie spent a good deal of time covering the specifics of 'leave no trace' that ALE and pretty much every responsible party are held to by international treaties. Everything (and I mean everything) that we bring to the continent gets hauled out.  Gear, trash, waste... everything.  You do have to hand it to the sentinels of this policy- their decree is to keep Antarctica from becoming what portions of Everest are. Through a rigorous screening policy, guides are vetted over a period of time before ALE will agree to let them guide. Guides then in turn keep their team in check.  It all works this way.  The snow stays white, the granite rocks stay black, a landscape devoid of any living thing save transient visitors stays pure.

 

At 17:00, we were invited to an orientation at ALE, which covered the details of our travel plan.  It's all dependent upon the weather, which has proven to be fairly squirrely. Weather stations on Union Glacier are reporting back to Punta Arenas where meterologists and pilots go heads-down to decide if the flight across the Southern Ocean is a go or no-go. This happens on a daily basis.. so if tomorrow at 06:00 the readings aren't favorable to land a multiple engine airplane on a pure ice runway, we delay a day.

 

 

 

We also learned all about life at Union Glacier- it's a mini-city from what we were told, complete with zones that host different camp visitors.  One area is for 'permanent' staff, one area is for 'guests'- those people traveling between stations, and one area is for Vinson climbers. It's apparently chock full of food- you can gain weight at Union Glacier from an unending supply of free food. There are also social tents, a place to get your gear situated and a follow-on runway for the single engine skiplanes that will ultimately take us from Union Glacier to Base Camp at Patriot Hills. This should be quite an experience after a ~4 hr flight down to our future and hopefully temporary waypoint enroute to the Sentinel Range.

After a quick chat amongst the ~35 odd other travelers who will be flying once the green light is given, we grabbed our boarding pass for the flight and headed out to grab a last dinner.  Final packing underway, gear all set to go this is hopefully our last night in Punta Arenas for a while.

Touchdown- Punta Arenas

“But I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can’t stand it. I been there before."
-  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885)


It only took two days, but we finally made it- the team is in place having all arrived in Punta Arenas. Definitely chilly here- and surprisingly dark given we are almost at the southern terminus of South America.  Isn't it supposed to be light even close to midnight? Maybe I'm not calibrating our true latitude correctly and aren't as far south as we thought. 

Couple notes on an otherwise un-noteworthy trip down:

- Flying into Santiago is incredible, threading through the snow capped Andes and then foothills surrounding the city. Both sides of the plane had cameras out and even while at the airport the surrounding landscape provides Santiago with a spectacular setting.

- English is a pretty rare commodity, so far I can count the number of people speaking Eigo on one hand and have had to rely on awesome and dazzling High School Spanish to get by.  Fortunately, people here are pretty relaxed and accommodating of my efforts struggling to get rust out of the Spanish gears in stitching together sentences.

- Apparently Chile and Spain aren't besties, or I just misread an experience at Customs with one of my bags spread all over a table. An agent flagged one of my bags and bypassed about 15 bags of candy, nuts and freeze dried food to hone in on two vacuum sealed packets of Prosciutto. The agent confiscated the meat and when I asked about it was told that it wasn't the meat- it was because it was from Spain. I didn't argue, just re-packed and went on my way.


On the taxi ride from the airport to hotel, it was amazing to look up into a vividly bright sky with whole constellations not visible in the northern hemisphere twinkling away, the Southern Cross sitting high in the sky. At one point, I pulled out my phone and opened my compass app.. heading due south, my compass had us on a northerly heading as it dialed in on the magnetic South Pole, not that far away. We zinged along in taxis toward our hotel (Best Western Hotel Finis Terrae- or, End of Earth) at the not-so-exorbitant rate of $12 fixed price.. this nation isn't all that expensive from what we have seen sofar.

Arriving, Michael and I met the third in our party- Ossie and planned for tomorrow.  Plenty going on in preparation and planning to be had, so tonight is sleep for the weary travelers. And as tomorrow comes along, we prepare to light out. Like Huck Finn's unbreakable spirit incapable of simply settling down as a boring old townsfolk do. We yearn to seek adventure, see the unknown and experience all that life has to offer.


 

Antarctica- Enroute At Last



Finally on the way! 

I can't believe that the day has arrived and wow did it come quickly. The last few weeks involved one major deliverable after another, and given the compressed timelines, travel here and there for Marines, family commitments and work requirements it's been a manic, hectic month.  Fortunately Maggie was pretty consistent in making sure that required gym time and packing were built into the schedule.. if not, I doubt that things would have fallen into place as easily as they did. 

Forecast: South Pole- Amundsen Scott

The gear list itself is about half that of Everest, although some key components are most definitely required. The other day I went to try and figure out what the forecast was for Union Glacier, Patriot Hills or Vinson.. and quickly learned that the closest forecast that's being reported is the South Pole itself, from Amundsen-Scott Station. It's warmed a bit since last time I looked, a balmy -20 on the day we'll likely land on the glacier but as is expected with polar climes at the extremes of the planet -20 will actually feel much, much colder. It is promising to see that the skies are expected to be clear.. one of the largest challenges of this climb is taking advantage of weather windows when available, and the first big step in effectively sneaking up to the top of Vinson is crossing the Southern Ocean.. specifically the Bellingshausen Sea, tracing the peninsula and touching down on the frozen runway of Union Glacier.  Without a weather window, I'd be parked in Punta Arenas until the clouds part.

And so, the gear list needs to reflect those cold, cold temperatures.  I pulled items like my -60 sleeping bag that's seen time in Alaska and the Himalaya out of mothballs, Scarpa Invernos w/ Intuition liners and Alti-Mitts are all now packed happily away in compression bags and ready to rumble. Other items, such as comfort foods and Nalgene bottles have insulating layers to keep them from flash-freezing.  There are some stark differences in gear, however. No need for critical avalanche gear like beacons or poles, from what I understand the ancient land of Antarctica receives so little snow, and is so cold that the ice encasing the Sentinel Range effectively stays where it lies. Likewise helmet.. rock isn't really moving so there isn't much objective hazard to rockfall, especially due to any melting (not happening given those temps).  I did pack a bunch of extra goggles and sunglasses.. with the Ozone Layer basically gone over the South Pole and all that reflective light bouncing off white, white snow the last thing I want to deal with is a lost pair of glasses.  Backups in these, and other categories come with experience, but are highly sought after on the once-in-a-million time when you need 'em.

And so, this morning the family threesome of Maggie, Mochi and I headed out to the airport with close to 200 lbs of gear spread amongst four backpacks and gear bags. While Maggie and Mochi headed to DC for Thanksgiving turkey, I'm off in different direction and the expedition is ON. First to Houston, then Santiago, and the southern terminus of South America- Punta Arenas. From there, gear check and departure over the water toward the bottom of the planet. 

 

Vinson Massif- Prep

Happy Halloween! 








The time has come to start focusing on the next chapter of the Seven Summits and in doing so, have decided that Vinson Massif will be the next mountain to zero in on. It's been a while since I updated this blog, and in planning for Vinson decided that it was high time to resurrect it with experiences planning, coordinating and then ultimately executing this next expedition which should have quite a few unique moments along the way. The challenges for this mountain, so I'm told, vary greatly- from extreme cold to extreme remoteness- of being parked nowhere near civilization, the closest outpost several hundred miles away at South Pole station. Aside from the occasional sat call, there will be no Internet, email, television or any of the other luxuries we have come to take for granted in the day-to-day grind people are now accustomed to. It will quite literally be the most remote place I have ever visited.




Mt Elbrus Barrels

The past few years haven't been quiet- I summited Kilimanjaro in 2011 on New Years Day (check out this cool Photosynth), took a shot at Elbrus in 2013 but turned back 800' from the top when winds and -30 temperatures left my face scorched with frostbite.  Quite the experiences, at some point when things slow down a bit I'll go back through the journals written on both of these trips and make sure to convert over to blog entries- they were each unique and different in their own way.  Getting in to and out of Tanzania presented different challenges from Russia. The gear you need to climb each of these mountains vary as much as the climates you travel through, the steps you need to take to prepare for each vary as well.  Likewise, the Caucasus mountains are so starkly different from equatorial Africa.. one of my enduring memories of Elbrus is seeing a large Russian man in tank top, bare skin hot pink from the wind while riding a chairlift and casually smoking a cigarette during 20 degree snow flurries.  That's about as different as you can get when compared to a pride of lions lazing fat and happy in the baking sun of Ngorogoro Crater after making a meal out of a Wildebeest- essentially the cheeseburger of the African plain.  They both are just absolutely spectacular mountains, unique in their own right and special chapters in a fantastic ride that the Seven Summits deliver. In many ways even banging out these quick sentences harkens back to truly enjoyable experiences and I'm looking forward to cracking those journals open and digging up photos for a trip down memory lane.




Rainier summit crater tent camp

Rainier is pretty much a standard, living in the Pacific Northwest allows the luxury of being able to spend time on that mountain with little planning, and pulling together a team of willing Marines to go overnight in the dead of winter or take advantage of a beautiful weather window to sleep on the summit of that majestic mountain is fairly easy. Sure, hauling tents, bags, gear, food and everything else up to the top isn't the most efficient of ways to climb, but it takes a fairly routine route and laces it with all the newness and excitement of making it feel special all over again.


There have been plenty of other experiences over the past few years as well. I married a beautiful and fun woman who challenges me in many ways both intellectually and personally. We now have a spunky puppy who joined our blooming family and thinks she runs the joint, despite weighing five whole pounds. We bought and continue to upgrade a great house that routinely sees parties and events to liven the place up but requires constant upkeep.  I picked up and then turned over a Battalion of Marines, followed by two new roles and the rank of Colonel. Work has it's highs and lows as much as anywhere, but I landed on a great team and enjoy it when feeling like I'm adding value. Operation Human Being has smacked me in the face as hard as I guess could be expected and the days while away, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, springs become summers and summers become fall. 




Fixed Ladders on Rainier

And as a result, the Seven Summits siren call continues to draw me in.  Vinson, the highest peak in the Sentinel Range, located on the highest and most ancient of continents is exceptional for a variety of reasons. First off, getting there is a complete bitch.  It's no joke that researching travel to <-> from this mountain has taken years.  Several of us tried -unsuccessfully- to figure out what alternate routes existed beyond the traditional ALE/guide service path and learned one dead-end after another that if you want to climb this mountain, you really are either resigned to having some inside line with National Science Foundation or.. you go guide service.  We looked at hopping Space-A on one of the Operation Deep Freeze C-17s out of JBLM Lewis-McChord, submitting for a NSF Grant, alternate charter flights.. nothing panned out that wouldn't have us abandoned on a runway somewhere in New Zealand and in the end, we fell back on guide services.


Fortunately, after a few trips through McKinley (that's right, I didn't mistake this and mean to call it Denali) and the Himalaya, my gear is pretty much up to speed and it didn't require much to make sure the gear list is complete and ready to roll.  There's specific emphasis on cold weather gear for sure- and a series of questions/answers with experienced climbers as well as understanding what sort of creature comforts I want to haul along versus leave behind (do I bring the 8,000m down climbing suit that is super warm but weighs a ton?). There's also the training aspect- getting to the gym, hitting the trail, cardio galore, etc. Going through the Mountain Madness prep guide to make sure nothing gets overlooked.  Flights, on the other hand to/from Punta Arenas took some planning. The final routing goes something like this: Seattle -> Houston -> Santiago -> Punta Arenas with hours of layovers and I'm pretty sure there's a stop somewhere in between Santiago and Punta Arenas as the LAN Chile flight threads it's way down to the southernmost point of South America.


And there you have it- the blog is back alive. The trip officially begins on 23 November, but as the continued preparation unfolds there'll be more to this story. Looking forward to it, and to seeing what this next great journey has to offer.




 

Amadablam Bound

Tshering arrived yesterday as the fading light of day came past Pheriche, and we had a chance to discuss the plan from here. Essentially, he and the porters moved from Namche to Pheriche in one day- quite a haul. All our gear was still enroute to Island Peak, so he sent a runner off to chase that down and ensure it was redirected to Amadablam Base Camp, as we are out of time for a two mountain climb. This is fine.. The focus is now entirely on Amadablam and today's trip sets out from Pheriche, straight back down the mountain to connect up with Ama base camp trail. We will see a Lama on the way, getting blessed on our journey before the 2,000' push into Base Camp. Tomorrow will be a rest day- then we begin the climb in a series of altitude runs to finally summit in a few days and then launch back down the hill to Lukla and a flight out.

We had a fun day yesterday. After a late morning, the team sat tight and played rummy for a few hours while the morning katebatics played havoc on weary trekkers and passers-by. Finally around 11, the sky was crystal clear. The air crisp and fresh, albeit thin. We headed up, up, up roughly 600' to a pass that leads to Dingboche, a town on the other side of the pass and gateway to Island Peak. On this spine in 2008, I actually went for a jog, and after an altitude run to 15,000' did exactly that again. There are a series of prayer flags and stupas that connect the ridge, so I ran along the ridge before descending down to the town for lunch. We enjoyed a leisurely meal before heading back to while away the afternoon in the Himalayan Hotel common area in style.

No idea of a signal at Ama base camp but will try. Its mind blowing to me that Im even in range here, a two day trek from Everest when just 3 years ago I had to use a satellite receiver to connect with the world. Bonkers crazy.

Decision Point

Interestingly, we do in-fact have Internet way out here in the middle of the route. Its so amazing how different things are from 2008, we rolled in to Pheriche, a pioneer village of sorts that is perched at 14,000' and arrived at our hotel at a respectable 2pm today. The hotel here is definitely the best of any we have stayed at, and its relatively new.. Don't even think it was here when we cruised through last time. The trek here was uneventful in itself, a gradual 1,800' climb above the treeline and into much more of a rock-strewn dust path. The wind has definitely picked up and with a sun continuously shrouded by high clouds it is definitely biting.

So I have definitely reached a decision point, and had to outline options just to make sense of it myself. Flights today continue to be spotty into/ out of Lukla and I'm still not linked up with Tshering. Latest word is that he will meet me in Pheriche tomorrow, but that is too late for both an Island Peak & Amadablam excursion. In a nutshell, there just plain aren't enough days to cover the distance and altitude. Its one or the other, and I'm going to make that decision once he arrives and can provide me with some route Intel. Ama is the clear favorite, but I want to hold till then and make a call. Till then though, we are holed up here and relaxing.