On Vinson

To see photos, click on this link - Photos.

Antarctica. This was absolutely a trip worth taking. Where else can you be on a land mass twice the size of Australia and a mile deep in ice, with a mountain range on top? The weather could have been better up at high camp when we arrived on Dec 19th and waited a week before it calmed down enough for us to go for the summit on Dec 26th. But other than that, or perhaps because of that, it was a fantastic trip.

Here´s a brief summary.

After arriving in Punta Arenas, the southern-most city in Chile, we checked our gear and found a few items worthy of purchasing. For me, it was bigger and darker goggles that covered half my face (see above photo taken by Mike Horst). At the time, how was I to know my new, rainbow reflective, Darth-Vader-like goggles would only be used for shoveling and not for climbing?

Our trip to the coldest, windiest and driest continent on earth started out with luck on our side. On Dec 16th, as planned, we boarded the great Russian Ilyushin 76 Cargo Jet, full of roughly 80 passengers and gear, and flew five hours to the blue-ice runway at Union Glacier. The Soviet Union developed the jet cargo lifter in the 1960´s for military and civil service. With this magnificent machine came the Russian crew.

A blue-ice runway is a runway with no net annual snow accumulation so that the ice surface is capable of supporting aircraft landings using wheels instead of skis. This makes transferring materials to research stations simpler, since wheeled aircraft can carry much heavier loads than those which are ski-equipped.

Union Glacier, located about 680 miles from the South Pole, recently opened in November, 2010, after over four years of planning and research. More than twenty years ago, Adventure Network International (ANI) made history by establishing a blue-ice runway at Patriot Hills, located roughly 42 miles from Union Glacier. The new runway at Union Glacier has better flight reliability and is used by them to land passenger planes from South America.

As anticipated, Antarctica greeted us with a strong wind, which is why everyone wears down clothing and climbing boots on the plane. The temperatures reach a minimum of between -112 °F and -130 °F (-80 °C and -90 °C ) in the interior in winter and vary between -22 °F and 41 °F (-30 °C and +5 °C ) in summer.

Although windy, the weather was clear and within a few hours after arriving at Union Glacier, we boarded a Twin Otter (jokingly or fondly or seriously referred to as a "Twotter" by our clever co-pilot) for a one hour flight to an area close to base camp and then boarded another plane for a 5 minute flight to Vinson base camp (7000´/2100m). Both of these more wusy planes landed on skis.

The next day, Dec 17th, we packed our gear and moved up to low camp (9100´/2800m). Despite the moderate slopes, it was a tough day because we carried 30 to 35 pound packs and hauled sleds loaded with another 30 to 35 pounds of gear each. The climb up Vinson is often accurately described as similar to the lower part of Denali. We reached camp after about five hours.

We took a rest day on the following day. There are 24 hours of daylight on Antarctica this time of year, so sleep didn´t come easy for me at first. As on Everest, I came prepared with my BFF, Ambien.

We moved up to high camp (12,700´/3900m) on Dec 19th. This climb includes almost 3000 feet of fixed lines up a 45 degree slope while carrying heavy packs. Just as we started to ascend the fixed lines with another group from Mountain Trip, the Russian team, led by Alex Abramov, rushed ahead of us off the fixed line, hooked into the line directly above us, and then promptly stopped to take photos (and likely catch their collective breath). Some climbers may have been irritated but I think most of us were amused.

Michael Horst, our guide, had previously led a group of five clients, including my Everest 2009 teammate, Kyomi Takiguchi. The team also included our Everest 2009 guide, Hiro Kuraoka. They left enough food and fuel at high camp to last Michael, Gregor and me several days, so we were able to do a single move to high camp, rather than make a carry and then a move.

The slope was moderate at the top of the fixed lines but the wind slowly kicked in and it got much colder as we moved closer to camp.

Once we reached high camp, we were thinking this was going to be a short trip and that possibly we could be home for Christmas. From there, we only needed a day to reach the summit and back. But because the altitude in Antarctica is deceiving - 12,700 feet feels more like 14,413 feet - we decided to take a day to acclimatize before heading for the summit. Things were looking up.

Meanwhile, down at base camp, there´s this guy named Joey who broadcasts the weather forecast three times per day - at noon (sometimes), at 7pm, and then again at 9:30pm. The forecast he provides is for the current day and the following two days and it includes temperature and wind speeds at base camp, low camp, high camp, and the summit.

I was beginning to learn what "knots" meant. One knot equals 1.15 miles per hour.

On Dec 20th, our acclimatization day, the weather was breezy, maybe 15 knot winds, and cold, about -24 Celcius. In the Beaufort wind scale, this is described as "moderate breeze raises dust and loose paper; small branches are moved."

Joey´s forecast included deteriorating weather with 30 to 35 knot winds for the following two days at high camp and the summit. In the Beaufort wind scale, this translates to "moderate gale, whole trees in motion; inconvenience in walking against wind."

We knew we had enough good food (salmon, chicken and pasta) for a few days. After that we had enough Top Ramon and chicken bits to last several days. Our bottle of soy sauce, the only reason I can stomach Top Ramon, was nearly empty, so I mentally prepared myself to either eat Top Ramon anyway or take the soy sauce when Michael and Gregor weren't looking.

Most of the teams carried loads to high camp and then descended back to low camp. The photo above is of the Russians beginning their descent. That's Mount Shinn in the background. The three of us, a Japanese climber with two ALE guides, and an elderly astronomer (coincidentally from Palo Alto, close to me) with his ALE Sherpa guide, were the only climbers to remain at high camp.

Despite the deteriorating weather forecast, we still considered ourselves lucky to be able to make it to high camp in one move and be ready for an immediate ascent to the summit once the weather cleared.

Each day we huddled in our kitchen tent and listened to Joey report the forecast, anxiously waiting for news of that second day. The Dec 21st forecast for Dec 23rd called for increasing winds up to 40 knots at high camp. That was a bummer but we held out hope that we could go to the summit before Christmas.

And then on Dec 22nd, the Dec 24th forecast called for increasing winds up to 45 knots. In the Beaufort wind scale, this means "fresh gale breaks twigs off trees; generally impedes progress." It ended up being our windiest and coldest day, reaching -30 Celsius (please don't ask me about the conversion... because I have to look it up). Despite my -20F North Face down sleeping bag with all sorts of ways to close the top around my neck like a choker, I did wake up shivering a few times that week.

Joey??!!! Jo. EEE!!!!

Below is a picture of high camp. The blue and white striped tent is our kitchen tent. I know it looks calm but I do have some very frightening video to post as well. ; )

To make matters worse, the tent Gregor and I put up was nestled in the corner of two snow walls. While there was little snowfall during the storm, the strong winds moved snow into the two pockets of space between the snow walls and our tent. In the morning of Dec 24th, we woke to a nearly collapsing tent. The two of us crawled out, found shovels, and started digging. It was difficult to see anything as our goggles fogged up and the wind seemed to pick up new snow to fill the spaces we just cleared with our shovels. Out of desperation, we did what any good "client" would do. We woke up Michael.

I think the wind actually reached 50 knots because the Beaufort wind scale for this level more accurately reflects what seemed to be happening - "strong gale, slight structural damage occurs; chimney pots and slates removed."

I know you already know this but when you shovel, you are not supposed to hit the sides of the tent with the shovel because this can easily put a hole in the fly of the tent. Worse, it could penetrate the fly and hit the tent itself. So you shovel around the perimeter of the tent and then use your arms and hands to pull the snow off of the tent.

It seemed every time I pitched snow out with my shovel, a fresh batch would promptly blow in and cover my hard work. Needless to say, Gregor made more progress than I did. However, each of us were guilty of putting maybe a tiny dent into the fly of the tent.

Although Dec 24th was the worst day for weather, there was some good news - the forecast for Dec 26th was for 15 knot winds and clear skies. This news also made for a pretty decent Christmas at high camp.

But there was more. Michael thoughtfully gave Gregor and me gifts on Christmas morning. Gregor got gloves. I got (OMG) toilet paper. I'd spent the previous few days asking pretty much everyone at high camp if they had some squares to spare and from what Michael told me, Alex Abramov, leader of the Russian/Ukrainian team, gave him a roll before his team descended back to low camp. It was THE BEST Christmas present evahhhh.

Christmas was another windy day at camp, but slightly less than the day before. We continued to hear the wind throughout the night and if you asked any of us at 3am on Dec 26th whether we would be going for the summit that day, we would have said no. But oddly, the wind died down and we woke to a beautiful, patchy sunny and wind-less day. We left for the summit sometime after 9am that morning.

It is about a 4 mile / 3000 foot gain to reach the summit (16,049´/ 4892m) of Vinson from high camp. It is worth mentioning here that the first ascent of Vinson was performed by a combined group from the American Alpine Club and the National Science Foundation in 1966.

Summit day was spectacular but I have to admit, all that sitting around made me feel a little weak, despite our lengthy acclimatization at high camp. We slowly made progress toward the summit, stopping frequently to take photos and just enjoy the day. The Japanese climber and his two guides veered right and went the faster, more direct, slightly steeper route to the top. We took a longer route that brought us to the beautiful summit ridge, where we walked another 45 minutes to the top. The astronomer and his Sherpa took the same route but finished hours after we did. It didn't matter. They had all day and night. With just eight of us up there, it was awesome to have the mountain to ourselves. We didn't pay much attention to the time but we think we left sometime after 9am and reached the summit around 3pm.

From the summit, we could see neighboring mountains Shinn (15,311') and Gardner (15,049') and a multitude of other unexplored peaks that reached out as far as the eye could see.

After a lengthy stay at top, we headed back to high camp, where the climbers who spent the previous week at low camp were arriving. There was some discussion about possibly descending all the way to low camp, but we decided that would make for an unusually long and tough day. Why ruin it? So we left the next day, Dec 27th.

Descending the fixed lines with a heavy pack really tested my leg strength, which I concluded was not very good. I felt the effect whenever I stood up over the next few days.

When we reached base camp, a man was standing there taking several photos of us. He turned out to be Anatoli, a member of the Russian team who'd hurt himself at the beginning of the climb and had to stay at base camp for the entire two weeks! We started to take photos of him but he stopped us so that he could take his jacket off. Then he took off another layer, and another. Next thing I know all shirts were off on Antarctica. It looks sunny and warm but it is NOT!


Do you believe these guys? We later learned that Anatoli has climbed several mountains and set records for lifting the most weight on the summit. So, for example, on Aconcagua, a porter carried a heavy weight to the summit and when there, Anatoli lifted it above his head. Yes. You read me right.

We celebrated with a bottle of whiskey and the boys smoked cigarillos, which enticed Alex over to our camp, even though he told us he'd quit smoking. Alex and his group, including Lena, the first Ukrainian woman to reach the summit of Vinson, descended all the way down to base camp directly from the summit. They said they were inspired to descend as quickly as possible because they had vodka waiting for them at camp. That was a shocker.

The climbers from Mountain Trip and the other groups arrived at camp the next day. We were told that although Joey reported heavy winds at low camp for the week, the actual camp was wind protected. I was still glad we stayed at high camp and got to enjoy a beautiful and quiet summit day. There's also something about enduring those heavy winds, Top Ramon meals, toiletry bags, and mad shoveling that made reaching the summit even more special.