Follow Our Climb - Alpine Ascents Cybercast
Antarctica - Weather
Punta Arenas, Chile - Weather
Something I Have No Desire to Do in Antarctica
Tomorrow I am leaving for Antarctica to climb Mount Vinson. This will be my sixth of the 8 Seven Summits. If you're confused by the "8" in 8 Seven Summits, click here for an explanation.
And if you are perplexed by my sudden interest in climbing them, that's understandable because many people know that until recently, it was never a goal of mine. In fact, I always considered it a ridiculously costly pursuit. From a climbing perspective, there are plenty of beautiful and challenging mountains, free of "Seven Summit crowds," that don't carry the exorbitant price tag of a Vinson or an Everest. But after climbing Everest and having just two to go to make seven, I figured what the heck. My interest is in both traveling and climbing and from what I hear, a trip to Antarctica is a trip of a lifetime, so I'm very excited about this climb.
Are you into statistics? The only site I know of that tracks the number of climbers who have climbed the Seven is 7summits.com.
Our operator is Alpine Ascents, the owner of the photo up top and the guide company I joined in 2003 on Aconcagua. Surprisingly, there are just three of us on this adventure - a guide named Michael Horst, a German man named Gregor, and me. I am not tech savvy enough to be able to blog from the area, but if you want to follow our progress, Alpine Ascents does keep a cybercast that will provide updates. To follow, click here, and feel free to post comments on this blog post. It looks like we are Team 3.
I was told that the team just before ours consists of a group of Japanese climbers. So I checked out the names and smiled when I found two that I recognized from Everest 2009 - Hiro Kuraoka, an exceptionally strong and talented guide who takes fabulous photos (see my Everest 2009 photo gallery - all of the good ones are his), and Kiyomi Takiguchi. Kiyomi, Billi Bierling and I were the only women on our team of 28 on Everest.
Tomorrow I am leaving for Antarctica to climb Mount Vinson. This will be my sixth of the 8 Seven Summits. If you're confused by the "8" in 8 Seven Summits, click here for an explanation.
And if you are perplexed by my sudden interest in climbing them, that's understandable because many people know that until recently, it was never a goal of mine. In fact, I always considered it a ridiculously costly pursuit. From a climbing perspective, there are plenty of beautiful and challenging mountains, free of "Seven Summit crowds," that don't carry the exorbitant price tag of a Vinson or an Everest. But after climbing Everest and having just two to go to make seven, I figured what the heck. My interest is in both traveling and climbing and from what I hear, a trip to Antarctica is a trip of a lifetime, so I'm very excited about this climb.
Are you into statistics? The only site I know of that tracks the number of climbers who have climbed the Seven is 7summits.com.
Our operator is Alpine Ascents, the owner of the photo up top and the guide company I joined in 2003 on Aconcagua. Surprisingly, there are just three of us on this adventure - a guide named Michael Horst, a German man named Gregor, and me. I am not tech savvy enough to be able to blog from the area, but if you want to follow our progress, Alpine Ascents does keep a cybercast that will provide updates. To follow, click here, and feel free to post comments on this blog post. It looks like we are Team 3.
I was told that the team just before ours consists of a group of Japanese climbers. So I checked out the names and smiled when I found two that I recognized from Everest 2009 - Hiro Kuraoka, an exceptionally strong and talented guide who takes fabulous photos (see my Everest 2009 photo gallery - all of the good ones are his), and Kiyomi Takiguchi. Kiyomi, Billi Bierling and I were the only women on our team of 28 on Everest.
Itinerary
Mount Vinson (16,067ft/4,897m), located 600 miles from the South Pole and 1,200 miles from the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, is the highest peak on the Antarctic continent. Vinson is part of the Ellsworth Mountains, which rise majestically from the Ronne Ice Shelf.
Below is a map that I pilfered, along with the paragraph above, from the Alpine Ascents website. We're meeting in Punta Arenas on the southern tip of Chile. From there we will wait for good weather before flying south for five hours to the expansive Union Glacier (this camp replaces the Patriot Hills camp). There, we wait again for good weather before making the one hour and 15 minute flight to Vinson Base Camp on the Branscomb Glacier (7,000 feet).
From Vinson Base Camp, we load up our sleds and packs (about 30-35 lbs. for each) and establish two or three camps before making our final summit attempt.
In technical terms, the climb of Vinson is considered moderate, but cold temperatures (minus 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit) and strong winds increase the challenge. Climbers typically wait several days for good weather, which is why we allow three weeks for the 4-day climb. There is usually 24 hours of daylight and less than 18 inches of snow this time of year - summer.
From what I hear, the view from the summit promises to be beautiful, vast, spectacular, expansive, stunning and every word you can think of that means exceptionally awesome... much better than our view from the summit of Everest on May 23, 2009. Well, my rooftop in Suisun Valley has a better view than that.
I'm not thrilled about being gone for the holidays, but this is the climbing season in Antarctica.
So to my family, friends, blog readers, and Corptax colleagues and clients, I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope you enjoy following our adventure. Come back next year for a trip summary and photos!
PS - I realize Santa lives at the North Pole but perhaps he'll guide his sleigh down south. "On Dancer! On Prancer! On Donner! On VINSON!!!!"
You are an amazing woman, Megan.
ReplyDeleteI am looking forwward to climbe an another summit with you.
Eugene
Go Megan Go. I thought you might go for the 8 summits despite your protest to the contrary. You're on your way to accomplishing what few folks - men or women - have accomplished. You make all CPAs proud/envious. Look forward to following the adventure. (Marianne concurs with all of the above).
ReplyDeleteOwen