Antarctica 2014!

In November of 2014, Kriss and I headed to Antarctica to climb Vinson Massif.  Vinson is the highest mountain on the Antarctic continent at 16,050 ft and if all goes well, will be the 6th of the Seven Summits for us.

As you can imagine, the logistics for getting to Antarctica alone are pretty complicated.  Commercial airliners got us to Punta Arenas, Chile after which we connected with Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE), the company who runs the big charter plane that brings climbers, tourists, explorers and others to the ice.  When I say big charter plane, I mean an old Russian cargo plane with seats bolted to the deck in the front and any manner of gear, equipment, machinery, supplies or whatever is required to sustain life in the cold and inhospitable environment of the frozen Antarctic continent in back.

As with all of our expedition trips, it seems the toughest part isn't necessarily the climbing but the planning, training, packing, traveling and schlepping hundreds of pounds of gear to the destination.  Arriving at Union Glacier, we set up camp and settled into a routine consisting mostly of resting, eating and waiting for a clear weather window to fly to Vinson.  Obviously it's all visual flying which means few clouds can be present for the 100 or so miles we had to travel.

We waited 3-1/2 days at Union Glacier which seemed like forever for a bunch of athletes just itching to get climbing.  Once we got word though it was a quick series of events to break camp, pack everything up, get all the gear loaded into two deHaviland Otters and take off.  We certainly weren't going to fiddle about and miss the opportunity to get going.

Ah, the Otter is a fantastically rugged little plane and you know you're doing something fun and adventurous when flying in one.  The interior Antarctic landscape is basically snow, ice and rock and while there are plenty of features to look at during our flight, the scale is extremely deceiving.  In some places the ice is 8,000-9,000 ft or more thick so the mountains you see are only a small part of their true size.  It's crazy to think about how many millions of years the ice has been accumulating before our arrival.

After 30 or 40 minutes, we approached some larger mountains and then we saw it.  I've described previously the feeling you get when first seeing your objective and this experience was no different.  The size and height of Vinson standing in contrast to the surrounding landscape was impressive.  Then, thinking about where we were, how far away civilization was and how cold it must be on the top, that funny feeling got pretty strong.

Once we landed on the snow at base camp, there was another flurry of activity to get everything and everyone off the planes quickly so the pilots could get out of there and back to Union Glacier.  Then it was quiet.  We towed our gear on plastic sleds to a suitable campsite and started the work of setting up camp.

Finally with something to do, I was happy and energized!  Our guide Mike and I chose a spot for the cook tent and I went to work digging it out.  The "posh" as we call it is a teepee shaped tent, and when set up correctly provides space for someone to stand and cook while everyone else has room to sit in a circle around most of the perimeter.  It's got multiple levels and is fun to build.     Most importantly, it's a cozy place for us to gather at mealtime, make plans for the climb, share stories and socialize a bit.

We were finally on the mountain and settling into the familiar routine of climbing, cacheing gear, returning to lower camps, sleeping and then moving higher up.  The most difficult section of the climb was between camp 1 and high camp.  There's a large head wall with fixed lines to protect the teams agains a perilous fall.  The slope amounts to basically ascending straight up a double black diamond slope of hard ice/snow for 2,000 ft elevation gain.  We climbed this twice, first to move gear up and the next day to move camp.

After 5 days of continuous work, we were at high camp and ready to push for the summit.  The morning of day 6 looked reasonable but there were some high clouds and the sky wasn't the deep blue that we'd hoped for.  After watching for an hour or so, we decided to go for it.

Our first summit attempt was not a successful one.  Because of our weather delay at Union Glacier, we were all fired up and wanted to climb fast.  After 5 days of hard work and no rest, the  6th was difficult for some members of our team.  If the weather was perfect and we got an early start, we may have made the summit.  Our weather was not perfect and deteriorated rapidly as we approached 14,000 ft and beyond to the "rescue cache".  This spot is really the decision point for whether to proceed on the more exposed part of the mountain and on to the summit or to turn around and return to high camp.  Wisely Mike pulled the plug and we returned to our tents.

Day 7 was a rest day and everyone needed it both physically and mentally.  The itinerary for the day was rest, eat, rest and repeat.  Another team left for the summit and made it but had strong winds and very cold temps.  We were hoping that day 8 would provide us with better weather and strong legs.

As it turned out, day 8 did provide better weather and everyone was in good spirits and feeling strong.  We made steady progress and reached the summit in the early afternoon under mostly clear skies and a light breeze.  It was 50 below or more and we tried to stay covered up to prevent frostbite while taking photos and celebrating.  The return to high camp was downhill and thankfully uneventful.  After a big dinner we all crashed and our thoughts turned to heading back down.

Our last day on Vinson was pretty busy.  Breaking high camp, descending the fixed lines with heavy packs to camp 1, digging up our caches, transferring some gear to sleds and descending to base camp with pretty heavy loads, we pulled in at mid-afternoon.  I say mid-afternoon but on December 2nd in Antarctica, the sun mostly just circles above your head all day.  After waiting a few hours, the Otters arrived and we were off Vinson before the true feeling of accomplishment had settled in.

We spent another day and a half at Union Glacier before leaving the continent on the Russian cargo plane.  There were a couple of hours when the climbing teams just arriving mingled with those of us in the first wave who were leaving.  Some famous professional climbers were there, as well as those looking for personal glory or national pride.  People from all over the world descend on these places at the right time of year to climb and in those moments we all have one thing in common, a love for the mountains and the desire to reach the summit.