Mt. Vinson

We spent a few days in Punta Arenas getting last minute items and waiting for confirmation of our flight into Antartica. On December 16, we received a telephone call from our outfitter, Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions (ALE), telling us that a bus would be around to pick us up in about one hour. We rushed to get ready since there was a very short window of flying opportunity for flights to Antarctica. Our flight into the interior of Antarctica on a big Russian Ilyushin cargo plane was about 2,485 miles (4,000 kilometers). The cockpit was open and if you turned around you could see the back of the plane and all the gear that they were transporting. They provided us with ear plugs for our ears because of the noise. After a 4 1/2 hour flight, we landed on a sheet of blue ice in Antarctica near the ALE base camp called Union Glacier.

Since the weather was clear we only had a couple hours of layover before we boarded a small Twin Otter plane for our flight to Mount Vinson Base Camp. The Mount Vinson Base Camp is situated on the Branscomb Glacier surrounded by the mountains of the Ellsworth mountain range with a spectacular view down the glacier. We spent the following day climbing higher on the glacier to partially acclimatize but also to review climbing techniques. We needed to be prepared for a self arrest and crevasse rescue should someone fall through a crevasse. We would be carrying or pulling sleds with part of our gear up the glacier at higher elevations so this was reviewed as well. We set off for Low Camp passing below scary ice falls which at any time could drop large chunks of ice (seracs) on us. One day later, we set off for High Camp having to ascend to the 0.6 mile (1 km) extremely steep headwall with full packs. This section was tremendously difficult and exhausting and particularly hard on the Achilles tendons having to lift heavy loads that distance. At the top of the headwall, we encountered strong winds and cold temperatures and were getting cold and weak. We finally arrived at High Camp in howling winds, blowing snow and freezing temperatures.

After getting a weather report that the winds were to increase upwards to 50-55 miles (80-90 km) per hour and the temperature continued to plummet, we made the tough decision to go back down the headwall where hopefully there would be better weather.

Arriving at Low Camp, we realized that it was the right choice since we could see the very strong winds from the top of the mountain where we had just been.

The day before Christmas, we build a Christmas tree out of blocks of circular frozen snow and took a picture of Laura standing on the top representing the Christmas tree angel.

On Christmas day, the strong winds and blowing snow that had been at High Camp had descended to Low Camp and we were in a real Antarctica storm. Some of the tents were being blown away and the snow walls that were built to protect the tents had to be reinforced.

A day later, the winds had subsided and the day had cleared and we set off up the headwall again to High Camp.

We rested at High Camp for a day before setting off at 8:30 a.m. on December 27 for the long climb up the glacier, along the summit ridge to the summit for a magnificent 360° view of all the snow and ice covered peaks surrounding Mount Vinson.

After taking a number of photos, we took a couple of rest days before descending to Vinson Base Camp. There we caught a Twin Otter ride back to Union Glacier and a Ilyushin plane on to Punta Arenas.

This successful summiting of Mount Vinson represented the final summit of Dan’s quest to reach the top of the highest mountain with one or more members of his immediate family on each of the seven continents.