Our time at Vinson Base Camp was very short lived. After a good night sleep, we leisurely got up around 10 AM and indulged in a good breakfast. Shortly afterwards, we gathered around for a refresher on glacier travel and crevasse rescue. Since there are many crevasses on the Branscomb Glacier, we have to be roped […]
The Ilyushin flight from Punta Arenas, Chile to Union Glacier Base Camp in Antarctica took exactly 4 hours and 40 minutes. We touched down on the blue ice runway (8 km/5 miles) long at 11:50 AM. It was very cold as the runway was in the shade. We carefully walked the icy runway and took a few […]
We got the call from ALE at 4:15 AM this morning and we are a go. Weather is Antarctica is holding up for the moment. They told us to be ready for a 5:30 AM pickup to head to the airport and board the big Russian Ilyushin 76TD Cargo plane.
We got the call this morning at 6 AM from ALE and unfortunately it was not what we wanted to hear. We are not flying to Union Glacier Base Camp as the wind is blowing well over 35 knots and our departure is being delayed. We were told by ALE there’s a slight possibility that […]
We attended the mandatory ALE (Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions) debriefing this morning at 9:00 AM. ALE operates the camps in Antarctica and handles all the logistics. The meeting lasted about 1.5 hours and we were told to have our bags packed and ready by 2:00 PM so they can be weighed, picked up, transported and […]
The first adventure of 2013 is the most exciting yet as it takes me to the highest, coldest and most remote place on Earth: the continent of Antarctica! I will be climbing the continent’s highest peak Mount Vinson Massif and then ski the last degree to the South Pole. I arrived earlier this afternoon in […]