We woke to calm conditions and good sunshine around 9 AM today. After breakfast and a powwow among the guide companies regarding route conditions, weather predictions, emergency procedures and communications, we got into some basic review of how we intend to rig up and climb Vinson. At 4 PM, when the sun was getting good and strong, we roped up and set out for an acclimatization hike up the first few hills of the climbing route. Conditions were pleasant -by which I mean that we were warm and comfortable as long as we kept moving. We got a few miles up the Branscomb Glacier to where we could start to see neighboring peaks like Shinn and Epperly, to the north. By 7 PM we were back in camp, just as clouds began to form up and obscure the views. We had a long and leisurely supper in our dining tent, and headed for the sleeping tents at 11 PM. Weather forecasts call for some potential nastiness these next couple of days... we’ll hope they are wrong, but of course basecamp is not a bad place to be if the predictions pan out. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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