Union Glacier camp was a busy place this morning. There were snowcat sledge trains and big-wheeled vans and tracked vehicles and snow machines of every sort and size zipping from A to B, plowing things flat, and simply hauling freight and people. Fuel drums were being fed to the Twin Otters and names were being written on luggage tags. The ALE staff were in overdrive and sixty outbound climbers and Antarctic enthusiasts were pleased, mellow and smiling. It was "Ilyushin Day".... Out with the old and in with the new on a grand scale. My successful climbing team packed their bags and knocked their tents down in about five minutes... Ready to go home but also a little sad to be leaving this cold paradise. Around 1:30 PM, the big four engine Russian jet touched down with a great roar of reversed thrust out on the ice runway. My old gang got in one big offroad van with Seth Waterfall and headed for the plane and Punta. I'd shaken their hands and advised them to have a heck of a victory feast in town. They'd earned it. I stood for a while watching all the action and before long another big offroad van pulled up with my new climbing team. Nicole, Brian, Joe and Bart were snapping pictures in all directions and smiling broadly. We got acquainted and oriented, waited a bit and then hurried up for a flight to Mount Vinson. By then it was dinner time and the Union folk felt bad about kicking us out of camp without a big feed, but clouds were closing in and we needed to get to the mountain. Mission accomplished (with a big pan full of hot pigs-in-a-blanket for inflight food) despite the encroaching storm, there were still a few thousand peaks to be seen out the windows of our ski plane. We landed at Vinson Basecamp around 8 PM and built our tents in our new home. My climbers haven't yet seen their mountain as it is cloaked in mist and light falling snow, but they will see plenty of the big hill, soon enough. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn

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