It was a cold night here at Low Camp last night. Frost formed on the edges of our sleeping bags from our breaths and we woke up to rings of frost crystals around us. Once the sun poked over the ridge line things began to warm up and before long we were moving about camp without too much chill. The plan was to carry a small load of food and fuel to high camp to prepare for our summit bids. Since our loads were manageable and we are nursing what rest we can at lower altitudes, we worked in tandem with a group from ANI and Penn and I made the carry to high camp while Jon traversed the glacier to a col on the far side of the valley. We set off in the early afternoon with (relatively) warm temps and no wind. We skinned up the base of the fixed lines that ascend a broad face to a ridge line that leads to the upper portions of the Vinson Massif. Transitioning at the base of the fixed lines, we put our skis on our backs and strapped crampons on and began climbing. We spent the next several hours climbing the ~3,000' face, watching the glacier shrink away below us and the mountain tops above loom larger as they drew nearer. As we neared the top of the fixed lines a low but sharp wind kicked up and the temperatures instantly plummeted. We bundled up and climbed the final hour or so into high camp doing our best to conceal any bit of skin from the biting winds. The winds died as we reached high camp and we were able to warm up a bit as we stowed our gear in preparation for our move up there. It was a spectacular evening, the glaciers below us flowed out into the low hanging clouds below while to both sides of us the rugged ridge lines of the Massif reared up from below. Above us a half full moon hung above the summit of Mt. Shinn, Vinson's neighbor, and looked so close that is seemed like only a quick detour would get us to it and back again. With our packs emptied we strapped on our skis and started back down. The skiing was slow and conservative right out of high camp as we picked our way through the wind affected snow, finding a line through the tall curls of snow carved out by the Antarctic gusts. The snow was firm and smooth along the top ridge line of the fixed lines and we chose to belay ourselves down that to keep ourselves safe. Once onto the face the sun had softened the surface and we were able to link up great turns for several thousand feet all the way down to the Branscomb Glacier below. We returned to camp by late evening and quickly set about cooking dinner and sharing our observations and insights about the route above with Jon. With our gear in place, we're hoping for a decent forecast tomorrow morning to make our move to high camp and shoot for the summit in the following days. We're back in the tent at Low Camp enjoying the warm midnight sun (as ironic as that sounds) and burrowing into our sleeping bags in preparation for another chilly night down here. RMI Guide Linden Mallory & team PS: Roll tide!

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