We made it to the summit of Vinson today! In the nick of time as it turned out. While our time of ascent was a blazing fast seven hours, the mountain was anything but easy today. We started with blue skies, bright sun and a nagging 10 mph breeze when the stoves were fired shortly after seven this morning. That breeze made things like fastening harnesses and crampons quite cold. We roped up and got moving at 9:45 hoping to lose the wind as we got into the protection of the valley glacier that would take us to the summit. That worked a little, things were reduced to occasional gusts. Those gusts increased in frequency and force as we got up near 15,000 ft. By the time we were scrambling onto the summit ridge, it was blowing a more or less steady 30 mph. We worked pretty hard to keep each other’s faces frost free and to keep sunglasses and ultimately goggles from fogging up. Hitting the top at 4:45 was a thrill, but not at all one we could linger over. We squeezed off just a couple of photos (which we’ll post after getting back to the Wi-Fi world) but it really wasn’t the day for bare hands on the summit. We set out to get off the ridge and down to high camp. This was accomplished in about three hours, during which we watched winds increase and a storm move into the Ellsworth Mountains. At 8:00 when we pulled into camp, the sun was in the clouds and winds were rock steady at about 20 mph, moving plenty of snow around. The victory dinner was in tents as it is far from pleasant at High Camp tonight. We snuck this one in... now to get down the mountain. Best Regards, RMI Guide Dave Hahn