Pretty smooth day all around.  Considering that in other years it has taken weeks to get from Punta Arenas, to the Ice and then to Vinson, we are mighty lucky to have done it all in a day.  And for that, it wasn’t even a stressful day.  No angst about whether we were going to go or not… no waffling weather or closing window for flying.  It was just a day of green lights from the get go. 

We left the hotel at 6 AM and there wasn’t too much slack time out at the airport.  There were eighty of us, dressed in quite the variety of colorful cold weather gear and fancy boots.  We mingled and had mini reunions with old and less old acquaintances.  And then we trooped on out the gate to board our plane.   Things are different this year!  We used to ride in cargo and troop transports… this year we walked into a shiny Icelandic Air Boeing 757.  And it was nice and nobody was fighting over the mask mandates.  I have to say though, that a little bit of the cowboy feel to flying to Antarctica is now gone.  It was a lot like going from Seattle to Denver or Dallas.  Time to watch movies or sleep.  The pilot put the wheels down on Union Glacier’s ice runway at 12:45 PM just like he’d been doing it forever.   We bundled up and came down the stairs.  It was a remarkably fine day for November.  Our faces and fingers weren’t in danger of freezing as we milled about on the ice, snapping pictures.  Then we got on board a souped up van with great big wheels and were chauffeured over to Union Glacier Camp.  It was comfortable there and we were immediately warned not to get too comfortable.  The plan was for the three of us to be on the first airplane out to Vinson.  There was time for a tour of camp and a hot and hearty meal in the dining tent and then we loaded into a ski equipped Twin Otter for the hop out to Vinson.  After 45 minutes and another perfect landing - this time on the snow strip of the Branscomb Glacier at 7000 ft of elevation- we were walking around in our new and beautiful home at Vinson Base Camp.  This was around 4:15 PM.  The work began.  Lots of camp building and digging and sorting gear and getting settled.  We didn’t eat dinner until after 9 PM, which didn’t matter too much, the sun was quite strong making our dining tent comfortable.  Not all eighty passengers on the 757 were Vinson climbers, but there are six different guided groups out here as of today to kick off the first climbing season since the pandemic began.  Now it is 12:30 AM, still with good sun, but time for bed. 

Best Regards

RMI Guide Dave Hahn