Entries from Expedition Dispatches
We really shouldn't complain, as it could be much worse. Some people have been waiting 11 days already at Union Glacier to fly back to Punta. We've only been stuck for two days. But, for an active group of people, two days lying in the tent in a fog as thick as pea soup...well, that can be like an eternity.
We're hanging in there, though. We got a brief respite this morning when the clouds lifted enough to expose the checkerboard of icefall immediately outside of camp, and a brief glimpse down to the Nimmitz Glacier. But, then it all socked in again, encasing us in a deep, thick fog and taking visibility down to about 50 meters.
So, we read. We sleep. We listen to music. We eat. We repeat. Not much else can be done. Patience, and a good sense of humor - two essential elements for a good team in the mountains.
Hey there, Pete Whittaker and the First Ascent team checking in from the ice still at Vinson Basecamp. We woke up this morning to clouds and very cold, icy fog. And this ended up being our second day of being unable to move. We're pretty much tent bound all day today. We were talking about comparing it to being inside a freezer with the door just slightly cracked so that the light is on all the time, 24 hours of day light down here. So very, very cold and just a lot of tent time today. And that's the story. We have adjusted our plans a little bit because of the weather. Forecast is still for possibly more clouds tomorrow. We were looking for an unclimbed peak closer to the Vinson Massif and I think now we're changing our plans. We've identified a couple objectives that are closer to the Union Glacier camp and the runway, dealing the weather and all the backups due to this strike in Punta Arenas. And the people that need to be moved around with the planes. Also because it is the end of the trip we're just adjusting our objective here a little bit. So we hope to get out tomorrow and have a twin otter drop us on a peak closer to Union Glacier, and we'll see how that goes. We're two weeks tomorrow on the ice, you know, everybody's trying to keep the spirits up. Getting towards the end of the trip, we’re all getting a little bit weary of the cold and the ice but hanging in there and hopeful we can fly and finish off the end of the trip. Everyone is healthy, everyone's doing well and getting a lot of horizontal time in the tent. That is the report for today and we hope to talk to you from a different location tomorrow. And we'll talk then.
Peter's update from Vinson Basecamp
Weather forecast was right. Winds picked up last night and didn't slow down until 8 am this morning. We estimate that the wind speed was a steady 30 mph and gusts of 50 mph. The good news is that besides a few cut guidelines, our tents stayed in place with no damage. Nobody slept that much so this morning our stoke score descended a few points. Once the wind slowed down we had a late breakfast and packed for the carry to Camp 2. The first hour and a half we walked uphill on a steep trail up the col Aconcagua-Ameghino (17,500'). Once we got to the west side of the col we were exposed to the cold wind that was still blowing on that side of the mountain. It took us 2 more hours to reach Camp 2. The descent to Camp 1 was very quick, just 1:10hrs.
As I write this Garrett is cooking dinner, which smells great, so our stoke score will get to 8 points! Hot drinks are ready so we will be sending a new dispatch tomorrow during our well deserved rest day at Camp 1.
Gabi and the RMI Aconcagua expedition
As I write this Garrett is cooking dinner, which smells great, so our stoke score will get to 8 points! Hot drinks are ready so we will be sending a new dispatch tomorrow during our well deserved rest day at Camp 1.
Gabi and the RMI Aconcagua expedition
Low Clouds and Grounded Planes
We all awoke this morning to a strange thing: warmth. All of us were sweating in our sleeping bags, and a quick unzip of the tent door explained the phenomenon. During the night, low clouds had marched across the continent, swamping the Sentinel Range in a mire of moisture, and bringing the temperature up noticeably.
After some coffee to get us moving, Peter set off to check in on flight possibilities with the ALE staff nearby. A quick radio call confirmed what we all suspected: No flights today. We'd be spending at least one more day at Vinson Basecamp.
There are certainly worse things to have happen; Vinson Basecamp is not a bad place to be stuck in a fog-bank. But, we all are a bit bummed as it would be nice to be moving to a new location and prepping for a new climb. Climbing, however, is often an exercise in patience, dealing with forces which are not only uncontrollable, but also tend to punish the impatient.
So, today, we sit, Kent and I shoot, and wrap up production loose-ends. We also took some time to pore over our map of the Sentinel Range, looking for potential peaks to check out via Twin Otter when the weather clears. Again, there are worse things; soon, the weather will again clear, and we'll be off to the next step of the journey.
Patience, as the saying goes, is a virtue.
-Jake Norton
This is Gabi and the RMI Aconcagua expedition checking in from Camp 1.
This morning we left the comfort of Aconcagua Basecamp and started to head up at 10am. The team did a great job climbing today, it took us 4 1/2 hours to reach the camp. We enjoyed another sunny day. The cold winds on the Andes started to pick up, not too strong yet, but forecast is calling for 75 mph at the top for tomorrow. We will see how hard is blowing here tomorrow morning and we will decide if we do the carry to Camp 2. Our plans B and C for tomorrow are to carry just to the col between Aconcagua and Ameghino (half way to camp 2) or we'll use one of the weather days if winds are extremely strong. We'll be sending dispatches from the new comfort of Camp 1.
I am passing the keyboard to Garrett, and he will give you the score of the stoke meter.
By popular request we are instituting a daily stoke meter, to share with the world the level of excitement the team is currently feeling. We'll be using a numeric scale that corresponds to a specific level of stoke, defined as follows: 0-2= no stoke. 3-5= semi-stoke. 6-8= stoked. 9-10= TOTALLY STOKED! Today's stoke meter is a healthy 6, which is pretty nice after the climb.
Stay tuned for more updates from the team!
RMI Guides Gabriel Barral and Garrett Stevens
By popular request we are instituting a daily stoke meter, to share with the world the level of excitement the team is currently feeling. We'll be using a numeric scale that corresponds to a specific level of stoke, defined as follows: 0-2= no stoke. 3-5= semi-stoke. 6-8= stoked. 9-10= TOTALLY STOKED! Today's stoke meter is a healthy 6, which is pretty nice after the climb.
Stay tuned for more updates from the team!
RMI Guides Gabriel Barral and Garrett Stevens
We had high hopes of being able to fly today. After several days of protests and road blocks in Punta Arenas the crew was ready to load the plane with gear, food and more expedition members and fly to Union Glacier. Unfortunately, that didn't happen due to a broken fuel pump. It may be a few days before it can be fixed and the jet is back in the air.
The food and accommodations here are great and we are all doing well.
Best,
RMI Guide Ed Viesturs
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Hi there, it’s Peter, checking in from Vinson Basecamp, today is January 15th. And it’s about 1:20 PM. We woke up this morning, we had a great ski day yesterday, and we're hopeful [to fly] to one of our objectives an unclimbed, unskied peak. But the weather moved in and we are in a very cold, icy fog now with zero visibility. And so everybody's kinda shut down and it looks like it's gonna be tent time all day and just chilling and taking it easy and resting up a bit. We’ve been on a pretty, oh, not hectic schedule but we've been doing everything or a lot of things everyday so it’s kinda nice to have a rest. Forecast is not great for tomorrow, but we'll see what happens. And we're hopeful that we can get a twin otter plane out of here. We've got a couple great objectives about 10 minutes south on the way back to Union Glacier that we'll look at from the air and think that they would be prime possibilities for doing some skiing. And we hope we can land right by them. That's the plan and R&R today, iPods in the tent, and reading and just kinda taking it easy. And hopefully that changes tomorrow and we can we can get going with the rest of our trip. That's it for now, and we'll talk soon.
Peter Whittaker gives team's update on the RMI team's rest day
Beautiful Lines in a Sea of White
We had another stellar day today in the peaks off the Branscomb Glacier a couple of miles from Vinson Basecamp. There seems to be endless ski opportunities in this area - not surprising since we're on a continent almost entirely covered in snow and ice. But, what has been surprising is the quality of the snow we've found.
Often, we've heard, the conditions for skiing here in the interior are marginal, with variable crust and massive patches of rock-hard, blue ice covered by a thin veil of snow. Hit one of those with some speed and you're down for a home plate slide. Fortunately, some wind events recently, combined with the uncommon snowfall of early season, have created great conditions around Vinson Basecamp.
Today, we moved again to the beautiful ribs outside of camp in the late afternoon when the sun gets low and backlights the whole area. Peter, Seth, and Caroline skinned up to a great location below a terrifyingly big cornice; fortunately, their position was well-protected by a hug bergschrund just below the cornice, and gave safe access to good terrain below.
We all had a great 4 hours shooting under the low-Antarctic sun with perfect snow conditions. We skinned back to camp by 9:00 PM, had a stellar dinner, and started organizing gear again. Tomorrow, our Twin Otter arrives midday. We'll fly around Vinson for a bit, and then go off scouting for an unclimbed and unskied peak. With luck, the 16th will find us in new territory on an untouched peak in the Antarctic.
-Jake Norton
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall checks in after a ski day in Antarctica
After the climb David, Cindy, Ben and I said goodbye to our climbing teammates and boarded the Twin Otter at Vinson Basecamp. We flew to Union Glacier, the hub of ALE's antarctic expeditions, we had only spent a few hours here on our way into Vinson Basecamp due to the great flying weather. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case on our return. The weather is good for flying but a strike in Punta Arenas, Chile, our next destination, is preventing the Ilyushin jet from making it's way to pick us up. We aren't alone.. several teams are sitting in Punta Arenas waiting to start their Antarctic adventures and just as many teams are here waiting to return.
Hopefully we will be in the air soon.
RMI Guide Ed Viesturs
A bright, sunny, warm day lulled everyone to the cook tent for books, card games, and group crossword puzzles on our rest day. We slowly worked to organize gear that will stay in Basecamp, and that which will move up with us tomorrow to Camp 1. Everyone is excited to leave the unmistakable scent of mules behind and to begin the ascent of the upper mountain. We'll be up early tomorrow to break camp, eat breakfast, and work our way to Camp 1, most likely next to the Norwegian and French teams that we've climbed next to thus far.
We'll have more to report tomorrow!
Cheers,
RMI Guide Gabriel Barral
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Hey to all of you from Marysville, Ohio and the Union County Family YMCA “Training Home to Erin Snowden” We love the updates. Please take good care of Erin and each other. You’re all an inspiration, In fact I wish I could be with you. God Speed the rest of your adventure!!!
Rick Shortell, Executive Director
Union County Family YMCA
Posted by: Rick Shortell on 1/19/2011 at 7:01 pm
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