WE'RE MOVING THE DISPATCH BLOG!

We just learned that the Blogger format no longer supports audio files, so we have moved the blog to a new host.

Please go to: http://mountaintripblog.com/ to follow our 2010 Vinson Expedition team. We have podcasts up and running and will have the finishing touches on the site in the next day or so.

Sorry for the migration, but we need a higher level of service to maintain the high standards we place upon ourselves.

Thanks and enjoy the new blog!

Todd

Weather hold

Our Mountain Trip office just got a call from Bill at Base Camp. They've postponed their move to Camp One due to high winds 20 miles (32 kilometers)per hour. But, they're super comfortable in the huge DOME tent and Crazy Creek chairs. Grilled cheese and chili is keeping them warm too. The forecast for the next few days is for improving weather, so hopefully they'll be heading up glacier tomorrow.

Moving to Camp 1

We received a voice message sent yesterday, December 5th, from Mountain Trip's Vinson Expedition. Roman Hought is the speaker delivers the thoughts and plans for the day. All is well with the team, as they prepare their sleds for the trek up the glacier. They've been enjoying some "fine eating" as they prepare to move to Camp 1 today (the 6th). During the climb, they'll gain approximately 2,000 feet in elevation. The temperatures have been a bit cold, hovering around 10 degrees Fahrenheit above zero. Everyone is doing well and happy to begin the adventure in earnest!

At Base Camp!

The team has made it to Vinson Base Camp and are going to head up the Branscomb Glacier tomorrow.

They flew part of the way in a DC-3 on skis and then flew the last leg into BC on a Twin Otter, similarly equipped with skis. Base Camp is situated alongside a small ridgeline and is just off the center of the Branscomb Glacier. As you gaze up glacier towards Vinson, a beautiful, higher ridge climbs up towards the summit to the lookers right of the glacier. It is a really impressive place!

Terry called in the podcast and added some verbal punctuation, so imagine yourself reading a teletype or telegraph. I'm not sure what the Ephi gestation reference is about, but suspect it is some version of South Park-like humor...

***** PODCAST ERROR*****
Due to some upper-level technical glitch, I can't seem to get the podcast player to embed. I'll work on this and hope to have sound bites from your friends and family up and playing soon. - TR

In Antarctica!

Bill just called to report that the team is all in Antarctica.

They awoke at 2 am and flew from the Punta Arenas airport at 5 am. It is hard to express how exciting it is to make your way through the airport in your mountain clothes, passing through customs (go ahead- pat my parka down TSA!), and finally stepping out onto the tarmac, gazing up at the gangway leading up to the belly of the Ilyushin IL-76 cargo jet. It feels a bit surreal to walk up the ramp and settle into your jumpseat, looking across the cargo area at climbers similarly strapped in. On their particular flight, some of this view was obstructed by a huge Ford E-350, 16 passenger van, with bulbous tundra tires.

The flight takes about 4.5 hours and they landed on the huge Union Glacier. After everyone unloaded onto the blue ice, the big van came out to join another such van, this one on four tracks (like a 4x4 snow machine). The vans ferried the climbers 8km to the site of the large, highly supported camp at the glacier.

The team is currently on a weather hold, hoping that they can fly to Vinson Base Camp today. This season, the flight service company has a ski-equipped Twin Otter and a ski-equipped DC-3. They are in a bit of a learning curve as to how to best utilize these aircraft, as the DC-3 is almost too big to land at Vinson Base Camp. We'll see how the climber shuttling works out...

The crew is nestled in a large, comfortable dining tent, replete with heaters, so they are not suffering in the 10 degree F outside temperature. They had not yet set up their tents, optimistically hoping to do so at Vinson BC this evening.

We'll keep you posted as events progress.

Pictures from Punta Arenas

The team has been briefed, rebriefed, more briefs, and looking forward to future briefings. The bags are packed and being loaded on the plane as I write. Team members are spending the afternoon relaxing. Everything appears to be moving forward favorably for our team. Here are a few pictures from the past couple days here in Punta Arenas. Everyone is looking forward to a possible flight to the ice tonight.

The final day in Chile! (we hope)

We have all just returned from our Antarctica briefing and it's looking like we may be able to fly down to the ice as early as tonight! Terry's bags arrived this afternoon, so we're all set and excited to get underway.

We'll know more at around 7:00pm this evening, but if all goes well we may take off late tonight.

Gathering in Punta Arenas

We're all here! But not all of our luggage... Terry is missing a bag from his travels, but we are hopefull (and assured by the airlines) that it will be here tonight.

Everyone is excited to get underway and head to Antarctica soon. We're have a meeting tomorrow morning at 10am to get briefed on some of the details of life in Antarctica, and we'll be ready to fly as soon as tomorrow (Thursday) night!

In Chile

Kevin, Jacob, and I are in Santiago, Chile waiting for our flight further south to Punta Arenas this afternoon. All of our bags made it to Santiago, so we're doing pretty good so far...

We'll arrive in Punta Arenas this evening, and tomorrow we'll start organizing the last of our gear and food in preparation for our flight to Antarctica on December 3rd (we hope). The rest of the team will be arriving over the next few days.

Cheers from Chile,
Bill

Welcome to our 2010 Vinson Expedition

Located only about 750 miles (1200 km) from the South Pole, Mount Vinson is the highest peak on the continent of Antarctica and one of the iconic Seven Summits. Part of a 13 mile (21 km) long block of adjacent mountains in the Ellsworth Range called Vinson Massif, the highest point is now generally accepted to be 16,050 feet (4892m) above sea level.

Mountain Trip has been leading Mount Vinson expeditions since 2005 as a natural progression from 30 years of guiding Denali expeditions in Alaska. We absolutely love sharing the wild and wonder of Antarctica with fellow adventurers and hope that the friends and families of our 2010 Vinson Expedition team will feel somewhat more connected through this blog.

On December 1, a team of climbers from around the globe will converge on the small city of Punta Arenas at the southern tip of Chile. Two days of preparation, equipment checks are necessary before the group can board an Ilyushin IL-76 cargo jet and take off on the 4.5 hour flight to Antarctica.

Unloading the IL-76 on the almost hockey rink smooth blue ice.

The jet lands on an immense blue-ice runway on the massive Union Glacier. This season will be the first time this runway has been used for accessing Mount Vinson, and the hope is that it should allow flights to proceed with more regular service than did the historic runway at Patriot Hills. The piles of food, clothing and equipment will be ferried from the Union Glacier to Vinson Base Camp by two ski-equipped Twin Otter aircraft and the climb will then commence.

Loading one of the Twin Otters, en route to Base Camp.

Base Camp below the Vinson Massif. The summit is roughly behind the high point toward the right end of the ridge line.

Let's meet the climbers!

Guides:

Bill Allen, co-owner of Mountain Trip from Ophir, CO
Kevin Koprek from Ouray, CO
Jacob Schmitz from Bend OR

Climbers:

Roman Hought from Boulder, CO
Patrick Weidman from Boulder, CO
Terry Kelleher from Dublin, Ireland
Albert Connaughton from Dublin, Ireland
Chuck Raper from Oceanside, CA
Ephi Gildor from Aspen, CO
Neil Beidleman from Aspen, CO

We will make every effort to update this blog from the time the climbers arrive in the bustling port of Punta Arenas on December 1st until they fly from "The Ice" and land back in Chile. We will post photos and an expedition post-trip and encourage our climbers to add their photos, thoughts and stories as well. Friends, family and fans are all encouraged to post comments on the blog entries, and we will do our best to pass these along to the team in Antarctica, but please realize that this is not always possible and that the primary purpose of these dispatches are to keep you, the reader, informed as to the team's progress. If you would like to contact a team member, please feel free to call or email our Colorado office at:
info@mountaintrip.com
+1-970-369-1153 (GMT -6)

Our team is equipped with satellite phones, which work quite well at such southern latitudes, but on any expedition, circumstances could easily arise to prevent the team from calling in on any given day. We are firm believers in "No News Is Good News!" Our Colorado office is staffed to provide you with any additional information so please feel free to contact us with any and all questions, thoughts or concerns.

Enjoy the posts!

Stay Tuned for Posts from our 2010 Vinson Expedition!

Coming soon, to a blog near you!

Cheers,

The Team at Mountain Trip