November 24, 2006 – Update from Patriot Hills, Antarctica

It’s the 24th of November at 3:15pm local Chile time or 6:15pm GMT time.  As I mentioned before it is tradition for an Antarctic Base to stay on local time which is Punta Arenas in Chile.  Of course here in Antarctica where it’s light for 24 hours a day, time zones really don’t make a lot of sense so often we talk about GMT.

Larry, Wayne and I put our tent up after I called in last night even though it was brilliant light all around.  We got a few hours sleep and woke up at around noon and we have been listening now for some more news from Vinson Base.  The next leg of our travel will be our Twin Otter flight, 118 nautical miles to the Vinson Massif on the Branscomb Glacier at the base of Vinson Massif.

Two Borek Air Twin Otters are here all the way from Calgary, Alberta and are sitting right across Patriot Hills base.  They are tied down and the pilots are out checking them to make sure they are ready to go.  Jaco has reported that there is a weather system moving in from the west and a cloud bank coming in over Vinson with light snow now.  We are going to hold here for a few hours.  We will probably go in the next 6 to 12 hours.  The pilots were up all night last night but now they are rested and ready to go tonight if they need to.

Larry, Wayne and I are loving being in Antarctica and we’ll keep you posted as our adventure continues to develop and move closer to Mount Vinson.