Vinson Expedition Dispatch

December 5, 2010 – Making the Most of a Stormy Situation

Snowed In

We are making the very best of our third full day in this surreal Antarctic storm. We are 80 degrees south, over 12,000ft/3,700m on the slopes of Mount Vinson, in the Ellsworth Mountains in the interior of Antarctica. Mark, our meteorologist, sends an update every day and keeps telling us that this low-pressure system over the Ellsworth Mountains is going to continue to stay like it is now, at least for today. We have terrible winds. Sometimes, like a few hours ago while I was outside my tent, it got pretty calm, but mostly the winds are up in the 15 to 20 knot range which is very serious in Antarctica. Our temperatures are not as cold as I’ve seen here sometimes in the past, but they are still around -15 to -22°F/-26 to -30°C all the time.

Also on Vinson is a four person Norwegian team called Team Latitude. They are a great team and we have had a great time getting to know them. They also have a sister team comprised of Francois from Quebec, Canada, Lorenzo from Italy, and Erik from Poland, and their guide Winslow. We share a camping area with these guys. Winslow and Pachi have been doing most of the cooking here in our Pash tent or in their own tent.