November 24, 2006 – Update: We Finally Made It to Vinson Base Camp

It is 10:15 pm on the 24, you won’t be believe this, I can’t believe it. I am  calling you from Branscomb Glacier, Vinson Base camp at 8,000 ft,  we are already out here.  It didn’t look good but the weather report came back from Vinson base that the clouds had quickly cleared, the snow stopped and the decision was made to put the twin otter, the ski plane, into the air, and we quickly scrambled to pack up our first Antarctic camp.  Wayne, Larry and I loaded into the twin otter and it was a beautiful flight, It took just less than an hour to fly 118 nautical miles out here to Vinson base.

Now I am standing here, it is a beautiful evening, very clear, very still, probably warmer than I have ever seen it here, we are stunned by the beauty all around us, particularly stunned to know, remember, we have only been in Antarctica for less than 24 hours and we are about to put our second camp, and we made all the way now to Vinson base camp. It is all about the climbing now, the travel is over, the uncertainty of air travel is over for awhile and our team can get focus on climbing Mount Vinson.

November 25, 2006 – Let’s Build our Camp Site

I am just going to give a quick update today on the 25th . Larry, Wayne and I are taking the day to build our base camp in, this involve digging out a camp, cutting blocks to build  snow walls, and generally just organizing ourselves.

This type of camp is actually pretty easy, with a couple of shovels and snow saws you can build a really comfortable home. It is cloudier today than when we flew in last night, but it is still very warm I am looking at the summit of mount Vinson now , it is calling us but we got to take our time, get organized, get prepared to climb higher, and if weather is good, we will probably do a carry to camp 1 tomorrow.