December 18 – Team Reaches Summit, Returns to High Camp

Transcript of Dave Hahn sat phone dispatch:

This is Dave Hahn reporting in with the Berg Adventures International Vinson 2004 team. We went to the summit today! All the way to the top of the continent of Antarctica, Vinson Massif, at 16,067 feet above sea level!  We left this morning in beautiful conditions, calm clear weather, as good as any as we could have asked for. By 9:30 AM we were climbing and 8 hours and forty minutes later we stood on the top.  The three of us spent a good 40 minutes on the top enjoying the views.  It took us only 2 1/2 hours to get down.

Bud, Peter and I are all doing great.  Now we have eaten dinner and we are settling down to rest. We need to sleep now here at high camp, but tomorrow we will head to Vinson Base and of course we are hoping more good weather at each step of our journey out:  good weather so that we can fly from Vinson Base to Patriot Hills in the Twin Otter, and good weather so that we can fly on from Patriot Hills to Chile after that.  But for the time being we have got to get down the mountain first. We will report to you how that goes.  This is three happy, satisfied and tired climbers signing out from Antarctica for now… Talk to you again soon.