Vinson Expedition Dispatch

November 26, 2010 – Flat Stanley is Going to Antarctica!

In addition to the climbers on our Vinson expedition, we have been joined by FLAT STANLEY, a paper representation of a little boy who asked to go to Antarctica with us, and will return to Kate and John´s cousin Kevin´s second grade to report to the geography class on what he has seen. Together, we anticipate giving Flat Stanley the trip of a lifetime.

This morning Flat Stanley attended the pre-trip briefing given by ALE, the logistics provider for our trip to Antarctica. For nearly two hours Flat saw a power-point presentation that covered Antarctica history, what to expect on our Vinson expedition, how our flight would work, and how to dress for the cold weather to prevent frostbite. ALE is in its 24th year of operating trips to Antarctica, and they really impressed us with their knowledge and presentation. First they got us excited by explaining how the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 governs Antarctica and what the role of a private adventure travel company is.

Then they explained how on our flight there would be 48 passengers (including ALE staff) going to climb Mt. Vinson (as we will be), heading to the South Pole (both by flight, and to "ski the last degree"), and finally flying to see the Emperor Penguins. There is clearly a lot to do on the Cold Continent. Our fellow passengers will hail from the US, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the Netherlands, a large group from China, some from Saudi Arabia, and surely other places as we only met a handful of people!

Antarctica was explained to be a place of extreme conditions (wind and cold being the main ones), of vast distances (the continental U.S. could fit neatly inside Antarctica), and with a complete lack of facilities (whatever one does in Antarctica has to be self-supporting/sustaining). We are all glad ALE and Berg Adventures International will be our partners in this.

Flat Stanley listened attentively as our flight was described to us. Flying wheeled aircraft to Antarctica became possible with the understanding of landing on blue ice. When ALE began flying in 1987 they flew DC-4´s, then Hercules C130´s and now what we will fly - an Ilyushin 76 plane, a plane built by the Russians for wilderness travel. When we fly to Antarctica we will have a payload of 17 tons - which sounds like a lot! The flight will take approximately 4 hours and 20 minutes. The flight is done by visual flight rules -- i.e. there are no beacons or landing strip lights where we are going.

Everybody is very excited about where we are going -- Union Glacier SCGC Runway -- a brand new landing strip several years in the scouting and preparing. The runway has only been in use for the past month and has lots of new equipment (we will take pictures of the Ford Econo-line van outfitted with snow-cat tracks... the ALE people are very creative!!! We might not take a picture of the men´s urinal, but were all very impressed by the thought that went into creating a facility that dramatically improved the environmental conditions in a heavily trafficked area.)

Since Flat Stanley will accompany us on the climb, we won´t go into details about what he learned about Vinson this morning - only to share how excited we all are to be climbing with Wally Berg who first climbed Vinson in the early 1990´s. Understanding how to dress, move, and live on a mountain like Vinson is not something you can read in a book... it is something that you have to experience. Having an experienced guide is critical. We are all looking forward to the days/weeks ahead of us as we have this unique adventure!