Expedition Dispatch

November 27, 2012 – Preparing for High Camp

Part I

Ok, it’s Tuesday, and I am calling you from Low Camp 3,800m approximately on Mt. Vinson. You might hear a bit of wind into the speaker of this satellite phone because we do have about 15-knot wind blowing down the valley this morning and it’s quite cloudy.

Yesterday, Todd and Vaughan and I moved up to the lowest section of the fixed lines that are going to take us to high camp. We wanted to get Vaughan on the fixed line to get familiar with passing the anchors, moving his ascender up the fixed lines and climbing and balance with an ice axe as we get us in. It went great; we climbed 300m up the fixed lines and then descended back to base camp.

Now, the weather report has called for cloudy weather which we’ve had mostly. It’s cloudier today, we actually had a call for not very strong winds today, but when Todd and I got up this morning and later when we talked to the other guides, they all basically had the same conclusion that we thought it looked a bit too windy up high. So, we waited for the 1pm forecast called in from Vinson base and we confirmed that it may be a bit windy today, still cloudy. It will get colder tomorrow but more clear. So we decided to wait.

Tomorrow, the temperature up at High Camp should be about -30 degrees Celsius. But today, it’s going to be -27 degree and we got clouds, so for three degrees Celsius difference in the forecast we’re deciding to acclimatize a bit more at this elevation, wait for some clearer weather and maybe we will have better luck with the wind tomorrow. That’s our decision, we’re resting well. It’s going to be good for us to sleep at this elevation again and things are… (Lost satellite connection)

Listen to Wally's call, part I

Part II

I just want to give you a bit more information on Tuesday about what our life is like here and what’s going on. First of all, the snow blocks I described earlier are still up here, protecting us from the wind. We still have those pits up with the pyramid tarps over them where we have our meals. We’ve been eating great! Last night we had chicken breast and mashed potatoes. The night before we had beef stew and mashed potatoes. We had granola for breakfast this morning, but yesterday morning we had scrambled eggs and a bit of salmon. We’re eating very, very, well. Life is very comfortable here at Low Camp.

Now a climbing ranger and two Sherpas who are working as a climbing ranger, Rob and the Sherpas, Namgay and Lakpa Gelu, went up this morning on the fixed line, even though we’re waiting, and it’s good to have those guys ahead of us. Winslow, Todd, and the two Sherpas actually fixed the lines for this season just a couple of days before Vaughan and I arrived at Vinson base camp. So the lines and the anchors are in good shape, but no one has yet been to High Camp.

Those rangers, Rob and the two Sherpas, will arrive there today, even though it is a bit windy up there. They’ll be in radio contact with us and a big advantage to us. I’m sure they’ll get to put the camp in a bit. They got the cache from last season; make sure they could find everything, so we’ll be able to get our tents up when we arrive, presumably tomorrow, and everything’s in order. This is a very international crew we have here. The teams that are climbing along with Todd and Vaughan and I are from all over the world, New Zealand, Australia, France, England, United States, Ecuador (Lost satellite connection)

Listen to Wally's call