Expedition Dispatch
December 6, 2012 – Back to Vinson Base Camp, Flying Back to Union Glacier
Well, it’s about 6pm, on the 6th of December, and I am calling you now from Vinson Base Camp. Vaughan and Todd, and I descended all the way down those fixed lines back to Low Camp. We picked up our sleds, do you remember these sleds? We actually pulled those sleds to Low Camp on the 25th of November and they’ve been sitting there since. We had to pack them up with a lot of our trash and refuge and some of the gear we had stored there and pull them the rest of the way down to Vinson Base Camp. There’s a batch of new Vinson climbers who’d been flown in today and we were thrilled to see two Twin Otter’s ski planes sitting here when we came down the hill towards Vinson Base. So we will be flying back to Union Glacier this evening, we’ll see where it goes from there. We’ve taken our crampons off for the last time on this trip, put our ice axes away and now we’re flying back to Union Glacier.
Very successful climb, I am looking up right now and Vinson is standing above us. It took patience, but we reached the top and she was very good to us this year—good conditions and a beautiful climb. Vaughan and I are happy to be heading back to Union Glacier. We’re not sure when we’ll be leaving Antarctica. But we’re really pleased about our successful climb and we’ll keep you posted on the news of our return to Chile [from] Antarctica.
Listen to Wally's call
ALE staff facilitating the flight process
Taking advantage of the flight; a team loads up while another unloads.
The Canadian Bird, a C-GXXB Kenn Borek Air Twin Otter plane
Anticipation builds up as the team is scheduled to fly back to Union Glacier this evening.
A view of Vinson Base Camp
A climber hooked up to his sled, making it effortless to move his gear around.
Loading up your ‘best friend’ at Vinson Base Camp. Pulling these sleds make packing up easy.