Jacob called in a great expedition dispatch from high camp on Mount Vinson this afternoon. The team has finally caught a break in the weather and were able to make the move up a relatively steep section of the route that brought them to high camp. This section of the route is known for the nearly 3000 vertical feet of fixed lines that the climbers will clip into to provide a bit of additional security while ascending the relatively steep slope that takes them to the upper basin where they’ll set up high camp. The views (as well as the satellite phone reception) get better and better as the climbers get above some of the lower peaks and are able to look out across the ice plateau that spreads as far as they can see, and the other big peaks of the Ellsworth Range such as Mount Shinn that surround Mount Vinson.
The team did great today, breaking trail in the 14″ of new snow that fell over the last few days, an almost unheard of amount of snow in this typically very dry environment. Even with the extra work of breaking trail, they made it to high camp in 5.5 hours, a slightly above average time for this section of the route. They’ll settle in and recover tonight and hope to get a chance to summit as early as tomorrow if conditions cooperate and everyone is feeling strong!
Here’s Jacob checking in with an expedition dispatch from our Mount Vinson team from high camp:
