The Mountain Trip Vinson Team made it to basecamp today! They caught a break in the weather and the ski-equipped twin otter planes flew them from their temporary home at Union Glacier to the base camp at the foot of Mount Vinson at just over 7000 ft. The views from this camp are spectacular as…
Our January Aconcagua team is assembled in Argentina and poised to head up the trail tomorrow morning. Three climbers will be accompanied by our long time Aconcagua guide, Fermin Avila, who just summitted Aconcagua for the 30th time just over a week ago. Aconcagua is the tallest peak in South America and also holds the…
Daniel Laidig called in from the Union Glacier camp in Antarctica. The team had hoped to fly to Base Camp today, but high winds and poor visibility at the Branscomb Glacier did not permit them to fly. All the climbers are seasoned veterans of previous expeditions, so they understand that waiting is part of the…
Our 2020 Mount Vinson expedition has arrived onto the southernmost continent! Jacob Schmitz called in from the Union Glacier camp, after the team flew from Punta Arenas, Chile to Antarctica. The flight took about 4.5 hours, crossing over the Drake Passage and continuing down the Antarctic Peninsula. The Russian made Ilushyn IL-76 transport plane landed…
Welcome to the ice, January 2020 Mount Vinson Team! Minutes ago, the team departed from Punta Arenas, bound for Antarctica! They are excited to continue further south and to begin climbing. Mount Vinson is the highest peak in Antarctica lying within the Ellsworth mountain range a mere 600 miles from the South Pole. The icy…
Mountain Trip guide Jesse Yon called in from Mendoza, Argentina following the team’s trek out from Aconcagua. They departed the Plaza De Mulas Base Camp early in the morning and hiked south for about 15 miles out the Horcones Valley. The trek took about six hours. After checking out with the Provincial Park Service, the…
The team called in a dispatch, but it was largely unintelligible. They made it back to camp, after a 12 hour round-trip to the highest point on earth outside of the Himalaya. Everyone is stoked, but they are pretty tired after their big day. They will spend tonight at High Camp before descending a vertical…
The team is on the summit!!! Congratulations to the team, who just called in from the top of the Americas. They started in the dark at about 5:30am, climbing by headlamp for the first hour. The summit route starts up the north ridge of the mountain, and trends to the east side for a bit,…
The team moved up to high camp today, they awoke to a bit of snow, but it didn’t slow them down. The climb to high camp at over 19,000ft is relatively short, but the pace is generally slow due to the high altitude and lack of oxygen to power the climbers. They had an early…
Dave Montesanti gave us a ring on this last day of the decade, checking in from 18,000′ at Chopper Camp. The team is doing great, feasting on pizza and steaks at one-half an atmosphere! Dave gave a nice shout out to two of the team who departed from Base Camp, following a nasty bit of…