Jacob called to let us know that the planned flight to Antarctica has been delayed due to high winds both in Punta Arenas and also at the blue ice airstrip on the Union Glacier. They are hoping to fly this evening. They spent the day exploring Punta Areans and the twins rubbed “El Dedo Del…
Sebastian Grau called in two posts from the top of the extinct volcano, Fuya Fuya, north of the capital city of Quito. It seems as if the satellites dropped both calls, but the team is doing well and are excited to ave completed their first acclimatization climb of the trip. Helmut arrived a couple of…
Alillachu kapangui jintikuna! Quechua for “Howdy friends!” Ecuador is a wonderful country to visit, with a rich cultural history and diversity. The geography is stunning and very complex for such a small country. Beautiful beaches are lapped by waves to the west, with two chains of 400-600m peaks rising just a short distance from the…
Hola everyone! Welcome to first of our four Mountain Trip Mount Vinson Expeditions for the 2014-15 climbing season! I’ve been in Punta Arenas, Chile for the last few days preparing for a season guiding the highest peak in Antarctica, Mount Vinson. The first team has arrived with all of their bags and we are all…
We are absolutely thrilled and privileged to start another season of helping climbers pursue their dreams of climbing to the highest point on the continent of Antarctica. Mount Vinson soars to a height of 16,066 feet (4897m) in the Ellsworth Range. Located at 78 degrees south latitude, the mountain is shrouded in glacier and regularly…
Scott called in a very happy post from the warmth of Nabire! This was Scott’s 7th ascent of the peak (and his 7th rotation of the SEVEN SUMMITS!), and his excitement about our new access to the mountain comes through in his post. Reliable access to Carstensz has been the proverbial Holy Grail for climbers…
Our Carstensz Pyramid team reached the summit of the most elusive of the famed Seven Summits! The route to the summit is a combination of rock climbing and exposed scrambling, with some higher forms of roped trickery required along the way. From the team’s camp in the Yellow Valley, right at the base of the…
Things are going great at the Carstensz Pyramid Base Camp in the Yellow Valley. The team climbed about 300m up the route today as training for their summit bid. Everyone did very well as they reviewed their systems for ascending fixed lines, using running belays and moving efficiently over moderately steep rock. Tonight, the team…
Our lead guide Scott Woolums called in from Carstensz Base Camp! The team flew over hundreds of miles of jungle as they made their way from the north coast of Papua to the mountain. Under sunny, clear skies, they are now nestled in their camp, located at the foot of the mountain. They will spend…
The team loaded up in their helicopter for another attempt to fly to base camp at Carstensz Pyramid! It is early morning over on Papua and while the weather is not totally clear abd bluebird, it looks more favorable than when they tried to fly yesterday. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the mountain is…