From Cairns to Antarctica

Robert and Jay will first fly to Sydney and then to Buenos Aires in Argentina, South America, with Qantas.  From there they will take an internal flight to the southernmost city on earth, Punta Arenas, in the Patagonian Region of Chile before catching their final flight: to Patriot Hills, Antarctica.  

From Patriot Hills to the Summit of Mount Vinson

Patriot Hills is our first stop inside the Antarctic Circle, after a six hour flight from Punta Arenas.  Patriot Hills is a naturally occurring blue ice air strip that permits large aircraft to land.  The air strip is run by ANI, the only privately owned Base Camp for Expeditions in Antarctica.  From Patriot Hills our team will travel 130 kms to our first base camp. 

Mount Vinson Base Camp 1 (2100 M)

Where the flat snow and ice surrounding Patriot Hills gives way to the Ellsworth Mountains, Base Camp is at the heart of the Sentinel Range, which forms the middle section of the Ellsworth Mountains.  Knife edge ridges soar in the area’s impressive surrounding peaks.  Base Camp will be the closest thing to home for our expedition.  We will need to bury anything that’s at risk of blowing away and our tents will need to be barricaded in with snow block walls, which will guard against the worst winds Antarctica can serve up.

Camp 2

With 24 hour sunlight, there’s no rush to vacate the relative warmth of our sleeping bags.  The push to Camp 2 will take about eight hours of hauling heavily loaded sleds and our backpacks loaded to the brim.

The terrain leading to Camp 2 is gradual, though requires care through crevassed areas, then a steady, fast pace through an avalanche zone, avoiding blocks of ice up to the size of a house that let go from above.

Camp 2 sits beneath the massive flank of Mount Vinson that towers thousands of metres above camp.

The day’s work comes to an end after a good couple of hours spent putting up tents, sawing snow blocks for a wall around the camp, while the third person prepares the food.

Camp 3

The temperature outside the tent, on a good day, will be around -20 to – 25 degrees celsius (Cairns, Qld, average temperature is +33 degrees celsius; a difference of 58 degrees).

From Camp 3 we will have to climb a 300 m “head wall”, the most technical section on our way to High Camp.  We pack up our loads to be cached at high camp.  We plan to leave enough food and fuel for any storms that might pin us down for up to four days, and then return to Camp 3 for a two day rest, allowing our bodies to adjust to the altitude.

From Camp 3 it’s back up through the “head wall” on to High Camp.  We will be eager to establish camp and prepare ourselves for the possible summit day to follow.

High Camp is nestled in a saddle between the steep flanks of Mount Shinn, and the wide gradual slopes of Mount Vinson, providing views to the west that are spectacular; a picture postcard view of Antarctica, offering a hint of the views to be gained from the summit.

Summit Day

With hopefully ideal weather conditions, we will start for the summit by traversing through a huge basin where winds pour in from the surrounding ridges, making stops brief in the sub-zero temperatures.  From here, we will gain access to the summit ridge.

This section requires extra attention on its exposed, snow covered rocks.  When on the ridge’s crest we can expect a bitter wind chill factor of about -34 to -40 degrees celsius (that’s a variation of up to 70 degrees from our home temperatures in Cairns, Australia).

It’s considered to be a typical alpine summit ridge requiring, for the last 45 minutes, very careful foot placement, past a few narrow sections with big drops on either side.  From the summit we will expect to see the peaks of the Sentinel Range jutting out from any low layers of clouds, all blending into a mirage of ice, snow and cloud that extends as far as the eye can see, with Base Camp thousands of metres below.

After a very short time taking celebration photos on the summit, we will begin our descent, seeking to escape the cold by retreating to the warmth that Camp 3 offers.