Go back
|
View image gallery from expedition
Other expedition blogs
|
|
Expedition Se7en Summits The time has finally come. Only one more continent left to visit and one more mountain left to ski: Mt. Vinson. Standing 4897 meters tall, it marks the highest point on the Antarctic continent and is, as part of the Ellsworth Mountains on the 80th parallel, arguably the most remote mountain in the world. Because of local climate conditions human presence is only possible for a few months every summer, when the sun finally rises after six months of darkness and the quicksilver rises to a fresh -40° centigrade. The massif was first climbed in 1966, as the last of the Se7en Summits and the surrounding mountain ranges are still the world’s least explored. It’s been compared to climbing on Jupiter, but without the luxury of a heated space shuttle nearby. Mental note to self: Don’t forget the thermal underwear…
After having witnessed the difficult balancing act between the conservatism of the owners of the aircraft and the courage of its Ukrainian crew, along with an extended period of waiting on the southern tip of Chile and a hard landing, finally take our first steps on the Antarctic continent. After a sleepless night under the midnight sun we boarded a smaller Twin Otter aircraft for the second leg of the flight to the foot of the mountain on the Branscomb Glacier, where we promptly set up our BC. Our goal was however not only to climb the mountain but also to do it as a “first”. In some sense. This recurring business of being first is a plague which not only affects us, but also infects all other “climbers”, “adventurers” and “explorers” who amuse themselves by going on long expensive vacations to exotic locations for other peoples money. During this trip, this fact was readily exposed as no less than three people competed for the title of becoming the first people to ski the Seven Summits, and two groups fought for the honour of becoming the first Swedes to have climbed the series. Our competitors in this drama were the American freeride queen Kit DesLauriers and the old Slovenian mountaineering veteran Davo Karnicar. On top of this the Swedish climber Fredrik Sträng was also on a record hunt, trying to climb the Seven Summits in record time. Already beaten by an Indian climber halfway through his attempt and well on his way to being beaten by a Canadian climber as well, only the title first Swede to climb the Seven Summits remained. Something we were also aspiring to. In other words, a dash to the finish line beckoned and we were not about to settle for second place. Or as our friends at Dynafit like to put it: “Speed Up”. Our plan was a simple one. To climb the mountain in a continuous alpine push from BC to the summit. Hence we were sitting on the plane wearing our ski mountaineering boots, already wearing our harnesses and with the skins already mounted on our “Se7en Summits” pro model skis. Before the plane had had time to turn around and take off for Patriot Hills we were already halfway up to Camp 1, as the new day dawned after a night with temperatures in the negative 40s we passed Camp 2 and after 26 hours of non-stop climbing we had reached the summit of Mt. Vinson as the first climbers of the season. After a five hour ski descent of the normal route where the 45 degree slopes of the Headwall provided the only real challenge, we were back in BC before the other climbers had even began their ascent. We thus became the first Swedes to climb the Seven Summits and also beat Karnicar on the skiing front. Whether or not we also beat Kit is open for debate. Talk is cheap however, so we decided instead to go to New Guinea in January 2007 and become the first people to ski Carstensz Pyramid and all eight of the Seven Summits. Having already had success on the mountain we came to Antarctica to climb, during our first day in the Ellsworth Range, we were, with another week and a half to go before our flight back to Patriot Hills, left with an interesting dilemma. What other mountains to climb and snowfields to ski. As the first ski bums to ever set foot on Antarctica, we set off to meet this challenge head on, spending the next 4-5 days following our successful ascent of Mt. Vinson by skiing subsidiary peaks in the massif. One project in particular stood out. The ice stream on the west face. Almost 2 000 vertical meters and 45-55 degrees of pure fun. Climbing quickly we reached 1 800 meters in six hours before bad weather moved in and we were forced to retreat down on skis with only 200 meters to go and the summit within our grasp. Having already seen the view from the top and knowing full well what the consequences of being caught out in a storm at this latitude would mean, we returned to BC for some well deserved rest. It was not to be. The call came in before we had even had time to light our Primus stove: ”Mayday, mayday mayday… stuck on headwall… need immediate back up…mayday”. While the reception was poor, the meaning was clear. Trouble. We immediately started up the mountain again. Two hours later we had reached Camp 1 and received an update via VHF from BC. Five climbers were stuck on top of the Headwall in bad weather, suffering from hypothermia and unable to move. At least one had suffered a crevasse fall and had severe frostbite. All were in immediate need of assistance. Having reached the bottom of the head wall at 3400 meters, a mere 600 vertical meters and not much more than a kilometre from the trapped group, we were finally exposed to the full force of the storm and had to bivouac. The storm we had avoided on the upper sections of the ice stream had now descended over the massif reducing visibility to under 15 meters with gusts strong enough to knock a man off his feet. Continuing up in the prevailing conditions would have been suicide and we quickly proceeded to set up a temporary shelter. A cold night passed as the storm raged on outside with undiminished intensity. Radio reports from the meteorologists at Patriot Hills gave little hope of the storm letting up in the next 48 hours. All the while the radio transmissions from the group above were becoming increasingly desperate. Growing weaker by the hour they were either unwilling or unable to get to us and we couldn’t get to them. It was a stalemate. At 6 o’clock in the afternoon it became clear that we had exhausted our options. It was too cold to stay in our drenched bivvy which had began to fill up with snow and we could now either take a chance and move up the mountain or retreat back to the relative safety of Camp 1, most likely abandoning the stranded climbers to their fate. It was never really a choice. And was the storm not showing signs of dying down? Roping up we began to make our way up the steep slopes. We've often been fond of saying that as climbers you create your own luck. On this evening however, Christmas came early. As we reached the highly crevassed area at the top of the Headwall, the wind miraculously dropped allowing us to locate the makeshift snow cave the trapped climbers had dug within an hour. Amazingly we also found that all the climbers were still able to get up on their own (after 24 hours trapped in a snow cave), and while none of them still had the use of their hands we quickly tied them into our rope and began pulling them down the mountain. Halfway down the Headwall we were joined by two ALE rangers who immediately offered their support and we could split the injured climbers between us. Five hours after leaving our bivvy we all staggered into camp together. A long day was drawing to a close. It had been 24 hours since the first Mayday call and another 24 hours since we had last slept. Exhausted and utterly spent but happy that everyone had made it off the mountain alive we returned to BC where we collapsed into our tent. Five days later we once again boarded the giant Russian Ilyushin jet for the flight back to civilization. Our time in Antarctica was up and our hunt for records, fame and fortune was, at least for now, over… |
|
 Mt. Vinson, 4897 m above sea level, Antarctica, 2006 Members: Olof, Martin
Status: Completed
, Read report Date: November - December, 2006 |
