January 2, 2010
The IMG office has been closed through the holidays, as it should be. Now it’s 2010 and time to get back to our expedition postings. George was in contact a couple of times from Vinson Massif at 79 degrees south latitude. The important thing to know is that all is good. The team flew on to the Ice on the 29th. Amazing as that was the date scheduled. That’s no small feat when you’re talking about flying 2000 miles to Antarctica. It wasn’t long after their arrival at Patriot Hills that they were able to fly another hour and arrive at Vinson base. This team is moving right along. The carry was made to C1 and now George has notified us that the entire team has completed the move to C1. Located at close to 10,000 ft., that’s great news. Better still is the fact that everyone is healthy and doing well. Make no mistake, Vinson is a serious undertaking. Everyone needs to be continually vigilant. At these extreme low temperatures, carelessness results in frostbite or worse.
George Dunn, team leader and IMG partner, has guides Eric Remza and Helena Coelho from Brazil, with him. They are working with a team of 7 IMG climbers. With 3 guides, they’ve got a ton of strength and a ton of flexibility.
C2 at over 13,000 ft. is their next objective. They’ll be making a carry and then moving up to their high camp. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear additional news. So for now, all’s good with the team being right on schedule and firmly ensconced in C1. This is great news with which to start the new year.
Phil Ershler
