December 13, 2010
Phil just called in at 11:00 a.m., P.S.T.
After days of waiting, the Bird is finally inbound to pick up the group from Union Glacier, and they should be in Punta Arenas tomorrow by 2:00 a.m. All’s well and the weather is holding. Everyone is hustling to change their flights home departing on the 14th or 15th.
Becky Kjorvestad, IMG Office
December 10, 2010
Phil Ershler called in at 1:10 p.m. PST time (6:10 p.m. Antarctica time.)
IL-76
The Vinson Team walked down from High Camp today and was flown over to Union Glacier – ALE’s main base camp.  And there they will stay until the weather permits another window for flight, allowing the IL 76 to arrive and fly them back to Punta Arenas. As for now, everyone is safe & sound, enjoying great comfort at the Union Glacier Camp.
Becky Kjorvestad, IMG Office
December 9, 2010
Near the summit of Vinson. (Photo Justin Merle)
10 for 10 on the summit of Vinson! Phil called in at 12:55pm PST today to report that the whole team made the top! Cold and windy but worth the effort!
Their next step is to get back to High Camp and then on down to Vinson Base Camp as soon as they’re able for the flight to Union Glacier and then onto South America and eventually home.
Congratulations to the entire team but we’d like to point few folks climbing for specific causes:
Alan Arnette: We’ve known Alan since he climbed Cho Oyu with IMG back in 1998. Since then he has built his website into a leading climbing news source. After his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2003 Alan dedicated his life to raising money to help researchers find a cure. We’re proud to be working with Alan on the climbing project “Memories Are Everything: The Seven Summits For Alzheimer’s”. We hope to help Alan hit his goal of raising $1M by raising awareness for this important cause. (more info)
And Graydon Muller & Robert Marshall, who are part of the United States Air Force 7 Summits Challenge and are climbing to raise money for the The Special Operations Warrior Foundation which provides full scholarship grants and educational and family counseling to the surviving children of special operations personnel who die in operational or training missions and immediate financial assistance to severely wounded special operations personnel and their families.
We’re proud to be a part of such great causes, way to go guys!
Tye Chapman
December 9, 2010
A look at a Vinson Summit Day. (Photo Eric Remza)
Phil called in last night around Midnight (Antarctica time/7:00pm PST) to report that everybody made it up to High Camp in good form yesterday and will go for the summit today.
The plan today was to wake up with the sun, fire up the stoves for a hot drink then hit the “trail” on what Phil estimates to be a 12hr. summit day (roundtrip back to High Camp). If all is going as planned, they’re a few hours into their day, but we’ll know more this evening.
Tomorrow, they’ll continue downhill to Vinson Base Camp where they’ll catch a flight (weather permitting) to the new landing area at Union Glacier where the big IL-76 awaits to fly them back to South America. First thing first – summit Vinson, the rest can wait.
Tye Chapman
December 8, 2010
National Weather Service Windchill Chart
Phil called in last night to report that after a week, their time at C1 is thankfully coming to a close. Winds yesterday were relatively calm with temps around 0 degrees Fahrenheit, but while it was nice at C1, the winds were estimated at 50+mph up at High Camp forcing the team to hang tight for another day.
The team will get moving around noon today after the shadows retreat as the sun rises above the ridge making their climb to High Camp a touch warmer. A good 48-hour forecast should give them solid summit window on Thursday.
That’s all for now.
Tye Chapman
December 6, 2010
Phil called in this morning at 8:00 PST.
All is well at Camp 1, but  the group is still waiting on the winds to die and conditions to improve before moving to high camp. Currently winds are gusting at 35 mph at Camp.
Guide Aaron Mainer and some of the group descended to Base Camp to bring up additional supplies while the rest of the team built snow walls around camp. Phil reports that there are no issues with the group and all are doing well.
George Dunn
December 4, 2010
Vinson Camp 1 checked in Saturday afternoon at 12:30
“Looks like we’re going to be sitting again today – weather’s improving but not enough to warrant going up high. The nice thing is that we have plenty of time and plenty of gas and food here at Camp 1. We also have the ability to see up to the location of High Camp so we can watch the winds blowing the plumes off the ridge giving us a good indication of when to move up. Quite pleasant with no wind down here at Camp 1 - all’s well and we’re just biding our time at picking the best shot.”
Phil Ershler
The weather in Antarctica is like nowhere else (photo: Mike Schiller)
December 3, 2010
What a windy day on the fixed lines looks like. (photo by Eric Remza)
Phil called in from C1 on Vinson to report that they’re in the middle of their first “weather imposed rest day”. It’s pretty windy where they’re located and extremely windy up high.
They spent the morning building up their wind walls and are currently in the middle of an intense game of Hearts… Assistant Guide Aaron Mainer is currently winning but as Phil said, “nobody keeps stats on who’s winning in the middle of the game”.
The forecast isn’t much better for tomorrow so it looks like they’ll wait it out and see what Sunday brings.
That’s all for now.
Tye Chapman
December 2, 2010
Well, the team is back in Quito winding down after 2+ weeks here in Ecuador. As you know we got shutdown during our first two weeks here but we came on strong these last two days with summits of Illiniza Norte and Illiniza Sur!
Iliniza Norte was a great climb (both times) loaded with different technical challenges. The summit was rocky but we all found a spot to enjoy a few moments on a well deserved summit. As we took in the views, watching the clouds roll in and out, we spotted our next objective: Iliniza Sur.
The line we wanted to climb on Illiniza Sur was steep and we anticipated needing to use some running belays and perhaps a fixed line near the summit. The team was up for the challenge. We woke up at about 1:00am, were walking by 2:30am and were standing on the summit at 6:00am, just in time for an amazing sunrise, which we all enjoyed tremendously since we haven’t seen much of the sun these past couple weeks.
What a climb! Sometimes the climb itself is so much fun that the summit gets overshadowed by the journey, which as a guide, is a great feeling! After the team hit the summit and looked around, they asked Romulo and me, “Is this the summit?” which was to say, “This is fun as hell, can’t we keep going?”. On top with nowhere to go but down, we headed back to the hut for a hot drink and our ride back to Quito.
What’s left? Pizza, beer and a little storytelling of course before we all head home tomorrow.
Greg Vernovage
December 2, 2010
Looking up at the headwall on the way to Camp 2 (Photo: Jason Tanguay)
Phil called in this morning to report that the carry to High Camp went off without a hitch. The weather held out as expected and everybody did great yesterday ascending the 4000 linear feet of fixed lines to High Camp then descending back to C1.
Today they’ll catch up on their sleep and load up on calories before moving to High Camp tomorrow (Friday) with a possible summit day on Saturday.
That’s all for now…
Tye Chapman
