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That is great news ... Congratulations!! Prayers for a safe return.
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Cool!!!!!
Didn't I read somewhere that this would complete the Seven Summits for Kurt? If so, double congratulations!
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Congrats to Kurt...
Can't wait for the slide show to come through Torrances A16...mark
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Hey Richard, Kurt said he's already got another Antarctica trip lined up next year. Wanna go? Oh hey, check this one out (from Adventuras Patagonicas): You get to man-haul heavy sledges 600 miles for 55-60 days in extreme cold to the South Pole and when you get there your extraction by air is only a "possibility". All this fun costs a mere $60,000. Dogs aren't allowed in Antarctica these days thus the man-hauling. The expedition is also unsupported -- thus no food caches or external support. Probably still some open slots for this one! http://www.patagonicas.com/expeditions/antarctica/south-pole.html -Rick
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Sounds like a good diversion from the annual December Whitney trips.
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I think Kurt neeeds to do a SMI Karstens Pyramid trip to complete the Summits. who wants to sign up. Just a few cannibals and a real remote setting. I see that as a SMI destination coming to a slideshow near you soon. Alls I know is I'm double dawg jealous about Vinson.
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Thanks everybody and to Ken for starting this thread. It was an amazing expedition. Here is the rest of the story after the summit...
We wake up from Camp 2 the day after reaching the summit. We are planning to pack up and descend to Base Camp where a Twin Otter will pick us up and bring us back to Patriot Hills. At Patriot Hills we would then wait for the big Russian IL-76 to come in and take us back to Punta Arenas. This all sounds pretty smooth right??? Here's the problem. The Twin Otter will only come get us if there are 10 climbers ready to go. The IL-76 was scheduled to come in on the 16th and had managed to fly on time. The next arrival was set for sometime before Dec 29. It would wait until 50 people had gathered at Patriot Hills before it would fly. This includes people from Mt. Vinson plus visitors to the South Pole and other parts of Antarctica (scientists, etc.). Most Mt. Vinson climbers were still behind us including two American groups and a Canadian party. Hearing all this doesn't make it sound very promising that we'll get out any time soon. We woke up from Camp 2 on the morning of Dec 18.
Everybody at Camp 2 decided to try for the summit on the 18th; the day after we climbed. I got a visit in my tent from a guide leading one of those groups. He asked if I could take down one of his clients who was suffering from AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). He was feeling nauseous and couldn't eat or drink. He had no energy left to make a summit attempt. Getting to lower altitude would be a good thing for him. Most guides work pretty well with each other and I was happy to help. All the groups left and we started packing up. Then while we were packing I see a gal come back who was a member of another American team (Mountain Madness). She said she didn't have any energy left to climb and they had only been gone for about 15 minutes. She also packed up and came with us. Now we were a party of four instead of two. We started down at 12 noon on the 18th.
Ahead of us was the Swiss party of three. They summited the day before and were down at Base Camp. The Spanish party of two left Camp 2 at 10:30 AM. We were four so that made nine people in total descending to Base Camp. I called to find out if that would be close enough to get the Twin Otter to fly in to get us. The answer was yes as long as the weather held. We picked up caches left by us and our two new team members at Camp 1. We arrived at 5:15 PM. The Base Camp manager told us the Twin Otter would be here at 8 PM.
At 7:30 PM Patriot Hills calls Base Camp to say the pilots are eating dinner and would be landing at 9 PM. At 8:15 PM we get another message from Patriot Hills. The IL-76 would be flying into Patriot Hills at 12 midnight. Why??? They decided because there was a break in the weather they wanted to take advantage of it and fly in a load of fuel. It would be an empty plane returning to Punta Arenas and we could jump on it!!!
The Twin Otter lands and gets us. We arrived at Patriot Hills and are informed the IL-76 is already in the air headed in our direction. It lands at 12:15 PM.
We take off at 1:30 AM on Dec 19 and arrive at Punta Arenas, Chile. After clearing customs and getting to our hotel it is 7 AM. We get our luggage and I look at my plane ticket. My original flight is scheduled to leave Punta Arenas at 12:40. That's 5 hours 40 minutes from when we got to the hotel. I showered, repacked my bags, ate some breakfast, got a taxi back to the airport and checked in for my flight.
Connections took me through Puerto Montt and Santiago. A red eye flight left Santiago at 10:40 PM arriving in Miami at 4:50 AM. Another flight from Miami to LA and we landed at 10:30 AM. By the time I got my bags and was picked up by my good friend Greg it was time for lunch at Islands... nothing like some good American food after being gone for so long!
All that traveling from Camp 2 on Mt. Vinson to LA made me pretty tired. I slept hard and now today Dec 21 it is time to drive home.
Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers from everybody. It is always appreciated. I have downloaded all the photos and yes I think there will have to be a slide show sometime soon.
All the best,
Kurt
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An amazing story, and what a wonderful summit. I'll look forward to seeing a new slide show at A16 WLA soon!
Merry Christmas, and welcome home!
-Laura
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Congradulations on a successful trip and thanks for the report Kurt!
-Rick
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Congratulations and thanks for a great trip report.
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Congrats Kurt...nice trip report. And big time congrats on finishing the "7". Phenomenal!
Btw, I am John Christiana's sister.
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Awesome trip report there. Isn't it amazing...that you can go from the side of an incredibly brutal mountain in Antarctica to warmth and comfort at home in Los Angeles in just 48 hours! The "shock" of the difference has to be immense...
Congrats Kurt..
Chris
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Tina
I look forward to our first hike together in the Sierras! For the record, I love chopping wood. When I used to camp in the snow with friends in the Laguna Mountains (I was 18ish), I would be the first one up in the morning to chop all the wood for the fire. Btw, you should see my Dad's huge pile of neatly placed firewood on the side of his house.
Even though I don't plan on doing the seven, I am seriously considering Kili next June. (If I don't do Kili, I will be trekking to Everest BC in May.)
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