Mount Vinson, Antarctica
Antarctica: The Frozen Continent
Antarctica is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent on Earth. It’s also possessing the highest average elevation of any landmass. Approximately 98% of the continent is covered by an ice sheet with an average thickness of 1.6 km (reaching up to 4.5 km). It holds 90% of the world’s ice and 70% of its fresh water.
Spanning 14 million km², it is 1.3 times the size of Europe. While it has no permanent inhabitants, the population varies between 1,000 and 4,000 seasonal researchers. The interior is a frozen desert where temperatures at Vostok Station have reached a record low of −89.2°C, often accompanied by Katabatic winds exceeding 300 km/h.
Mount Vinson: The Roof of Antarctica
Located in the Ellsworth Mountains, 1,200 km from the South Pole, Mount Vinson is the highest peak in Antarctica. With average temperatures around -30°C, expeditions are only possible from December to February.
Since its first ascent in 1966, only about 1,000 climbers (including only 17 French climbers) have reached the summit. As the continental high point, it is a key component of the 7 Summits Challenge.
Vinson Massif Historic Timeline
First Sight
The mountain was first spotted by a U.S. Navy aircraft during a reconnaissance flight from Byrd Station. It was named after Carl Vinson, a U.S. Congressman who was a major advocate for Antarctic funding and research.
Mapping and Survey
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted ground surveys and aerial photography to officially establish the mountain’s location and estimate its elevation within the Sentinel Range.
The First Ascent
On December 18, a team led by Nicholas Clinch successfully reached the summit. The expedition was a joint venture between the American Alpine Club and the National Geographic Society; all ten team members reached the top.
First Commercial Expedition
Private exploration began with Adventure Network International (ANI), the predecessor to ALE. This opened the peak to civilian climbers and those pursuing the Seven Summits challenge.
Precise GPS Measurement
An expedition using high-precision GPS technology established the definitive height of the summit at 4,892m (16,050 ft), correcting earlier estimates that placed it over 5,100 meters.
The Patriot Hills Era
During this period, Patriot Hills served as the vital logistical hub and blue-ice runway for all flights entering the Antarctic interior via the Ilyushin-76, before operations moved to Union Glacier in 2010.
The Expedition
Dec 12-15: France - Punta Arenas
Our expedition began with flights from France to Punta Arenas, Chile. This city served as the final staging point before our flight to Antarctica. During our time in Punta Arenas, we checked our gear, bought the sleds and organized our food supplies for the duration of the climb.
Dec 16-18
From December 16 to 18, we remained in Punta Arenas due to adverse weather conditions at Patriot Hills. The flight was delayed as the landing spot, called “blue-ice runway” in Antarctica required specific visibility and wind parameters for a safe landing. We monitored the weather reports daily while waiting for a window to open over the Heritage Range.
Dec 19: Punta Arenas - Patriot Hills
Finally, on December 18, we flew from Punta Arenas to Patriot Hills aboard a Ilyushin-76 cargo plane. Patriot Hills had served as the primary base camp for Adventure Network International (ANI) since 1987. Located at an elevation of 1,000 m (3,280 ft) at coordinates 80º19’S / 81º16’W, the camp was situated 3,000 km from the nearest city and only 1,075 km (670 mi) from the South Pole.
This logistical hub served as the starting point for most Antarctic expeditions at the time. We landed on the glacier, a natural blue-ice strip. We arrived at the Patriot Hills camp around 5:00 PM, but at that time of year, it never gets dark.
Dec 20-22: Stuck at Patriot Hills
We remained at Patriot Hills as a storm moved across the Heritage Range. The weather was too bad to move further and all air operations were grounded.
We stayed at base camp, unable to go out and train, waiting for the winds to subside and for visibility to improve so we could fly to the Vinson Massif.
Dec 23: Patriot Hills - Vinson Base Camp (2,100m) - Half Camp (2,500m)
With the return of favorable weather, we flew to Vinson Base Camp. We boarded the third of six scheduled flights, taking off at 5:00 PM. The flight took place under clear skies, with only a few clouds visible over the Vinson Massif itself. The view from the Twin Otter was both incredible and awe-inspiring: endless ice stretching to the horizon, punctuated by small dark rock peaks emerging from the white expanse. We landed at Vinson Base Camp (2,100m) at 6:00 PM and received a safety briefing from the ALE staff.
Following the arrival, we organized our equipment and food for the higher camps, loading the supplies onto sleds and caching the remaining gear for our return. At 9:00 PM, we departed the base camp in two rope teams of three. We reached Half Camp three hours later, navigating through cloud cover. After pitching the tents and melting snow for water and food, we concluded the day at 2:00 AM.
It was our first experience of 24-hour daylight. Here, it is not the day–night cycle that sets the pace, but the weather. Whenever conditions are good, we move forward, whatever the hour, because it never lasts long. The rest of the time, we rest, when the weather is too bad or too cold to leave the tent.
Distance: 4.5 km. Time: 3h.
Elevation: +400 m.
Dec 24: Vinson Half Camp - Low Camp (2,750m)
We woke up in the clouds with an ambient temperature of -20ºC. Visibility and conditions improved as we ascended the Branscomb Glacier, and temperatures rose as the sun broke through the cloud cover. We maintained a steady pace and reached Low Camp (2,750m) at 7:30 PM.
Upon arrival, we pitched our three tents and constructed snow walls to provide protection against the wind. Taking advantage of the 24-hour daylight of the Antarctic summer, we completed our camp duties and went to sleep late.
Distance: 4.5 km. Time: 4h 30m.
Elevation: +250 m.
Dec 25: Bad Weather at Low Camp (2,750m)
On December 25, Christmas Day, we remained at Low Camp due to unstable weather conditions.
This decision resulted in the loss of another day of progression, following the significant delays already encountered at Punta Arenas and Patriot Hills earlier in the expedition. The weather was not too bad, but we could not risk dismantling camp and getting caught in bad conditions before setting up the next one. We hesitated for a while about carrying a load up to the next camp, but eventually gave up because of the fog.
Dec 26: Vinson Low Camp - High Camp (3,710m)
The morning weather remained unchanged, leading us to adjust our strategy. Having already lost several days to bad weather, we decided not to make multiple carry trips and to climb directly to High Camp (3,750 m), carrying everything in one go. It was a questionable decision, as we ended up with 25 kg packs. In the cold, everything takes an endless amount of time, and it took us several hours to break camp. Before leaving, we set up a new cache: waterproof barrels buried under the snow, containing emergency equipment and survival rations for the return.
We left Low Camp at 3:00 PM in temperatures of -25ºC.
While the climb began in the clouds, we soon ascended above the ceiling at 3,100 m, gaining views of the Mounts Shinn, Gardner, Epperly, and Tyree glaciers. We followed the ridge route to avoid the crevasses of the headwall. With the heavy loads, it took us six hours to reach the upper glacier.
We reached High Camp at 11 p.m. The wind had picked up and was blowing at over 60 km/h, producing a wind chill of −45°C. Setting up camp in these conditions was a real struggle: it was impossible to touch metal — ice axes, crampons, tent stakes instantly stuck to our mittens. In fact, it was far too cold to use gloves; we wore two pairs of mittens, one over the other, plus hand warmers, which made every movement more difficult.
The cold and wind had completely frozen the ground, and we had to dig with ice axes to create platforms for the tents. To make them withstand the wind, we half-buried them and built walls around them using large blocks of ice. Then we laid nets over the tents, anchored to the ground with snow stakes. We split into two groups: those digging and building the walls, and those pitching the tents and securing the nets. In the end, it took us two and a half hours to set up just a few tents.
It was 2 a.m. We were exhausted, but it was not over yet. We still had to melt ice for drinking and cooking. Inside the tent, it was −20°C — relatively warm, but with the risk of setting things on fire with the stoves — and outside, the wind was still blowing at 60 km/h. It was very late, or very early, by the time we were finally able to sleep.
Distance: 4 km. Time: 8h 30m.
Elevation: +1,000 m.
Dec 27: Rest Day at Vinson High Camp
After the efforts of the previous day and the lack of sleep, we decided to stay in camp to rest and acclimatize. Here, atmospheric pressure at the Pole is lower than at higher latitudes (due to the centrifugal force caused by the Earth’s rotation and the extreme cold), which means that 3,710 m at the Pole corresponds roughly to 4,600 m at the equator. This is the same issue encountered on Denali.
Dec 28: High Camp - Mt Vinson Summit (4,892m) - High Camp
In extreme cold, as at high altitude, everything takes time. Inside the tent, temperatures drop below −15 to −20°C, so you have to get dressed inside your sleeping bag before even opening the zipper. Of course, we slept partly dressed, and the rest of our clothes stayed at the bottom of the sleeping bag to keep warm, as did our water bottles.
Once dressed, we fired up the stoves to melt snow for water; for that, we had filled bags with snow (not ice) the day before. Every movement was slow: we were wearing four layers of clothing and gloves, even inside the tent. In the end, we got up at 7 a.m. and were ready by 9:45.
We left High Camp under clear skies and light wind, with an ambient temperature of -25°C. By noon, as we passed the 4,200 m mark, the wind speed increased and the temperature dropped. I was wearing four layers of clothing, plus down jacket and down bib. For the hands, I had heavy, warm gloves, large heat packs (normally used for the body), and thick down mittens. A balaclava and a down hood covered my head, and for my face I wore a neoprene mask and ski goggles to protect my eyes.
We had planned to take a steeper but faster route than the normal one. We committed to the couloir, but the black ice was so hard that nothing would penetrate it — neither crampons nor ice axes — and we did not have enough ice screws anyway. We downclimbed the couloir and returned to the normal route. We lost two hours and a lot of energy. At the same time, clouds began to roll in, wrapping around Mount Shinn nearby (the third-highest peak after Vinson and Tyree).
The weather did not deteriorate too much, and we eventually reached the summit of Mount Vinson (4,892 m) at 7 p.m. Unfortunately, the view was limited by clouds, and between the cold and the stress, all we wanted was to get back to camp and take shelter. The descent went smoothly, and we returned to camp after 12 and a half hours of climbing.
This marked my 6th of the 7 Summits.
Distance: 14 km. Time: 12h 30m.
Elevation: +1,230 m / -1,230 m.
Dec 29: High Camp - Mt Vinson Base Camp
In the morning, we received confirmation that the Twin Otter aircraft were expected to arrive at the base camp at 6:00 PM the same day. We dismantled the tents and cleared the site at noon, departing once again with 25 kg rucksacks. The weather conditions were clear and stable, contrasting with the previous three days.
We arrived at Low Camp at 2:10 PM, where we were informed that severe weather at Patriot Hills had grounded all flight operations. No rush anymore. We collected the remaining gear and food supplies from our cache and loaded them onto the sleds. We were the last team remaining on the mountain. We proceeded in two rope teams of three.
Conditions remained clear until we reached Half Camp, where we entered a cloud layer. We reached Vinson Base Camp (2,100m) at 6:10 PM. Since the weather at Patriot Hills had not improved, all flights for the day were canceled. We pitched our tents to spend an additional night at the base of the massif, finishing our camp duties by midnight.
Dec 30: Vinson Base Camp - Patriot Hills - Punta Arenas
The weather conditions improved on the morning of December 30, allowing the Twin Otter aircraft to perform the shuttle from Vinson Base Camp back to Patriot Hills. This flight covered approximately 250 km across the Ellsworth Mountains, lasting about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Once again, I spent the entire flight with my eyes fixed on that endless expanse of ice. Thousands of square kilometers uninhabited, hundreds of untouched peaks — a landscape of great beauty, as fascinating as it is frightening.
Upon our return to the Patriot Hills, the Ilyushin-76 was cleared for the intercontinental flight. ALE stamped our passports with an Antarctica stamp. It has no legal value, but it carries strong sentimental meaning.
We departed Antarctica for the 4.5-hour flight back to Punta Arenas, Chile. This journey crossed the 60th parallel south and the Drake Passage, covering a total distance of 3,000 km (1,870 mi).
We landed at Presidente Carlos Ibáñez del Campo International Airport, officially concluding the expedition and my successful ascent of the 6th of the 7 Summits.
Information
Mount Vinson Technical Route Profile (Branscomb Glacier)
- Base Camp (2,100m): Located on the lower Branscomb Glacier. Entry point for all expeditions arriving from Patriot Hills.
- Base Camp to Low Camp (2,750m): A gradual ascent of the Branscomb Glacier. The terrain is relatively flat with a gentle gradient (approx. 10° to 15°). Sleds (pulkas) are typically used for this 10km section to transport heavy gear.
- Low Camp to High Camp (3,750m): The technical crux of the route. It involves ascending a snow and ice face (Headwall) with slopes reaching 40° to 45°.
- High Camp to Summit (4,892m): A sustained alpine climb. The route follows the broad Vinson summit valley before ascending a final rocky ridge.
Antarctic Access and Logistics: ALE
Expedition logistics for the interior of the continent are managed by Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE). The journey begins in Punta Arenas, Chile, with a 4.5-hour flight that crosses the Drake Passage and the 60th parallel south. This intercontinental leg is operated by a Ilyushin-76 heavy-lift cargo aircraft, specifically designed to land on the natural ice at Patriot Hills.
Patriot Hills (80°S) served as the primary logistical hub and gateway during our expedition, later on, ALE moved its main operations to Union Glacier. This base camp, located in the Heritage Range, provided the essential infrastructure for the expeditions.
The final transfer to the Vinson Base Camp is carried out by DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft. These versatile planes are equipped with skis, allowing them to land on the softer snow surfaces of the Branscomb Glacier, effectively bridging the gap between the blue-ice runway and the high mountains.
Environmental Protection and "Leave No Trace" Protocols
Antarctica is protected by the Antarctic Treaty and the Madrid Protocol, which mandate the highest environmental standards on Earth. To comply with these regulations, Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE) enforces a strict “Leave No Trace” policy for all climbers and staff.
The protocols for our expedition included:
- Waste Management: Every piece of litter, food packaging, and broken equipment had to be collected and flown out of the continent.
- Human Waste: All solid human waste was collected in specialized containers and transported back to Punta Arenas, Chile, for disposal. No biological waste is permitted to remain on the ice.
- Greywater Control: Specific guidelines were followed for the disposal of greywater from cooking to minimize the chemical impact on the glacier.
These measures are essential to preserving the purity of the Antarctic interior, ensuring that the continent remains a pristine wilderness and a protected scientific sanctuary.
