I believe Antarctica was one of the most special, majestic, remote, scenic, and amazing places Kristine and I have ever been. It was truly a privilege to be there and is comforting to know there is still a huge landmass larger than the continental USA that is virtually untouched and as pristine a landscape as one can imagine. The trip was overall exceptional and it was well worth the expense to us. We will likely never ever go there again, so we tried to soak up our 12 days on the continent as much as possible. Although Kristine has dreams of us working at Union Glacier way down the road. I guess never say “never”, right? Of course, only after we live in Sweden and then live in Pangboche in the Khumbu Valley for 6 months. Everything about the trip was amazing including the Russian Ilyushin-76 flight, Union Glacier, the ANI organization, the twin otter flight to the mountain, our team of awesome people and ANI guides, the climb of Vinson, our side climb of Knutzen Peak, and the days following our climb of Vinson at base camp filled with fun, friends, sledding, and skiing. Some of our Vinson team had a great night out on the town once back in Punta Arenas (some of us a little too much fun) and then Kristine and I headed north via several buses to Torres del Paine afterwards and spent three days and nights at the national park camping and day hiking. We then finally visited the Magellanic Penguin on Magdalena Island, a 2 hour ferry ride from Punta Arenas the morning before we flew out. All in all, an experience to be remembered forever.
Having just returned home last night, we still have yet to unpack and recover, but I wanted to send our some of our favorite pictures I went through today and edited. Please click on any picture to enlarge. Hopefully, these will suffice until we are able to complete our trip report over the next few weeks. I will most definitely post an update when that trip report is available.
A huge congratulations to our good friend and Vinson climbing companion Kevin Vann for completing his journey to climb the 7 Summits of the world. We met Kevin on Denali over 6 years ago when he was climbing with our other good friend Rob Casserley and today we are all just as good of friends (if not better) as we were in Anchorage after that climb of Denali in 2007. Kevin claims he has the record of the 2nd longest to complete the 7 Summits at like 27 years or something. Whatever the duration may be, its a great accomplishment. Well done, Kev!
Lastly, thanks to our great friend Scott Hook for receivng my satellite phone calls during the climb and updating this blog. From what I have gathered from others and have read myself, he did a wonderful job that was much appreciated by us all. Thanks, Scoot!
The Russian Ilyushin-76 after landing at Union Glacier. This plane is a beast and Kristine and I felt more comfortable in it than in any other plane we have ever been on (even with an all-Russian cabin and pilot crew)
Union Glacier and our little clam tents we unfortunately only spent one night in before flying to Vinson
An awesome looking peak and even more enticing snake-like ridge on one of the smaller peaks as seen on the flight to Vinson
Vinson base camp and Mt. Vinson towering 9,000′ above in the distance. The left tent was our ANI dining tent and the right tent is the food storage tent
Moving to Low Camp
Low Camp (around 9,100′). I took this picture around 2am
Land of the midnight sun
Kristine & our wonderful guide David Hamilton climbing the rarely climbed Knutzen Peak from Low Camp. This climb was a fun assortment of glacier travel and our familiar rock scrambling (albeit with Millet Everest boots on, crampons, roped up, and in -10 degree weather)
Me on the summit of Knutzen Peak (3373m or around 11,100′)
David, Kevin, & Kristine on the fixed ropes to High Camp
Kevin & Kristine at the top of the fixed ropes with Knutzen Peak in the background
Our view from High Camp (around 13,200′)
Kristine on summit day up the less climbed and a bit more technical west ridge of Vinson. We were about 1,000′ below the summit at this point
Kristine & I on Vinson’s distinct summit for lucky #7! The picture doesn’t do the conditions justice (-28 degree F air temp with 35mph winds pushing the windchill well below -50 degree F)
It was a wonderful moment together on top of the bottom of the world
Kristine, Kevin, and I concluding all of our 7 Summits endeavors
In honor of my grandfather Pop-Pop (Chuck Wimbrow), who passed away this past July, I brought the painted blue rock with smiley face dubbed “Pet Rock” that I gave him when I was very very young and which was given back to me after he passed. Pop-Pop was definitely up there in spirit with us. Nevermind the fact he would have hated the cold 🙂
Kristine & I back in our little cook tent at High Camp after an 8 1/2 hour summit day
A great evening at High Camp very happy with our successful finale of the 7 Summits together
A big Christmas Day celebration in the dining tent with our whole ANI crew back at base camp
Some of our crew went sledding the day after we arrived back down at base camp. Left to right: Harry, Halla, Kristine, Andy, & Chase (Mt. Vinson standing tall behind)
Kristine & I on top of Ski Hill. The 2nd day down at base camp we went skiing. First time I have had my heel locked down in 10 years. A strange feeling but fun all the same. The ANI crew was nice enough to lend us there AT setups and we skied the local peak dubbed “Ski Hill” for a great 2,000′ run back to Vinson base camp
Kristine skiing the ridge down Ski Hill
Great powder turns ensued down the face
The old DC-3 picked us up on the Antarctic Plateau after the twin otters were not available to fly into Vinson base camp. This was a treat yet involved us hauling all of our gear for a few hours below base camp
Me and Namyga Sherpa (11 Everest summits) before he took the sleds back to base camp. Kristine and I really enjoyed getting to know Namyga and spending time with such a wonderful person. He even gave Kristine a going away present. Hopefully, we will see him soon here in Colorado. Namyga is a guide/ranger for ANI during the Antarctic summers
Kristine & I below the Torres del Paine after getting a clear day to view these magnificient towers on our 2nd day hiking up to them (the first day was socked in with snow and fog – typical Patagonia weather)
The Magellanic Penguin. Kristine was instantly in love
Love the pics! Congrats on lucky #7! You guys are an inspiration…
Just thought I’d share this quote that I saw in the paper today, considering the -30 something day we had yesterday : )
“I’ve been way colder in Chicago than in Antarctica” – Emily Stone
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/living-antarctica-emily-stone-mcmurdo-mount-erebus/Content?oid=11973818
Of course, the only heights I scaled were by elevator : )
Dane – much appreciated, buddy! Thanks for all of your belief in us as well as support.
Jerry – wow, man! Heck of a quote. I do believe that for sure. However cold it may be in Antarctica, you typically always have the sun radiating on you which makes the air temps a bit less extreme. I can’t say the same for your city though in the winter:)
Wow! Bran and Kristine, Beautiful pictures and so glad you experienced a successful summit! Glad you had your noses covered.. 🙂 ! Look forward to hearing the details in person next time you are home. Love to my heros!! xox Laura Jane
Thanks, LJ! Looking forward to hopefully seeing all the Starnes we can get next time we’re in CLT. Give Alsy my best! Love you guys
HUGE congrats you guys, looks like an incredible way to finish the journey. Also looks like a near perfect summit day up there. What a beautiful place that is, I’m sure in person it’s 1000 times more. Great job and congrats again to you both! What’s next??
– benners
Thanks so much, Ben! Great to hear from you. Hope all has been well. Definitely a near perfect summit day except for the brisk wind on the summit ridge. Honestly, not quite sure what is next. This has been such a long-term goal for 7 years now. I think we may stay more local for awhile as in continental USA. Perhaps do some classic routes on stuff we’ve always wanted to do. Think we may hit up ole Liberty Ridge on Rainier this June. Be great to visit that mountain again. I know we’d like to do an Ama Dablam climb sometime down the road and/or another 8000m peak. I guess we’ll see where the wind takes us! Cheers, man!
Penguins, powder turns and standing on top of the bottom of the world. Amazing place Brandon. Thanks for the write up. What’s better? Gores or Antarctica?
Thanks, Brian! Good to hear from you. It was a really fantastic experience down there. So happy we decided to make it happen – was well worth it. Ok, hmmm…Gores vs Antarctica? Ya know, the smaller peaks around the Vinson Massif of the Sentinel Range (like 3000m peaks) really reminded us of the Gores only heavily glaciated – maybe what they were millions of years ago. Since access is a huge plus, I still have to say the Gores. Got to appease Lord Gore and the gods of Gore.