Live from Vinson SUMMIT
Nov 28, 2004 21: 30 EST
Check it out! Damien Gildea called in a voice dispatch only 20 minutes ago (9.00 pm EST) straight from Vinson summit! The guys will spend the night there (20 ft below) and descend tomorrow. The experience must be something else - the Antarctica Vinson season has not yet started so the climbers have the entire place to themselves!
Damo Live from the summit of Vinson!
In their previous dispatch, the climbers wrote: "We are aiming to summmit Vinson on Sunday or so, if the weather is OK, run the GPS on top for 6hrs then return to C3. After that we will establish a high camp up near the summit and use that for the following week to climb and measure the other high sub-peaks that make up Vinson Massif - that's why we're here !”
“Sometime around this period we also hope to make the long, high, precarious traverse across the high plateau (all over 4000m) to climb and measure Mt Craddock, the continent's 4th highest peak (climbed only once, 12 years ago). It will be like rowing a small boat far far out into the ocean, looking for a small island with a message on it, then rowing back, hoping there are no storms ... or something like that.”
This is Damien’s sixth expedition to Antarctica. He led the successful Omega Foundation projects on Mt. Shinn (2002) and Livingston Island (2003) and previously summited Vinson Massif on an Omega expedition in 2001. He is the author of The Antarctic Mountaineering Chronology (1998), the only reference book on mountaineering in Antarctica and is currently working on a second book due out in 2005.
In 1998 Rodrigo Fica and some friends made the first complete north to south crossing of the Southern Patagonian Icecap, a grueling journey recounted in his upcoming book Bajo la Marca de la Ira.
Since then he has been on successful Omega Foundation Antarctic expeditions to Mt. Shinn (2002) and Livingston Island (2003). A computer engineer by training, he now makes his living in the mountains, in addition to writing and photography and often climbs with his wife Patricia Sotos, the first Chilean woman to climb Mt. Everest.
Camilo Rada studies astronomy at Universidad Catolica in Santiago. On recent expeditions with friends he has made the coveted first winter ascent of San Lorenzo, the second-highest peak in Patagonia and before that, the second winter ascent of San Valentin, the highest mountain in Patagonia. Camilo has made other expeditions in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, including the first ascent of Volcan Melimoyu. This will be his first trip to Antarctica.
The Omega Foundation is a Non-Profit Organization dedicated to supporting scientific, environmental, educational and literary endeavor in the Antarctic region.
Friday's image of Damien going up Vinson, Antarctica; courtesy Damien Gildea.
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