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2008-2009 Mount Vinson Cybercast
Team Lady and the Tramps
Hello there friends, family and loved ones this is Team Lady and the Tramps we
have successfully boarded the Ilyushin and flew all the way from the continent
of Antarctica and flew all the way from Punta Arenas, Chile. Everybody is
excited about hot showers and sleeping and so we are doing such and we will
soon be either coming back home to you or we will be off to fill in the
balance of our vacation with going to visit Torres del Paine both of those are
excellent options especially the coming back to you. Thank you for joining us
on the climb of Mt. Vinson the highest mountain in Antarctica and for standing
by and following our progress and now we are progressing towards home so thank
you very much for joining Alpine Ascents and Vern Tejas, ciao for now. See you
soon.
January 22, 2009: Brothers
from Another Mother
Hi Friends and Family, A lot has happened since team
brothers from another mother has posted. We spent one night at base camp,
where we went to bed under cloudy skies. The next morning we woke to very cold
temps, negative 30 degrees, and clear skies. The ALE staff didn't give us much
warning, but we were ready to fly. The Otter picked us up and we enjoyed a
beautiful flight back to patriot hills. When we landed Patriot was clear and
nearly windless, which gave us hope that the big bird would be coming soon. At
about 10pm last night we loaded up the illusion and began the surreal journey
back to the civilized world. We are all now sitting in a nice hotel having had
a great nights sleep in beds and hot showers.
Timing and weather really worked out on this trip, each step
of the way the weather cooperated. We are off the contininent ahead of
schedule and very happy with the success of our Vinson season. I want to thank
the members of both Alpine Ascents teams, This trip was filled with some great
personalities and some really strong climbers. Everyone did his or her part to
make yet another memorable Antarctic experience. Your loved ones will be
returning soon, but we hope to see them all again.
Todd Passey
January 21, 2009: Team Lady
and the Tramps
Hey there friends, family and loved ones this is Lady and the Tramps calling
in from Patriot Hills, it has been a very active evening. We went to bed
hoping that things would clear up and they did, bright and sunny this morning,
30 below, quite cold on the toes, we were able to get in a pancake breakfast
and after a death defying scramble to break camp, jumped on two different
planes, the twin otters which took us back to Patriot Hills. We are in Patriot
Hills in very calm weather which is not very typical for this area and we have
heard that the Ilyushin which is the big Russian Jet is on its way and we are
looking forward to the big bird coming. When the big bird comes that means we
get to fly back to South America back to Punta Arenas with that we are looking
forward to coming home to see you real soon. So that you for joining us we
will give you the word, our last cybercast will be from Punta Arenas to say
good bye for the time being and thank you for joining us so stay tuned for the
last adventure of Lady and the Tramps. Ciao for now. Vernon signing off.
January 20, 2009: Team Lady
and the Tramps
Hey there friends, family and loved ones this is Team Lady and the Tramps
calling in for Alpine Descents, yes indeed we descended the mountain, we went
from high camp down the fixed line, what a ride that was, plunged into the sea
of clouds and ridiculously founds our self in a white out situation, followed
the trail around and finally found our way all the way down to base camp.
(…transmission break…) The weather is cloudy, we are not going to be able to
get out of here until a plan can get in to get us and then hopefully we will
be able to squirt on over to Patriot Hills. Stick with us and find out if we
get out of Vinson base camp.
January 20, 2009: Team
Brothers From Another Mother
Hi folks, Team Brothers from Another Mother woke up this morning to clear
skies at high camp and (….transmission break…)
January 19, 2009: Team
Brothers From Another Mother
Hi this is Todd calling in from Brothers from Another Mother and we are
calling to report that we are safely back at high camp, actually we have been
back for awhile now. We had dinner and finally decompressing a little bit. We
are going to sleep on it tonight and then decide how fast we need to get down
to catch the plane out of here, it is looking cloudy down low so we may not
hurry too much but we are going to keep the gun cocked and we will find out in
the morning. So check in tomorrow and you will find out. Later.
January 19, 2009: Team Lady
and the Tramps
Hey there this is the Vinson Team, both of the them calling to say that we
safely made it back to high camp and we have just had a wonderful
(…transmission garbled…) lots of hot drinks and we are heading for bed so
thank you for checking to see if we all got down safely. Tomorrow with any
luck we will head down the head wall, down the fixed line down to low camp,
pick up our cache and take it down to base camp about seven miles from here.
So stay tuned to the adventures of Lady and the Tramps and Brothers from a
Different Mother. Ciao for now.
January 19, 2009: Team Lady
and the Tramps, Team Brothers from Another Mother
Friends, family and loved ones and everybody else that is watching this is the
top of Antarctica and this is Alpine Ascent’s Brothers from Different Mothers,
Todd Passey’s Team and Lady and the Tramps, Vern Tejas’ group calling in from
the top of Antarctica. We are looking north right now at the third, the
fourth, the fifth and second highest mountains in Antarctica. It is a
beautiful day above the clouds, a sea of white spreading out underneath this
range in all directions. Everybody made it, a hundred percent to the top. Holy
smokes they have been working hard for this one the sun has been out and
fortunately, very little wind and it is just beautiful, I wish you could be
here, this has got to be one of the best moments of my life up here on top of
the roof of Antarctica. So please stay tuned and we will tell you when we get
back down safely in one piece but right now we are just celebrating and having
a joyful moment. Everybody is taking pictures, clapping hands together,
hugging, we would be kissing but we have to much ice on our face so it is
quite dramatic. Ciao for now from the top of Mt. Vinson, Alpine Ascents does
it again (cheers in the back ground).
January 18, 2009: Team Lady
and the Tramps
Hello there friends, family and loved ones this is Lady and the Gentlemen
calling in from high on the slopes of Mount Vinson. We are at high camp, it
has been a wonderful, restful day, we spent most of it eating and sleeping
with one small acclimatization hike to the pinnacle point which is over
looking a sea of clouds as we look down to the Branscomb Glacier. It was a
very good day to get ready for what comes tomorrow. It sounds like the winds
are abating a bit and hopefully the clouds will dissipate somewhat as well and
we will push through to the summit. So we are all getting ready and going to
bed a little bit early tonight after a mean diner we are planning on sleeping
hard for the next twelve hours, get up bright and early with the rise of the
sun and pushing upwards, so please stay tuned to our adventures. The team is
psyched and more then willing to give it our best shot in the morning so cross
your fingers for good weather and hopefully our next communication will be
able to celebrate our success so ciao for now. See you then.
January 18, 2009: Team
Brothers From Another Mother
Hey Folks this is Team Brothers from another Mother calling in from high camp
on Mt. Vinson on a beautiful sunny evening here. All afternoon on our rest day
the clouds have covered us up an kept the views from our eyes but now it is
clearing up and it looks like tomorrow might be our day. Our plan is going to
be head on our tomorrow, we rested a lot today, slept in a lot, had a lot of
good food and I think that (…transmission break…)
January 17, 2009: Team
Brothers From Another Mother
Team Brothers from another Mother made it to high camp today. We struggled a
little bit but everybody made it in, in good spirits and good health. We got
here to camp and built a nice camp, good kitchen which always make our life up
here much better. The temperatures are fairly moderate right now, I think that
we are probably in the low to mid negative 20 degrees Celsius. The clouds are
suppose to clear up in the next couple of days here, it is kind of cloudy here
right now. We are going to rest tomorrow, we are going to give everybody a
chance to acclimate to his elevation and let their muscles rest from coming up
the fixed lines two days in a row. So we are going to focus on eating and
drinking and resting tomorrow and then hopefully the next day will be our
summit day, that is the plan so we will check in tomorrow.
January 17, 2009: Team Lady
and the Tramps
Hello there friends, family and loved ones this Señora y los Vagabundos
calling in from high camp. Yes indeed we made it up to the highest camp, we
are about 12,143 feet above sea level. We just pulled in at 10 o clock at
night and set up camp after a long haul of bringing everything up the headwall
today. People’s spirits are good but man are we tired but we ate so much
macaroni and chicken that we are ready to start popping feathers out. We are
going to bed now, tucking in, it is about 26 below Celsius but fortunately
there is no wind. Tomorrow we are planning a rest day so it should be a lot
nicer to just kind of lay around in our bags and hopefully the sun comes
through the clouds and warms us up. Hey we are thinking of you and know that
we love you, ciao for now, night, night.
January 16, 2009: Team Lady
and the Tramps
Hey there friends, family and loved ones, Tejas reporting in for Lady and the
Tramps here. It has been a very full day; we woke up with sunny skies and
gradually through out it has been getting dimmer and dimmer as the high
altitude clouds have been obscuring the sky and it has been colder as that
happens. (…transmission garbled…) in the sky most of the day indicating that
bad weather may be in the future. We were able to as a team, move food and
fuel up the high camp, it took us nine hours round trip and everybody is very,
very tired so we had a fast dinner and we all climbed off to bed. So everyone
is tucked in, all doing well and looking forward to moving up to high camp. So
join us again to find out if we do make it up there or if the storm comes in
before. So ciao for now and know that we are thinking of you.
January 16, 2009: Team
Brothers From Another Mother
Hi this is Todd calling in from Team Brothers from Another Mother, we just
returned back to camp from a big push today. We carried up to high camp,
everybody made it, it was a bit grueling, we did it in 10 ½ hour, a big day
but we made it back safe and sound and everybody is healthy. We are going to
eat some dinner and go to bed and reassess for tomorrow. Keep your fingers
crossed, the weather is turning a little bit, there are a few more clouds in
the sky and little more wind but hopefully it will hold for us at least until
we get to high camp and we can have a big storm on our rest day and then a
nice summit day. So that is what we are asking for so hopefully you guys can
all put out the word. Talk to you later.
January 15, 2009: Team Lady
and the Tramps
Hello there friends, family and loved ones Lady in the Tramp reporting in from
low camp, so we moved up another couple of hours, 2 ½, the team was moving so
quick. We set up camp and have a great cook tent and are laying out enjoying
the sun and then we went right into fixed line practice. Everybody mastered
the anchor by-pass with their carabineer and their ascender and they did it
with their little weight gloves, then their medium weight gloves, then their
mittens so we are felling pretty confident that we will be able efficiently
move up the headwall tomorrow. We are going to do a carry of fuel and food as
high as we can get, hopefully all the way up to high camp which is at about
12,500 feet. Stay tuned to the further adventures of Lady and the Tramps. Ciao
for now.
January 15, 2009: Team
Brothers From Another Mother (formally Team Vinsonators)
Hi this is Todd calling in for the team formally known as Vinsonators, when I
told the team that that is what I called us they were not happy with it so
they came up with a new name today. So we are now Team Brothers From Another
Mother and Team Brothers From Another Mother took a rest day today here it at
camp I. It was another beautiful day, I can not believe how many consecutive
nice days we have had here, sunny windless days. We are very happy to have
them but it sounds like the forecast maybe changing. Hopefully we can get up
the fixed lines tomorrow before that does change. Today we spent the day
practicing for the fixed lines, learning how to use our ascenders and go up
and down the fixed lines. We also did a little day hike to a col here and
looked down on the original base camp, just to get a little better acquainted
with walking on steep icy slopes and to get our lungs ready for the big day
tomorrow. Rick wants to send out wishes to his friends Brian and to his
brother best wishes and get well soon. The rest of the team just wants to send
their love to their families and wish them good luck because they are planning
on doing a big move tomorrow in the wild Antarctic so we will check in later
and let you know how our day went tomorrow. So tune in next time.
January 14, 2009: Team
Vinsonators
Hey this is Todd calling in for the Vinsonators, it is the best that we can
come up with for now, everything (…transmission garbled…). But anyhow lets
talk about the trip, we have moved on up from base camp and we are not at camp
I. It is a beautiful day, actually we left this morning in a fog, we couldn’t
see 100 yards and as we climbed it cleared up, as we climbed above the fog it
was a beautiful day up high. We moved on up to camp I, everybody is feeling
great and our plan for tomorrow is to rest right here, practice fixed lines
and maybe go on a little day hike so stay tuned to the further adventures of
the Vinsonators.
January 14, 2009: Team Lady
and the Tramps
Hello there friends, family and loved ones this is Vern Tejas reporting in for
Lady and the Tramps. It has been a very productive day, we woke up in the
bright and earlier hours at about 8:00, had a scrumptious breakfast fixed by
our chef and then we got to rigging. We rigged for glacier travel, rigged our
packs, rigged our harnesses, rigged our sleds and then we got the heck out of
dodge. We moved up from base camp on Mt. Vinson all the way up to what we call
half camp, the first major turn right at the base of massif of the summit
itself. Then we pitched our camp, a little bit early so that we could enjoy
the beautiful views; looking out to the west we have a sea of clouds with a
few mountain islands sticking up through it, all frosty and icy, it just looks
like an ocean of ice out there, wish you could be here to see it. So the way
the sun works here, it takes a pretty low trajectory around the sky and when
it heads to the north, it goes behind a ridge which happens at about 2:00 in
the morning and it stays that way, keeps to rolling around from north to east
and then it comes back up on the sunny side of the south, it takes about 10
hours or so, it should show up here a little bit before noon. So we are going
to stay in our sleeping bags and get lots of rest. Wish you could be here to
join us, so stay tuned to the further adventures of Lady and the Tramps.
January 14, 2009: no group
name yet
Hi this is Todd with the second team here on Vinson we don’t yet have a team
name, we are not as up on that as the other team but we will have a team name
the next time we call in. Our team consists of:
Carlos
Ken
Eduardo
Rick
Alan
Todd - guide
We are here in Vinson base and we had dinner and got acquainted this afternoon
and tomorrow morning we will do some training and hopefully start moving up
the mountain. So stay tuned for more adventures. Bye.
January 14, 2009: Team Lady
and the Tramps
Hello there friends, family and loved ones this is Team Lady and the Tramps
consisting of:
Herbert
Suzanna
James
David
Alex
John
Vern - guide
Garrett - guide
The team landed last night at a very early hour at about 2:30 in the morning
and we were able to set up tents and get them organized for sleeping. We woke
up at noon with beautiful sunny calm weather prevailing over Antarctica. We
then were able to go quickly over to the base of Mt. Vinson and set up camp
and we are now tucking ourselves into bed again, so we can catch up on all of
the lost sleep for the last couple of days. So please friends, neighbors and
loved ones join us for the trip of Lady and the Tramps for the highest point
in Antarctica. Night, night
January 13, 2008
Hey there friends, family and loved ones this Vern Tejas calling in for the
Fierce Puppies, the Fierce Puppies have made it all the way to Patriot Hills
which of course as you know is the jumping off point for the plane back to the
other continent of South America. The plane is flying and all of the puppies
are on board, I just saw it take off. They are very happy to finish and have
completed the task and are happy to be heading home to see you and all of the
other loved ones. So please stay tuned and wait for the phone calls that you
will probably be seeing real soon from the Fierce Puppies as they come home to
you.
Thank you very much for following our broadcast we sure
enjoyed broadcasting to you on a daily basis and we hope that you will follow
along with our next expedition which comes in well guess what they landed on
the same flight. So a new expedition begins as one ends so stay tuned to the
further adventures of the new expedition, ciao for now from Patriot Hills
Antarctica.
January 12, 2008: Team II
We have just been giving the notice by our flight coordinator, ALE, that we
are going to fly this evening. We will depart for the airport in 1 hour and
hopefully arrive sometime in Patriot Hills early tomorrow morning. Upon
arrival in Patriot we hope to soon fly to Vinson base camp and join guides
Vern Tejas and Todd Passey for the climb on Mt. Vinson. We want to
congratulate our Mt. Vinson expedition that has just made the summit of the
peak and has safely made it back down to base camp! Wish us good weather for
the flight!
-Garrett Madison
January 11, 2008: Team II
Greetings all! Our team members have all arrived along with all of our gear
and we have spent the last 2 days doing gear checks, buying a few last minute
supplies, and getting to know the town of Punta Arenas. According to our
flight coordinator, ALE, we may be able to fly tomorrow morning to Antarctica,
however we may be on “stand by” for a few days until the weather in Patriot
Hills is suitable for a flight. Spending a few nights in Punta Arenas has been
good for us to catch up on sleep from the long flight to South America, and to
eat a few great seafood dishes at the local restaurants. The weather is mild
in Punta Arenas at the moment, so today we walked around the city and visited
the regional museum of natural history. Keep your fingers crossed for us to
have good weather for the flight to Patriot Hills!
January 11, 2008
This is Todd calling in for the Fierce Puppies and as you know we summitted
earlier. We just wanted to call in and let everybody know that we made it down
safe and sound and celebrated with steak and potatoes for dinner trying to
sleep off the weariness of the day. A lot of excitement, everybody did well,
everybody felt great back here at camp and was in super high spirits while we
were eating dinner. Our plan is to wake up early and head on down and see if
we can’t catch a twin otter back to Patriot Hills and maybe continue right on
from there on the Ilyushin back home to see friends and family. As long as the
weather holds it looks like that might happen, things seem to be going our way
here at the end which is awesome so stay tuned and you will find out if it
continues that way, later.
January 11, 2008
Hello there friends, family and loved ones this is Team Fierce Climbers from
the top of Antarctica, Vinson, we are standing on the summit right now. It is
a beautiful clear day we can see all of the Ellsworth Range but it is cool up
here. We have got a 15 knot wind it has brought the wind chill down to about
40 below, maybe 50 below, it is cold. We just wanted to share with you that we
made it to the top. All the waiting was worth while, all of your prayers have
come true as well. Thank you very much for joining us here. We are doing the
photos and now we are getting ready to head down before we freeze something.
So thank you very much for joining us and we will give you a call when we get
back down to high camp so that you know that we got down safely. Ciao for now
from the top of Antarctica.
January 10, 2008
Hey there friends, family and loved ones this is the Fierce Kitties up at high
camp. We are camped at about 13,000 feet above sea level and we worked really
hard to get here today. Everyone dug in, carried and came up the fixed line up
the headwall and of course the weather has been on our side the whole time
fortunately. Even though there were some clouds this morning, it cleared off
again and it is fairly calm. Everybody is feeling really strong and now that
we have had five good days , we understand that there might be some wind
coming so we are contemplating as early as tomorrow, trying for the summit. So
please keep your fingers crossed that the winds stay low and that we stay in
good health and hopefully next time that we talk to you we can tell you that
we have been successful. Sweet dreams, know that we are thinking of you, ciao
for now from high on the flanks of Mt. Vinson.
January 9, 2008
This is Team Fierce Puppies calling in from low camp on Mt. Vinson. We had
another big day today, we carried all of our food and fuel all the way up to
12,400 feet. Yet another beautiful sunny day here, it is kind of amazing how
beautiful the weather has been here, I kind of hope that we don’t jinks
ourselves by saying how nice it has been. It has been an awesome day, everyone
is feeling great, everybody did super going up there, we made decent time, it
was about a nine hour round trip. We came back here and ate quesadilla and
fish sticks and hot drinks and pretty much gorged ourselves so we went to bed
with full stomachs and we are ready to get up and do it tomorrow. Hopefully
the weather holds for us and we will move up to high camp tomorrow. So check
in later and you will find out, bye for now.
January 8, 2008
Hello there friends, family and loved ones this is Fierce Dogs hanging out at
3375 meters above sea level. We have just made our cache; everybody is feeling
way better than we anticipated so we were actually able to use our
acclimatization day to move gear up to the rocks, about 4/9 up the way to the
top of the headwall. So we have actually moved some food and fuel up the
headwall’s fixed line and we are looking down on camp, it looks like a lot of
ants down there and we are looking out over the giant plateau. We see
mountains off in the distance, sunny weather, calm; some of us are just
hanging out in our underwear because haven’t put on our down jacket and
enjoying the weather. Thank you for dropping in and seeing how we are doing
and just know that we are thinking of you. Ciao for now from high on the
flanks of Mount Vinson.
January 7, 2008
Hi there friends and family this is the Fierce Puppies calling in from camp I
on Mt. Vinson. Since our last cybercast a lot has happened; we flew into base
camp, I guess we got a little bit of sleep but it was just a few hours maybe
and then got up and did our packing early this morning and made our way on up
the hill. We passed on up our half camp that we normally due partly because
our group is strong and partly because we want to make up days. It worked out
well for us on a beautiful sunny day here on Mt. Vinson and we arrived a low
camp here right below the fixed lines at about 8:30 at night. We had a nice
steak dinner and desert and now we are off to bed, the sun is still blazing
out there at 1:00 in the morning. We are looking forward to a good night
sleep, we deserve it after not sleeping last night and a long day today. We
will let you know what happens tomorrow after tomorrow happens; we are not
quite sure, we are going to wake up and see how everyone is doing and how we
are feeling. So tune in tomorrow and you will find out the further adventures
of the Fierce Puppies.
January 6, 2008
Hello there friends, family and loved ones this is the Fierce Puppies calling
in from Patriot Hills. They say that patience is a virtue and a little will
not hurt you, fortunately we have had a lot which has been required for the
last eight days of waiting here. Finally the weather looks like it is starting
to subside and cooperate with our plans. We can’t wait to get to the mountain
and it sounds like 1:00 to 1:30 this morning the first part of our team will
be flown over in a twin otter from Patriot Hills to base camp and then
hopefully several hours later the second part of our team will then follow.
Todd is going to take vanguard contingent and then I will be following up and
making sure that we have all of our ducks in a row back here at Patriot Hills.
Hopefully the very next time that you drop in to see our cybercasts you will
see that we at the mountain. So knock on wood, keep your fingers crossed and
know that we are thinking of you out there. Ciao for now, we are going to try
to get some sleep.
January 5, 2008
It is January 5th and Team Fierce Puppies is still stuck here in Patriot
Hills. The weather has cleared here at Patriot Hills, it is sunny and the
weather is calm but unfortunately there is a cloud bank at Vinson base camp it
is preventing from flying in. So the plane flew today but unfortunately they
flew folks out to the South Pole. We spent another day here practicing knots
and flying kites and just passing time, doing what ever we can to keep from
going crazy. We are hearing lectures at night from a couple people here,
talking about different Antarctic Expeditions and survival stories so we are
staying somewhat entertained although we are anxious to get out of here but
people are keeping their spirits high and hoping for the best. We are keeping
our fingers crossed that early tomorrow morning we will get the call and we
will be able to fly out to Vinson base camp and be able to start our
expedition in real. So we will keep you posted and until next time see you
later.
January 4, 2008
Hello there friends, family and loved ones, trapped like rats on a sinking
ship. We have been here for many days and the weather hasn’t gotten much
better. Thursday we worked on our snow walls, fortifying our tents against the
blustery winds coming from the south pole. We are hoping that some day soon
the weather clears so that we can get on with our climb. We need to fly about
a hundred miles north of here to get to the mountains and as soon as it clears
up we will be on our way. Today was also the day for survival training skills,
Todd Passey, co guide and friend decided that he was going to show us how to
make a fire with a piece of string and a couple pieces of wood. Within 45
minutes of when this was decided Todd had smoke and where there is smoke as
you know there is fire (…transmission garbled…) we all learned something new.
(…transmission garbled…) so hey stay tuned to the further adventures of the
Fierce Puppies, ciao for now.
January 3, 2008
Hi this is Todd calling in on another stormy, snowy, windy day at Patriot
Hills in Antarctica. We are still here in Patriot Hills waiting for the
weather to clear up enough for us to fly over to Vinson base camp and start
our objective over there but it hasn’t stopped our fun. We did a good day hike
today and got our first Antarctic ascents here. We climbed the Patriot Hills
over here, we went to the top, we climbed just over 400 meters. It was a
beautiful hike and everybody got to work our their systems a little bi; learn
their layering systems and how to deal with the Antarctic cold, how not to fog
up their goggles which is a constant struggle down here for us. It was good,
we will be all the better for it. We are all packed and ready to go; it looks
like we may get clearing tomorrow night or maybe the morning of the 5th. So
stay tuned and we will let you in on more of our adventures. See you later.
January 2, 2008
Hello there friends, family and loved ones another great day on the glacier.
We just practiced how to rig our sleds, how to rig our packs and we also
worked on our anchors today because we are still caught in a white out at
latitude 80 South here in Patriot Hills. We are just waiting for the weather
so that we can get on with our climb. So stay tuned to the further adventures
of the Fierce Puppies. Ciao for now, Vernon wishing you a best of the
evenings.
January 1, 2008
Hey this is Todd calling in from Patriot Hills late on New Years Day. We had
another day of waiting out the storm here in Patriot Hills, we woke up this
morning and some of the tents were drifted in so much that we had to dig our
way out of the doors which is kind of interesting for Antarctica. Since it is
only suppose to get a couple inches of snow a year, we got more than three or
four times that today. We are still hopeful that we will fly out soon,
everybody is in good spirits and we spent the afternoon practicing our skills,
tying knots, practicing crevasse rescue, Wilhelm even got hauled half way up
the tent through our practicing crevasse rescue skills. We are off to bed now
and hopefully it is going to be better weather tomorrow so keep your fingers
crossed and we will keep you informed, ciao.
December 31, 2008
Happy New Years to friends, family and loved ones this is Team Fierce Dogs
calling from Patriot Hills Antarctica, we are at latitude South 80 and 80
West. We are in a blizzard right now, or a bit of a snow storm however it is
now just a little bit after mid night and we wish you a brand new spanking
shinning year and may it be wonderful, productive and as good as the last one,
maybe even a little bit better. We have just partied here with the staff here
at Patriot Hills; the pilot, the camp people, the manager, the weather man,
the radio man, the cooks, other people who are here who are going to the south
pole and some of the other teams on the mountain. We had a great party,
everybody had lots of punch and really enjoyed ourselves. So please enjoy
yourself as well and stay tuned to the further adventures of the Fierce
Puppies. Sweet Dreams.
December 30, 2008
Hello friends and family,
The waiting is over (at least for now), as we just received
the call that the wind has died down enough to fly. At 6:00 Chilean time we
will be picked up by the ALE buses and taken to the airport, where we will go
through customs and board the aircraft. The flight from Punta Arenas takes
about 5 hrs so we should be arriving on the ice around 2 am. We are all very
excited and really looking forward to beginning our trip. We send our love to
our family and friends and will update you all once we are in Antarctica.
Cheers,
Todd Passey
December 28, 2008
Hey there, friends, family and loved ones,
This is Vern Tejas reporting for the "Fierce Puppies" our
first team to attempt Mount Vinson, the highest mountain in Antarctica, this
season. All team members have arrived and a rearing to go. However, that's
more than I can say for our equipment. The airline has misplaced Chris's
backpack. Fortunately, we were able to gather together enough gear that he
will be able to continue with us. This was accomplished by speed shopping late
Saturday evening before the stores shut down for the weekend. We were in and
out of five shops in less than an hour.
Our day began with an orientation meeting with our
transportation specialist. Once we got a handle on the logistics and the
current weather conditions, we double checked our climbing gear and weighed
and loaded it onto our jet. She's a proud bird known as an Ilyushin 76TR which
was flown all the way here from Kazakhstan just to fly us climbers to the
"ICE". We are excited to be beginning this adventure and we are looking
forward to sharing it with you. So, please stay tuned, right here, to the
voice of the mountain and join us on our ascent to the roof of the last
continent.
all our best, Vern
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Millet One
Sport Everest Boot has made some minor changes by adding
more Kevlar. USES Expeditions / High
altitude / Mountaineering in extremely cold conditions / Isothermal to
-75°F Gore-Tex® Top dry / Evazote Reinforcements with aramid threads.
Avg. Weight: 5 lbs 13 oz Sizes: 5 - 14 DESCRIPTION Boot with semi-rigid
shell and built-in Gore-Tex® gaiter reinforced by aramid threads, and
removable inner slipper Automatic crampon attachment Non-compressive
fastening Double zip, so easier to put on Microcellular midsole to
increase insulation Removable inner slipper in aluminized alveolate
Fiberglass and carbon footbed Cordura + Evazote upper Elasticated
collar.
Expedition footwear for
mountaineering in conditions of extreme cold. NOTE US
SIZES LISTED. See more here. |
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