Vinson Massif: Hahn & Team Reach Low Camp
Posted by: Dave Hahn, Mike King, Dominic Cifelli
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
Elevation: 9,200'
Wednesday, December 29, 2021 - 7:19 pm PT
We seem to be into a stretch of very fine weather. Today was nothing but sunny, calm and beautiful. Our first morning on Vinson was pleasant, but quite full with getting everybody up to speed on glacier travel and packing and prepping for moving up. Even so, we took a midday break for a sit-down hot lunch of vegetable soup. We got walking at 1:40 PM. Four rope teams traveling in formation up the Branscomb Glacier. Recent snows made the footing a little more insecure for the first few hours out of camp, but conditions improved as we got a little higher. There was less new snow and easier to walk on packed trail by the time we hit the big turn in the glacier below Vinson’s west face. We came into 9,200 ft “Low Camp” just after seven in the evening. A fine time to arrive as the sun hits from a great angle and intensity at low camp during the evening hours. We built tents and moved in to giant walls of snow bricks constructed against big winds by previous inhabitants. Our evening was windless. We ate dinner and talked over possibilities for tomorrow. Perhaps we’ll move higher in the morning, perhaps we’ll spend the day training around low camp. It all depends on how folks feel in the morning. It is wonderful to be up in this wild setting, looking straight up at Vinson and at the jagged peaks just to the North.
Although it is after midnight now, the sun is still strong on the tents, making them almost warm and comfortable. The sun won’t go behind the mountain until about 3 AM, at which point things will feel a bit colder until it reappears around 10:15 AM.
Best Regards,
