Thursday evening, Mt. Vinson.

We got the call this morning that we were off to Vinson. We packed up and took the Twin Otter for a 55 minute ride to Vinson base camp – it is overwhelmingly beautiful. We split the gear and loaded the sleds, then 5 hours 600m elevation gain to ‘corner camp’. We have set up here for the night to sleep at the feet of the giant! The view is spectacular – location location location.

What can I say? Everyone is well and strong – carrying on average 30-35 lbs and pulling 50-70 lbs on the sled. Dale is cooking tonight – soup, and then no doubt Pat will cook up the main course; after all, she is the trip chef. I wish everyone had the opportunity to see what we are seeing. It is so surreal. Somehow all of the waiting, excrutiating though it was, was worth it!