January 8, 2010
Must be beginner’s luck but, regardless, George and his crew are certainly having a run of good luck. After a 100% successful summit, they were able to descend to Vinson base camp on the 7th in good weather. And there was no stopping there. An hour flight and everyone was back at the Patriot Hills. The game is pretty much over. Now, it’s all up to ALE, the flight service, to get the gang off the Ice and back to Punta Arenas. They certainly have done a great job for IMG this year. Our November climb was in and out within 24 hours of schedule. If the good luck continues, the team will be flying north on the 10th. And ALE is hoping to make flights to and off the Ice even more predictable next year. The Patriot Hills camp is being moved to the Union Glacier. The ice runway at that location is orientated more north/south which everyone expects to make the flying easier. This new development has us excited about next season’s Vinson programs.
We’ll post one final blog for the Vinson season when George, Eric, Helena and crew head to Punta aboard ALE’s IL76. George and team made Vinson look easy. It’s not. A little luck combined with lots of planning and good people just made it look that way. Super, super job!!
Phil Ershler