Our final Mount Vinson expedition of the season was able to go all the way from Mount Vinson High Camp to Union Glacier Camp in a day. Listen in to expedition leader Garrett Madison‘s audio expedition dispatch:
Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Mount Vinson expedition with Jim Lumberg and Garrett Madison (in conjunction with PolarExplorers). Today is January 19th and we have arrived back at Union Glacier Camp. We had a great summit yesterday on Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica. Today we woke up at High Camp, packed up our camp, descended down to Low Camp, and then all the way to Vinson Base Camp. We were very fortunate to be met by a Twin Otter aircraft which then shuttled us 45-minutes back to Union Glacier Camp, the main hub here in Antarctica.
The plan is that tomorrow we hope to fly out on the llyshun jet back to Punta Arenas, Chile. Then, in the next few days, be homeward bound. We were very lucky to get out today from Mount Vinson to Union Glacier. We are both doing well, just had a great dinner, and looking forward to some much needed rest.
Thanks for following along. We will check in soon.
(photo: Madison Mountaineering 2019 Mount Vinson team two)