Hi, this is Garrett Madison calling in with the South Pole expedition ski team. Today is Saturday, January 7th and we had another great day skiing across the polar ice caps of Antarctica. It has been our fifth day without internet access and we are enjoying the feeling of being unplugged. We had beautiful skies today, hardly any wind no clouds. Just perfect weather for skiing in Antarctica. We are now at 89.24 and we are going to 89.6, at 60 nautical miles to the South Pole. Everyone is doing well, we just had dinner and are tucked into bed and will be up early tomorrow morning, starting our day. Thanks for following along!

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South Pole Fun :)

Hi this is Garrett calling in for the South Pole team skiing the last degree, that’s the last 60 nautical miles or 110 kilometers. Today is Friday, January 6 and we had a great day skiing, we skied from 9:30AM to 5:30PM. We traveled a good distance, we are now at 89.14. Beautiful day today, no winds, clear skies and no clouds. Just a beautiful day to be out on the polar plateau at about 9,000ft. Just snow in every direction on the horizon. Everybody is doing great, and we just had a good dinner of quesadillas and salmon and looking forward to another day of skiing tomorrow. We will check in soon. Thanks.

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Hey this is Garrett Madison calling in for the ski the last degree to the South Pole team. Today is our second day on our ski journey, we started off from camp at about 9am and skied till about 3pm this afternoon. That’s all daylight, 24/7 down here. Had a good ski today and we got to 89.07 degrees and we are going to 90. We are still probably 6-7 days out from the South Pole minimum. Everyone is doing well, we had a little wind today. The team is strong and feeling good. We had dinner and are tucked in to bed for a good nights rest then get in another day of skiing tomorrow. Hope all goes well on the other side, we will check in soon. One final note we did see a kite today that we believe is Mike Horn. Mike Horn is from South Africa who has been skiing from the coast to the South Pole. I believe we are the first sign of human life that he has seen in the last couple months, it was fun to see Mike Horn on the kite. We will check in again soon.

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South Pole Team 2017

South Pole Team 2017

Hello this is Garrett calling in it is Wednesday, January 4 for the ski last degree team. Today we were dropped off in a DC 3 Basler aircraft after flying from Union Glacier Camp about four and a half hours down towards the South Pole at the 89th degree. We skied for about an hour, about one mile, and set up camp and now we are tucked in camp and just had dinner and getting ready for bed. Tomorrow our plan is to get up around 7 and head out by 9 and ski for a full day and cover some of the distance between here and the South Pole, which is about 60 nautical miles away, around 110 kilometers. We are happy to be here beautiful weather blue skies a horizon of ice as far as the eye can see in every directions, everyone is having a great time. We will check in again tomorrow. Thanks.

Garrett Madison

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Preparing team gear for the high adventure ski trip

Preparing team gear out of the DC3 Basler aircraft

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ski last degree team

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South Pole 2017.1

Ski Last Degree Team

The weather looks optimal today for our flight from Punta Arenas Chile to Antarctica so we are making final preparations before we board our aircraft this evening, an Illushyn 76. The flight will take about 5 hours to cover the nearly 2000 miles from Punta Arenas to Union Glacier camp, Antarctica, also near Mount Vinson. Once we arrive in camp we will organize equipment for the first objective, skiing the last degree (60 nautical miles or 110 km) to the South Pole. If everything goes according to plan we should reach the South Pole by January 12. After a celebration at the Pole, we will fly by DC 3 aircraft back to Union Glacier camp, where 5 members of the team will then continue via the Illushyn 76 for transport back to Chile. Eight of us will stay at Union Glacier camp and then fly by twin otter aircraft to Mount Vinson base camp, just a 45 minute flight. We will utilize 2 high camps above base camp before making a summit attempt on Antarctica’s highest peak. After climbing Mount Vinson we will fly back to Union Glacier camp and then onward to Chile and then home. Please follow our daily updates with live tracking of the team while in Antarctica.

Garrett Madison

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Punta Arenas, Chile

Our journey begins in the Tierra del Fuego or ‘Land of Fire’ in Chile’s southernmost city of Punta Arenas, located on the straight of Magellan. A large statue of the famous explorer towers over the town square. Legend has it that those who kiss the statue are destined to return!

Our 2017 expedition to the South Pole and Mount Vinson has launched! Stay tuned as we journey to the earth’s southernmost continent with expedition leader Garrett Madison.

 

To celebrate our successful Aconcagua expedition, we concluded with a team dinner, an Argentinean ‘Asado’ barbecue with a selection of meat and vegetables cooked to perfection over the open fire. All team members are now on their way home, after what has been a wonderful experience.  We were very lucky with the weather, as our summit day on December 19th was perfect without any wind or clouds.  Since then, the weather has deteriorated and the other teams have not been able to summit, let alone go much higher above base camp because of the high winds.  This is typical of Aconcagua and the southern Andes, where storms can pass through and prevent climbing high on the peak for up to a week at a time.  As a recap, we did the ‘Aconcagua 360’ route, trekking in the less traveled Vacas valley to Plaza Argentina base camp, then utilizing 3 high camps before reaching the summit, and then descending to the other side of the mountain to the Plaza Mulas base amp, and trekking out the shorter and more popular Horcones valley.  We enjoyed a night before and after the expedition at the Ayelen hotel in Penitentes with our good friend Steve Allen, who does a fantastic job of managing the hotel, a rustic ski lodge in the winter that becomes a haven for Aconcagua climbers during the summer climbing season.  A couple of nights at the Park Hyatt in Mendoza made our stay very comfortable, a great way to begin and end our time together in Argentina.  We have had a fantastic time, enjoying the experience of climbing the highest peak in the Andes (and also in the Americas) as well and immersing ourselves in Argentine culture and cuisine.  Onward, to the next mountain adventure!   – Garrett Madison

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Hello this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua team today is Monday, December 19 and we are at the summit of Aconcagua. Beautiful day up here no clouds in the sky and no wind we really lucked out and just had a perfect day to get to the top of the mountain. First team up here have the mountain all to ourselves. Just hanging out taking photos and enjoying a few high fives and getting ready to head back down to high camp. Spend the night at high camp tonight then head down to base camp tomorrow. Everything is going well here and we look forward to getting down to base camp and then out to Mendoza soon for our celebratory dinner. Thanks for following along.

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Audio dispatch by Garrett Madison

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To review our climbing team’s summit route you can view our LIVE RainOn mapping platform HERE.

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Climbers reach the summit of Aconcagua at 6,961m / 22,837ft

“Hi, this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua team today is December 18th, Sunday. We are up at high camp on Aconcagua and tonight is our big night. We are going to leave for the summit early tomorrow morning probably around 5AM. And hope to be on top of Aconcagua the highest peak in the Andes midday or early afternoon. Looks like the forecasts are nice weather tomorrow not to much wind not to much snow so with a little bit of luck we will on top of the mountain and back down to high camp tomorrow evening. We will check in soon, thanks so much.”

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Audio dispatch by Garrett Madison

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To review our climbing team’s summit route you can view our LIVE RainOn mapping platform here.

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The Stone Sentinel

“Hi this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua expedition, today is Saturday December 17th. Today we did a carry from our Camp 2 up to Camp 3 on Aconcagua. We then returned down to Camp 2 to spend the night. Our plan tomorrow is to move up to Camp 3 and hopefully go for the summit on the next day, the 19th. Everyone is doing well here, had some good weather and a little wind, sunny and warm. We are enjoying the views of the Andes and eating a few good meals. All is well and we will check in tomorrow when we get up to high camp. Fingers crossed for good weather.”

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Audio dispatch by Garrett Madison

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Aconcagua Expedition

Aconcagua Expedition December 17th 2016