Tag Archive for: Boeing 757

Aerial View of Union Glacier Camp in Southern Ellsworth Mountains

The team for our first Mount Vinson expedition of the season has arrived at Union Glacier camp in Antarctica and is getting things ready for the flight to Mount Vinson base camp.  Here’s Garrett with the details:

Hello. This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Mount Vinson expedition. This is the first expedition on Mount Vinson for our season here in Antarctica and yesterday we flew in from Punta Arenas, Chile to Union Glacier camp in Antarctica.

Right now we are in Union Glacier camp, just had a nice dinner. Good day here organizing our gear, and we’re hoping to fly to Mount Vinson tomorrow if the weather is good.  But we’re not quite sure.  It’s a little foggy and cloudy over at Mount Vinson base camp.  So not flying at the moment.

We’re hoping we’ll get an opportunity here in the next few days and be able to get over there and start climbing.  We’re really happy to be here in Antarctica and having a good time here, just relaxing and enjoying the sites at Union Glacier camp and all is well.

So we’ll check in soon.  Thanks!


In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

Instagram:

Boarding the Boeing 757 in Punta Arenas. Bound for Union Glacier, Antarctica!

Our first Mount Vinson expedition of the season is just boarding their flight to Antarctica from Punta Arenas, Chile.  Here’s expedition leader Garrett Madison with the details:

Hey!  This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Vinson expedition – our first one of the season.  We are flight to Antarctica!  We just getting ready to board the Boeing 757 jet here in Punta Arenas.  We are taking off in about a half an hour and we’ll fly for four and a half hours over the Drake Passage to Union Glacier camp in Antarctica, where we’ll spend a couple of nights and then fly over to Vinson base camp and start our climb.

So, we’re very excited that everything’s on schedule here – we’ve got good weather and we’re looking forward to getting to Vinson!  All’s well here and we’ll check-in soon!


In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

Instagram:

Today our climbing team in Antarctica spent the day settling into Base Camp on Vinson Massif and prepared for the ascent to Camp 1 in the coming days. Mike, Sam, Iñaki, and Todd woke up to a breakfast feast this morning, including pancakes, eggs, and bacon! Garrett’s mountain culinary skills are some of the best on the mountains 🙂  After a delicious breakfast the team did a quick ascent and strategically moved food, gear, and other personal items further up the mountain in preparation for the team’s push to Camp 1. The team is now waiting on the weather conditions for tomorrow before determining the days agenda. Depending on the wind and temperature, our climbing team may spend another night in Base Camp. Our team has a exciting opportunity to interact with other Antarctic explorers as well as scientists doing meaningful research in their fields while they make their journey across the frozen continent. To the top!

This article written on Mashable shares additional photos of Thrusday’s historic Boeing 757 landing on the blue-ice runway.

Dispatch below from our Expedition Leader ~ Garrett Madison

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Unloading gear and setting up base camp on Vinson Massif.

 

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Camp 1 on Vinson Massif

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Beautiful shot of the Ellsworth Mountains from Base Camp.

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Summit in sight at 4,892 m (16,050 ft)!

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DHC-6 Twin Otter near Mount Vinson Base Camp.

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Today our climbing team in Antarctica spent the day settling into Base Camp on Vinson Massif and prepared for the ascent to Camp 1 in the coming days. Mike, Sam, Iñaki, and Todd woke up to a breakfast feast this morning, including pancakes, eggs, and bacon! Garrett’s mountain culinary skills are some of the best on the mountains 🙂  After a delicious breakfast the team did a quick ascent and strategically moved food, gear, and other personal items further up the mountain in preparation for the team’s push to Camp 1. The team is now waiting on the weather conditions for tomorrow before determining the days agenda. Depending on the wind and temperature, our climbing team may spend another night in Base Camp. Our team has a exciting opportunity to interact with other Antarctic explorers as well as scientists doing meaningful research in their fields while they make their journey across the frozen continent. To the top!

This article written on Mashable shares additional photos of Thrusday’s historic Boeing 757 landing on the blue-ice runway.

Dispatch below from our Expedition Leader ~ Garrett Madison

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.

Unloading gear and setting up base camp on Vinson Massif.

 

Screen Shot 2015-11-29 at 10.54.22 PM .

Camp 1 on Vinson Massif

Screen Shot 2015-11-29 at 10.54.48 PM .

Beautiful shot of the Ellsworth Mountains from Base Camp.

Screen Shot 2015-11-29 at 10.55.19 PM .

Summit in sight at 4,892 m (16,050 ft)!

Screen Shot 2015-11-29 at 10.56.06 PM .

DHC-6 Twin Otter near Mount Vinson Base Camp.

Screen Shot 2015-11-29 at 10.56.24 PM

Our Vinson Massif climbing team took the first Boeing 757 ride to Union Glacier, Antarctica! This was a huge upgrade in comfort compared to years past in the Ilyushin IL76-TD, we enjoyed business class seating on the way to blue-ice runway in Antarctica. This Boeing 757 flight was taken on to prove the feasibility of landing commercial passenger airliners at Union Glacier, Antarctica. This is a part of a larger project into the use of such aircraft for continued Antarctic operations. We are now preparing our gear and getting ready to fly again tomorrow. We will fly via twin otter aircraft 45 minutes to Vinson Base Camp where be begin our climb.

Check out additional photos of the 757 touching down in Union Glacier here. Our friends at Adventure Network International were able to get some awesome pictures!

For family members and friends ~ Andrew Tierney can be reached during this expedition at andrew@madisonmountaineering.com

Let the journey begin!

Garrett Madison ~ Expedition Leader

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Mike,Garrett, Sam, Iñaki, and Todd with boarding passes & penguins at our flight briefing in Punta Arenas. Yes, we are bringing penguins to Antarctica 🙂

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Boeing 757-200 ER preparing for takeoff from Punta Arenas!  The landing was a joint partnership between Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE), Loftleidir Icelandic, and NAS Corporation Limited.

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Loading up this Boeing 757-200 ER and heading to Union Glacier! What a ride!!

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