icons/avalancheicons/bootscompassfacebookicons/gloveshandsicons/hearticons/helmeticons/ice axeinstagramminusmountainicons/pathsMap Pinplusicons/questionicons/guideicons/ropeicons/gogglesicons/stafftenttwitteryoutube
Mountain Madness
Mountain Madness Climber

Antarctica/​Vinson team ready to go!

MM guide Mark Ryman has trav­eled down to Pun­ta Are­nas, Chile to guide a Moun­tain Mad­ness expe­di­tion with fel­low guide Jacob Schmitz. The team has assem­bled in Chile and Mark checked in with the first dis­patch of the expe­di­tion. Weath­er per­mit­ting, they will soon be head­ing to the south­ern-most icy continent! 

Pic­tured here: The last steps to the Vin­son sum­mit. Mark Gun­log­son photo

Vin­son Expe­di­tion- for more info click here. Date and prices for 2012 – 2013 will be post­ed next week if you are inter­est­ed in join­ing MM next year. In the mean­time, we hope you enjoy this expe­di­tion vicariously.

Decem­ber 27, 2011 — Pun­ta Are­nas, Chile

“Our team has final­ly all arrived at our hotel in Pun­ta Are­nas, over­look­ing the Straits of Mag­el­lan. As an added bonus, no bags were lost in tran­sit! Our team con­sists of Romeo Gar­duce, Levi Naya­hangan, Omar Sam­ra, Rick Neville, Jay Mar­tin, and Scot Buell. I will be co-lead­ing the trip with Jacob Schmitz, who is cur­rent­ly on the mountain.

After quick intro­duc­tions in the lob­by, we ven­tured out for a deli­cious wel­come din­ner at Soti­tos Restau­rant. Grilled hake, octo­pus in gar­lic sauce, local seafood lasagna, and thick juicy steaks round­ed out a good ses­sion of pre-Antarc­tic car­bo load­ing. A glass or two of some fine Chilean Carmenere vino was par for the course to wash it down and make toasts in hon­or of our new adventure.

“As we walked the streets of Pun­ta Are­nas to return to the hotel, our con­ver­sa­tion turned to how bright­ly the sun was still shin­ing in the sky at 10:00 p.m. A quick round of equip­ment checks and dis­cus­sions about logis­tics for our next phase fin­ished off the day. Tomor­row we will have a full expe­di­tion brief­ing with ALE after break­fast, and then turn over all of our gear for weigh­ing and check-in pro­ce­dures for the Ilyushin fight to the ice on the 29th, weath­er per­mit­ting. I’ll send one more update before we fly and then call in dai­ly dis­patch­es from our satel­lite phone as much as pos­si­ble. Wish us luck!”

~MM Guide Mark Ryman

Next Vin­son blog