James Stone (Clach Liath)

Clach Liath

Mount Sidley ascents – update

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Mount Sidley from the air
Mount Sidley from the air

 

This is my annual update of Mount Sidley ascents.  ALE trip number 7 succeeded in putting two guides and three clients on the top of the volcano.  All three clients completed the Volcanic Seven Summits with this ascent.

A previous blog highlighted two of them.

This year, due to the small size of the team, a Twin Otter was used for transport to the mountain.  A second plane followed part of the way so a fuel cache could be left.  The Twin Otter with the team was unable this year to land in the crater.  Apparently snow conditions in the crater had changed since last year so a base camp was set up on the ice sheet at the foot of the mountain.

In another change from previous trips (at least when base camp had been on the ice sheet), high camp was set up via two carries from base camp and sleds were not used.  The first carry was undertaken in what became marginal conditions.  The team was then confined to base camp for two days whilst a storm blew through.

Once the storm had gone they were able to make the second carry and the top camp was set up.  After an “overnight” stay the group made the ascent.  Although the modelled forecasts looked promising, the weather was at first cloudy, then the sun came out and then (as the crater was being reached) it became cloudy again.  The wind also picked up and it became very cold.

Though Sidley is not a very technical mountain, it is a very cold one.  They were able to spend no more than about 15 minutes on top. They summited at about 1am GMT on 16th January (10pm on 15th January Chilean time).

The team was then able to make quick progress down back to top camp.

Satyarup Siddhanta was kind enough to call me using his satellite phone once they had settled back at top camp.  The three clients all seemed very cheerful, if tired.  In the meantime, back in India, there was a large group following the climb with a few Facebook Live events occurring.

The descent back down to the Twin Otter went without incident.  But the return to Union Glacier had a twist to it.  When they reached the fuel cache the weather there and at Union Glacier prevented further progress.  So they were pinned down for 24 hours at that point.  They had to set up camp and Satyarup’s description of the toilet arrangements probably do not bear repeating on a public forum!  That’s Antarctica for you.

As I write this, the team are now back safely at Union Glacier with a flight back to Punta Arenas scheduled for later today.  Even after this trip fewer than 50 people have ever climbed Mount Sidley.

Congratulations to Satyarup Siddhanta, Sanya Tóth and Vladislav Lachkarev.

I have produced an up to date list below.  This should be read together with the commentary in my previous blog here.

 

MOUNT SIDLEY SUMMIT LIST

(as at 18th January 2019)

Date Name Group Nationality
1. 11/01/1990 Bill Atkinson Panter Group New Zealand
2. 12/01/1990 Bill McIntosh Panter Group USA
3. 12/01/1990 Kurt Panter Panter Group USA
21/01/1994 Bill McIntosh (second ascent) Dunbar/ McIntosh USA
4. 21/01/1994 Nelia Dunbar Dunbar/ McIntosh USA
5. 21/01/1994 Thom Wilch Dunbar/ McIntosh USA
6. 21/01/1994 Tony Teeling Dunbar/ McIntosh NZ
7. 23/01/2011 Scott Woolums ALE #1 USA
8. 23/01/2011 Aleks Abramov ALE #1 Russia
9. 23/01/2011 Crina “Coco” Popescu ALE #1 Romania
10. 23/01/2011 Mario Trimeri ALE #1 Italy
11. 01/01/2012 Mike Roberts Roberts Group New Zealand
12. 01/01/2012 Jennifer Erxleben Roberts Group USA
13. 01/01/2012 John Paul O’Donnell Roberts Group Ireland
14. 01/01/2012 Andrew Lloyd Roberts Group USA
15. 18/01/2013 David Hamilton ALE #2 UK (Scotland)
16. 18/01/2013 Olga Rumyantseva ALE #2 Russia
17. 18/01/2013 Vyacheslav Adrov ALE #2 Russia
18. 18/01/2013 Vitaly Simonovich ALE #2 Russia
19. 18/01/2013 Paul Nicholson ALE #2 Canada
20. 28/12/2013 Dylan Taylor ALE #3 USA
21. 28/12/2013 Andre Filkov ALE #3 Russia
22. 28/12/2013 Ilya Bykov ALE #3 Russia
23. 28/12/2013 Sophie Cairns ALE #3 UK (England)/ Hong Kong
24. 28/12/2013 Liana Chabdarova ALE #3 Russia
25. 17/01/2014 Rob Smith ALE #4 UK (Northern Ireland)
26. 17/01/2014 Jean Frederik Paulsen ALE #4 Sweden
27. 17/01/2014 Francois Michel Bernard ALE #4 France
28. 17/01/2014 Christian de Marliave ALE #4 France
29. 17/01/2014 John Dodelande ALE #4 France
30. 17/01/2014 Joachim Marte ALE #4 Austria
31. 17/01/2014 Philipp Lehner ALE #4 Austria
32. 17/01/2014 Alexander Svaetichin ALE #4 Sweden
17/01/2014 Scott Woolums (second ascent) ALE #4 USA
33. 14/01/2017 Tre-C Dumais ALE #5 USA
34. 14/01/2017 Christoph Hoebenreich ALE #5 Austria
35. 14/01/2017 James Stone ALE #5 UK (England)
36. 14/01/2017 Dan Bull ALE #5 Australia
37. 14/01/2017 Jarryd Commerford ALE #5 USA/UK (England)
38. 14/01/2017 Robbi Malandreniotis ALE #5 UK (England)/Greece
39. 14/01/2017 Michael Guggolz ALE #5 Germany
40. 14/01/2018 Nate Opp ALE #6 USA
41. 14/01/2018 Theodore Fairhurst ALE #6 Canada
42. 14/01/2018 Katie Sarah ALE #6 Australia
43. 14/01/2018 Cheryl Bart ALE #6 Australia
44. 14/01/2018 Nikki Bart ALE #6 Australia
45. 15/01/2019 Maria Paz (Pachi) Ibarra ALE #7 Chile
46. 15/01/2019 Fred Alldredge ALE #7 USA
47. 15/01/2019 Satyarup Siddhanta ALE #7 India
48. 15/01/2019 Sándor (Sanya) Tóth ALE #7 Hungary
49. 15/01/2019 Vladislav Lachkarev ALE #7 Russia

 

New mapping of Antarctica

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Antarctica has historically been one of the least mapped area of earth.  The reason is obvious.  It is the harshest, coldest and windiest continent on the planet, and the least visited.

However, scientists at the Ohio State University and the University of Montana have now undertaken the most detailed mapping ever of the icy continent to create a high resolution terrain map.  Their project is called The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA).

The REMA project started with pictures taken from a constellation of polar-orbiting satellites that passed over areas of Antarctica tens of times to take photos.  The scientists then created software to iron out the anomalies in the results.

The final file size is a stonking 150 terabytes.  The map has a resolution of 2 to 8 meters. This compares to 1,000 meters, which was typical for previous maps of the continent.

The information will have many uses from determining ice loss and the motion of ice to monitoring volcanoes, the thinning of glaciers and river discharge.  It will also help scientific expeditions with navigation in the inhospitable terrain.  The resolution of the imagery is so high that even variations in the type of snow cover can be discerned.

If you are interested in playing around with the data, the link to the website can be found here.  The website also sets out the purpose and methodology behind the project.

Antarctica
Antarctica by satellite – Imagery (c) 2018 DigitalGlobe, Inc.

Congratulations to Zhang Liang

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On my trip to Antarctica last January I met an unassuming Chinese man, Zhang Liang.  He was on the same flights in and out of Union Glacier as I was.  His objective was Mount Vinson like the majority of mountaineers to Antarctica.  Here we are back at Union Glacier after we had each succeeded with our objectives.

Liang Zhang

He is attempting to climb the Seven Summits and Mount Vinson was his sixth summit.  He has Denali in Alaska to do.  This is a photo of him on Vinson (taken from his Facebook page).

LiangZhang

But he also has two other objectives.  The first is to ski to each of the North and South Poles.  This he had already achieved by the time I had met him.  The other is to climb all of the world’s 8000m peaks.  There are 14 of these.  Up to now only 39 people have, indisputably, climbed them all – there are another five or six whose claims are challenged, including the Briton, Alan Hinkes.

On 2nd October 2017 Zhang Liang summited Nanga Parbat in Pakistan so completing the 8000m peaks.  So he becomes the 40th person to have done so.  He had summited K2, the world’s second highest mountain in July.

Assuming he manages to climb Denali, I believe he will be the second person ever to have climbed the 8000m peaks, the Seven Summits and skied to the Poles.

Congratulations on his recent achievement!