James Stone (Clach Liath)

Mountaineering and the Volcanic Seven Summits

  • Home
  • About me
  • Volcanic Seven Summits
  • Top 50 Ultras of the World
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Archives for January 2020

Mount Sidley summit

19th January 2020 by James Stone Leave a Comment

Congratulations to the 2019/2020 Mount Sidley team who made the summit at around 22.30 UTC on 18th January.

I do not have much in the way of detail at the moment so I will update this blog as and when I do. But from what I can tell the team had good conditions. So the long wait at base camp was worth it.

The team arrived back at top camp at around 01.30 UTC on 19th January. So it was a fairly speedy descent after the almost 8 hours it took to climb the mountain.

Update – 20th January 2020

Andrew Hughes reports “We are all back safely in Union Glacier. What an unbelievable mountain experience Sidley presents all willing to venture to it and explore its heights. ”

The weather they experienced looked fabulous.

Mount sidley crater rim
Sidley crater rim
(c) Andrew Hughes – used with permission

It was around a 10 hour 30 minutes round trip on summit day.

I will post a full list of summiters and update my list of Volcanic Seven Summit completers in the course of the next week or so.

In the meantime here is a picture of this season’s team and the flight crew.

Mount Sidley team and flight crew with the mountain behind them
(c) Andrew Hughes – used with permission

For the previous blog on this trip see here.

Mount Sidley 2019/2020 season – Part 5

18th January 2020 by James Stone Leave a Comment

After 4½ days by the Basler at base camp, the team for the Mount Sidley 2019/2020 season has finally been able to commence its ascent of the mountain.

I have been in touch with Andrew Hughes and he tells me that:

“At long last the weather gods graced us with minimal winds, mostly blue skies, and sunshine after we woke this morning in a thick impenetrable fog.

We left around 3 pm and completed four legs of an hour a piece till we came upon a level perch to place our high camp. Everyone now has delighted in their dehydrated dinners and is tucking in for the night as we have a mammoth day tomorrow to reach the summit with around 4,600 feet of elevation to gain.”

He has kindly sent me this photo of one of the rope teams with the Basler in the background set against the vastness of the Antarctic ice sheet.

The Mount Sidley 2019/2020 leaves the Basler for its climb of the mountain
The Sidley climb begins
(c) Andrew Hughes – used with permission

The top camp being used by this team is in a different location from that used by the previous two teams who started their climbs from the ice sheet. But with the broad open slopes, there is no standard route up the mountain. Therefore there is scope for exploring different approaches to the climb.

Mount Sidley top camp
Sidley top camp
(c) Andrew Hughes – used with permission

1,402m or 4,600ft of climbing to the summit will make it quite a long summit day. Let’s hope that the weather holds good.

If I receive any further photos from this first part of the climb I will post them here.

You can find the previous blog on this trip here.

Popocatepetl has some fun

16th January 2020 by James Stone Leave a Comment

Popocatepetl from Iztacchuatl

Climbing Popocatepetl has been prohibited since the early 1990s. This Mexican volcano has been active since then and it is closely monitored.

On the Paso de Cortéz, a high pass that lies between Popocatepetl and Iztacchuatl, there is a National Park office at around 3,400m. Here there is a camera trained on the mountain.

This is what the camera picked up a week ago. Anyone climbing neighbouring Iztacchuatl would have had a rather good view! The mountain was quieter, but still active when I climbed Iztacchuatl in 2014. Here is is in the background as my guide, Miriam, and I hit the main ridge of Iztacchuatl at dawn.

Popocatepetl from Iztacchuatl
Popocatepetl at dawn from the “knees” of Iztacchuatl

Their stark unpredictability, isolation and prominence is a lot of what fascinates me about volcanoes. But you may already know that if you read my blog!

Here is a link to my climb of Iztacchuatl.

Mount Sidley 2019/2020 season – Part 4

14th January 2020 by James Stone 2 Comments

The Mount Sidley 2019/2020 season has now started in earnest. David Roskelley’s website reports that the team has flown from Union Glacier to the mountain. They arrived at around 10.30pm UTC on Monday.

As anticipated they have landed on the ice sheet. This is the fourth ALE trip to do this. The remaining ones have landed in the crater.

Team member, Andrew Hughes, was kind enough to send me this photo with the slopes of Mount Sidley rising in the background.

Mount Sidley base camp
Mount Sidley base camp
(c) Andrew Hughes – used with permission

The scene will look something like this with the trusty Basler in the background. Looking at the ice disappearing into the distant horizon one can appreciate the enormity of the Antarctic ice sheet.

Mount Sidley base camp and the Basler DC3
Mount Sidley base camp and the Basler DC3

As the weather forecast now looks promising, the ascent is likely to begin later today. This starts with a walk across the ice to the base of the mountain. This first section is further than it might seem from the picture above.

After then the slopes steepen at a fairly uniform angle. In around 5 hours the team will reach a shallow col where high camp can be set up. With the weather set fair, the team is likely to take everything they need for the climb. Last year the group made a carry to high camp and then returned to base camp the same day.

If the team is feeling well and the weather remains good, then one might anticipate a summit attempt the following day. This was the programme that my group used, though we were turned back by bad weather and we had to try again three days after leaving base camp.

In the meantime, the flight crew will remain with the aircraft. There will be regular radio contact between the team and the crew during the climb. Good luck to all!

Update 15th January 2020

Best laid plans etc. I have been in touch with the team at Sidley base camp. Although the weather at base camp is fine, it does not look so good up the mountain. So the team have not yet left base camp.

Andrew Hughes has sent me this photo of the mountain taken shortly after their arrival with what looks to be a partial halo where the sun’s light is refracted by crystals in the atmosphere.

Mount Sidley with sun halo
Mount Sidley
(c) Andrew Hughes – used with permission

Previous blogs on this season’s trip are here, here and here.

Next Page »

Welcome

Thank you for taking the trouble to read this blog.  You can find out more about me by clicking on the “About Me” tab above.

The blog started out just as a mix of mountain climbing and other travel reports interspersed with a few random musings prompted by a trip that I made to Mexico and South America in November and December 2014.  You can find details of that trip using the Tags and the Archive below.

It has since developed into a bit of a resource on the Volcanic Seven Summits or the V7S.  For this the best place to start is probably here.  Comments are welcome!

Links

  • Walkhighlands
  • Parkswatchscotland
  • Peakbagger
  • Alan Arnette
  • Mark Horrell
  • Ted Fairhurst
  • Cookie policy

Tags

8000m peaks Aconcagua Antarctica Australia Ben Nevis Bolivia brumlow top Corbetts Damavand Dan Bull David Hamilton Francois Bernard Giluwe Hewitts Humour Iran Iztaccihuatl Katie Sarah Kilimanjaro Kosciuszko Llullaillaco Marilyns Mount Bogong Mount Elbrus Mount Hagen Mount Mukal Mount Rainier Mount Sidley Munros Ojos del Salado Pico de Orizaba Ruapehu satyarup siddhanta Scottish Mountains Seven Summits Taranaki Ted Fairhurst Teide Tochal Toubkal Ultras Volcanic Seven Summits Volcanoes Yorkshire 3 Peaks Zhang Liang

Recent posts

  • Volcanic Seven Summits: Defining the Continents
  • Entering the Marilyn Hall of Fame
  • Deception in Antarctica?
  • Will you Dare to Reach?
  • So just how much does it cost to climb the Volcanic Seven Summits?

Archive

  • December 2020 (1)
  • November 2020 (2)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • May 2020 (2)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (1)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (6)
  • December 2019 (1)
  • November 2019 (1)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • July 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (2)
  • December 2018 (3)
  • November 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (1)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • June 2018 (3)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (1)
  • February 2018 (3)
  • December 2017 (1)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (4)
  • August 2017 (2)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • April 2017 (2)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (2)
  • November 2016 (4)
  • October 2016 (3)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • July 2016 (1)
  • May 2016 (7)
  • April 2016 (4)
  • March 2016 (3)
  • February 2016 (1)
  • January 2016 (2)
  • December 2015 (3)
  • November 2015 (4)
  • October 2015 (4)
  • September 2015 (2)
  • August 2015 (1)
  • July 2015 (5)
  • June 2015 (1)
  • May 2015 (5)
  • April 2015 (2)
  • March 2015 (4)
  • February 2015 (1)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • November 2014 (25)
  • October 2014 (3)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • June 2014 (1)
  • April 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • February 2014 (2)
  • August 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (7)
  • June 2013 (3)
  • May 2013 (1)
  • April 2013 (1)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • October 2012 (1)
  • June 2012 (3)
  • April 2012 (2)
  • March 2012 (2)
  • February 2012 (3)
  • November 2011 (2)
  • August 2011 (1)
  • July 2011 (2)
  • April 2011 (1)

Copyright © James Stone 2014-2021