Five of the team for the Mount Sidley 2019/2020 expedition are now in Punta Arenas. They are readying themselves for their flight to Union Glacier in the next 48 hours. I understand that the remaining members of the Sidley team are already in Antarctica having undertaken other adventures.
David Roskelley has kindly sent me the photo below of him and the four South Africans on the trip.
(c) David Roskelley – used with permission
Hopefully I will receive updates as the trip progresses and I will then post further information as and when I receive it.
You can find my list of Mount Sidley summiters as of January 2019 here.
Good looking crew. May I ask their ages and previous experience?
At least three of the party have completed both the Seven Summits and six of the Volcanic Seven Summits (David Roskelley and two of the South Africans). I understand that a fourth member of the team (a Russian) may have the same experience. I know that two of the others (the other two South Africans) have significant Himalayan experience. I have been told (but have been able to verify) that there are seventh and eighth members on the team – I do not know of their experience. However the team’s individual and combined experience is likely to be significant. They will also be accompanied on the mountain by a minimum of two ALE guides. The guides are selected by ALE for both their mountaineering and Antarctic experience. All participants in the Sidley expedition (and indeed other expeditions in Antarctica) are vetted by ALE before they are accepted on to any team.
As for their ages, I am afraid that I do not have that information at the present time.
There is more information on the team in my latest blog here