James Stone (Clach Liath)

Mountaineering and the Volcanic Seven Summits

You are here: Home / Blog / Mount Sidley – January 2024 (part 2)

Mount Sidley – January 2024 (part 2)

by Leave a Comment

At 19:00 GMT -4 on 17th January 2024 the second ALE team of the season summited Mount Sidley. This was less than two weeks after the first team.  This is my second blog on Mount Sidley – January 2024

The second team was much smaller with just one guide and four climbers.  One of the climbers became the oldest person to summit Mount Sidley. Another completed both his V7S round and a V7S/7S (Bass version) double.

Ascending Mount Sidley
Moody Mount Sidley – (c) Tomasz Bryl, used with permission

The guide was American, Jared Vilhauer, who is a native of Colorado.  He was accompanied by:

  • Ryszard Pawłowski (who at 73 became the oldest person to climb Mount Sidley) and Tomasz Bryl (both from Poland and the first from that nation);
  • Marius Purice (who completed the V7S and the V7S/7S double) (Romania); and
  • Kathryn Gilson (USA) for whom Mount Sidley was the third of the V7S.

Whilst the first team seemed to have had a relatively smooth climb and good weather throughout, this was not the case for the second team.  Being a smaller team, they travelled to Sidley in a Twin Otter (rather than the Basler).  It seems as though the first team had left a fuel cache at the mountain because, this time, there wasn’t the need to stop half-way to refuel. 

So it looks as though ALE have stopped landing their Twin Otter in the crater now. Instead they opted for an approach further to the north-east, like recent trips.  This is a longer but slightly less steep approach.  The aeroplane landed about 8km from the base of the mountain.

Having successfully summited, the team was caught in a storm. That meant they had to spend almost 48 hours in high camp before they were able to return to the Twin Otter.

Ryszard Pawłowski is one of the greats of Himalayan mountaineering.  He climbed 10 of the 8000m peaks of the world between 1979 and 1987 (plus the central summit of Shishipangma). This included Mount Everest five times.  He climbed with many great Polish climbers and was with Jerzy Kukuczka when he tragically died on Lhotse in 1989.  Perhaps the V7S project is a suitable activity for class climbers in their dotage.

Both Ryszard Pawlowski and Tomasz Bryl just have Ojos del Salado to climb in order to complete the V7S. This is planned for later in the year.

Ryszard Pawlowski and Tomasz Bryl on the summit of Mount Sidley
Ryszard Pawlowski and Tomasz Bryl on the summit of Mount Sidley – (c) Tomasz Bryl, used with permission

Marius Purice climbed Mount Vinson on this same trip. He is still looking to complete the Messner version of the Seven Summits.  After his Antarctica climbs he said that the project “has produced profound beneficial effects in my personal evolution, physically, mentally and spiritually. I am happy and grateful that I went through both circuits without major incidents and thanks to many people without whom I would not have succeeded…. I hope that this success will inspire, as in my case, as many enthusiastic climbers as possible in overcoming their personal limits, to the highest level.”

Marius Purice from Romania on the summit of Mount Sidley
Marius Purice on the summit of Mount Sidley – (c) Marius Purice, used with permission

My updated list of Mount Sidley climbers is below. As is my practice, summiters are listed in alphabetical order by date (but with the guide(s) named first) without regard to who may have reached the summit first.  I will write a further blog on the current V7S completers in the next few weeks.

DateNameGroupNationality
1.11/01/1990Bill AtkinsonPanter GroupNew Zealand
2.12/01/1990Bill McIntoshPanter GroupUSA
3.12/01/1990Kurt PanterPanter GroupUSA
21/01/1994Bill McIntosh (second ascent)Dunbar/ McIntoshUSA
4.21/01/1994Nelia DunbarDunbar/ McIntoshUSA
5.21/01/1994Thom WilchDunbar/ McIntoshUSA
6.21/01/1994Tony TeelingDunbar/ McIntoshNew Zealand
7.23/01/2011Scott WoolumsALE #1USA
8.23/01/2011Aleks AbramovALE #1Russia
9.23/01/2011Crina “Coco” PopescuALE #1Romania
10.23/01/2011Mario TrimeriALE #1Italy
11.01/01/2012Mike RobertsRoberts GroupNew Zealand
12.01/01/2012Jennifer ErxlebenRoberts GroupUSA
13.01/01/2012Andrew LloydRoberts GroupUSA
14.01/01/2012John Paul O’DonnellRoberts GroupIreland
15.18/01/2013David HamiltonALE #2UK (Scotland)
16.18/01/2013Vyacheslav AdrovALE #2Russia
17.18/01/2013Paul NicholsonALE #2Canada
18.18/01/2013Olga RumyantsevaALE #2Russia
19.18/01/2013Vitaly SimonovichALE #2Russia
20.28/12/2013Dylan TaylorALE #3USA
21.28/12/2013Ilya BykovALE #3Russia
22.28/12/2013Sophie CairnsALE #3UK (England)/Hong Kong
23.28/12/2013Liana Chabdarova ALE #3Russia
24.28/12/2013Andre FilkovALE #3Russia
25.17/01/2014Francois Michel BernardALE #4France
26.17/01/2014Rob SmithALE #4UK (Northern Ireland)
27.17/01/2014John DodelandeALE #4France
28.17/01/2014Philipp Lehner ALE #4Austria
29.17/01/2014Christian de MarliaveALE #4France
30.17/01/2014Joachim MarteALE #4Austria
31.17/01/2014Jean Frederik PaulsenALE #4Sweden
32.17/01/2014Alexander SvaetichinALE #4Sweden
17/01/2014Scott Woolums (second ascent)ALE #4USA
33.14/01/2017Tre-C DumasALE #5USA
34.14/01/2017Christoph HoebenreichALE #5Austria
35.14/01/2017Dan BullALE #5Australia
36.14/01/2017Jarryd CommerfordALE #5USA/UK (England)/IRE
37.14/01/2017Michael GuggolzALE #5Germany
38.14/01/2017Robbi MalandreniotisALE #5UK (England)/Greece
39.14/01/2017James StoneALE #5UK (England/Australia)
40.14/01/2018Nate OppALE #6USA
41.14/01/2018Cheryl BartALE #6Australia
42.14/01/2018Nikki BartALE #6Australia
43.14/01/2018Theodore FairhurstALE #6Canada
44.14/01/2018Katie SarahALE #6Australia
45.15/01/2019Fred AlldredgeALE #7USA
46.15/01/2019Maria Paz (Pachi) IbarraALE #7Chile
47.15/01/2019Vladislav LachkarevALE #7Russia
48.15/01/2019Satyarup SiddhantaALE #7India
49.15/01/2019Sándor (Sanya) TóthALE #7Hungary
50.18/01/2020Andrew ChapmanALE #8UK (England)
51.18/01/2020Josh Hoeschen ALE #8USA
52.18/01/2020Vaughan de la HarpeALE #8South Africa
53.18/01/2020Andrew HughesALE #8USA
54.18/01/2020Arthur MarsdenALE #8South Africa
55.18/01/2020Oleg MezentsevALE #8Russia
56.18/01/2020Donald O’ConnorALE #8South Africa
57.18/01/2020David RoskelleyALE #8USA
58.18/01/2020Roxanne VogelALE #8USA
59.18/01/2020Rob WilliamsALE #8South Africa
60.22/12/2021Scott WebsterALE #9UK (Scotland)
61.22/12/2021Tom Weston ALE #9UK (England)
62.22/12/2021Fahd Abu AishaALE #9Egypt
63.22/12/2021James AllenALE #9Australia
64.22/12/2021Stephan JesinghausALE #9Germany
65.22/12/2021Yousef Al RefaieALE #9Kuwait
66.22/12/2021Delia ZanoschiALE #9Romania
67.22/12/2021Iulia ZanoschiALE #9Romania
68.17/01/2023Eli PotterALE #10USA
69.17/01/2023Adrian AhritculeseiALE #10Romania
70.17/01/2023Marie-Pier DesharnaisALE #10Canada
71.17/01/2023Caroline LeonALE #10Australia
72.17/01/2023Robert GropelALE #10Australia
73.18/01/2023Celine JaccardALE #10Switzerland
74.18/01/2023Thierry DewambrechiesALE #10France
75.18/01/2023Nilavishek MukherjeeALE #10India
76.18/01/2023Vambola SipelgasALE #10Estonia
77.18/01/2023Jaime ViñalsALE #10Guatemala
78.04/01/2024Larry HolmgrenALE#11USA
79.04/01/2024Evgenii FederovALE#11Russia
80.04/01/2024Ludmila KorobeshkoALE#11Russia
81.04/01/2024Andrey KravchenkoALE#11Russia
82.04/01/2024Yury LukyanovALE#11Kazakhstan
83.04/01/2024Oleg PipkovALE#11Russia
84.04/01/2024Igor RebelskiyALE#11Russia
85.04/01/2024Nikolay TomchakALE#11Russia
86.04/01/2024Sergei VasilievALE#11Russia
87.17/01/2024Jared VilhauerALE#12USA
88.17/01/2024Tomasz BrylALE#12Poland
89.17/01/2024Kathryn GilsonALE#12USA
90.17/01/2024Ryszard PawłowskiALE#12Poland
91.17/01/2024Marius PuriceALE#12Romania

My earlier blog about the first January 2024 Sidley ascent is here. I am grateful for the help provided to me by Marius Purice and Tomasz Bryl in providing me with information that enabled me to write this blog.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.