Following this season’s ALE trip I am updating the list of those who have climbed Mount Sidley with the Mount Sidley ascents 2020. Another 10 people make the list.

	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	New Zealand
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	Andrew Lloyd	Roberts Group	USA
14.	01/01/2012	John Paul O’Donnell	Roberts Group	Ireland
15.	18/01/2013	David Hamilton	ALE #2	UK (Scotland)
16.	18/01/2013	Vyacheslav Adrov	ALE #2	Russia
17.	18/01/2013	Paul Nicholson	ALE #2	Canada
18.	18/01/2013	Olga Rumyantseva	ALE #2	Russia
19.	18/01/2013	Vitaly Simonovich	ALE #2	Russia
20.	28/12/2013	Dylan Taylor	ALE #3	USA
21.	28/12/2013	Ilya Bykov	ALE #3	Russia
22.	28/12/2013	Sophie Cairns	ALE #3	UK (England)/Hong Kong
23.	28/12/2013	Liana Chabdarova	ALE #3	Russia
24.	28/12/2013	Andre Filkov	ALE #3	Russia
25.	17/01/2014	Francois Michel Bernard	ALE #4	France
26.	17/01/2014	Rob Smith	ALE #4	UK (Northern Ireland)
27.	17/01/2014	John Dodelande	ALE #4	France
28.	17/01/2014	Philipp Lehner	ALE #4	Austria
29.	17/01/2014	Christian de Marliave	ALE #4	France
30.	17/01/2014	Joachim Marte	ALE #4	Austria
31.	17/01/2014	Jean Frederik Paulsen	ALE #4	Sweden
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 Dumas	ALE #5	USA
34.	14/01/2017	Christoph Hoebenreich	ALE #5	Austria
35.	14/01/2017	Dan Bull	ALE #5	Australia
36.	14/01/2017	Jarryd Commerford	ALE #5	USA/UK (England)
37.	14/01/2017	Michael Guggolz	ALE #5	Germany
38.	14/01/2017	Robbi Malandreniotis	ALE #5	UK (England)/Greece
39.	14/01/2017	James Stone	ALE #5	UK (England)
40.	14/01/2018	Nate Opp	ALE #6	USA
41.	14/01/2018	Cheryl Bart	ALE #6	Australia
42.	14/01/2018	Nikki Bart	ALE #6	Australia
43.	14/01/2018	Theodore Fairhurst	ALE #6	Canada
44.	14/01/2018	Katie Sarah	ALE #6	Australia
45.	15/01/2019	Fred Alldredge	ALE #7	USA
46.	15/01/2019	Maria Paz (Pachi) Ibarra	ALE #7	Chile
47.	15/01/2019	Vladislav Lachkarev	ALE #7	Russia
48.	15/01/2019	Satyarup Siddhanta	ALE #7	India
49.	15/01/2019	Sándor (Sanya) Tóth	ALE #7	Hungary
50.	18/01/2020	Andrew Chapman	ALE #8	UK (England)
51.	18/01/2020	Josh Hoeschen	ALE #8	USA
52.	18/01/2020	Vaughan de la Harpe	ALE #8	South Africa
53.	18/01/2020	Andrew Hughes	ALE #8	USA
54.	18/01/2020	Arthur Marsden	ALE #8	South Africa
55.	18/01/2020	Oleg Mezentsev	ALE #8	Russia
56.	18/01/2020	Donald O’Connor	ALE #8	South Africa
57.	18/01/2020	David Roskelley	ALE #8	USA
58.	18/01/2020	Roxanne Vogel	ALE #8	USA
59.	18/01/2020	Rob Williams	ALE #8	South Africa

Note that all dates are logged by reference to UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) where I know the precise summit time. Accordingly elsewhere you may find climbs recorded on different dates. This applies in particular to ALE trips #7 and #8. ALE uses Chilean time which is at UTC -3 hours.

I also list in alphabetical order, first the guides and then the other team members. So this list should not be read as showing who reached the summit first.*

Fewer than 60 people make the list. However this climb is becoming ever more popular with next season’s ALE trip already subject to a waiting list. Do not be surprised if ALE make the decision to run an additional one next year. This reflects the ever growing popularity of the V7S challenge.

This year’s team was led by American guide, Josh Hoeschen, and British guide, Andy Chapman, with eight participants including a four-strong South African contingent. A total of 10 plus aircrew is probably about the largest number the Basler aircraft can manage.

In addition there were three Americans and a Russian. One of the Americans was Roxanne Vogel who, earlier this year, completed the rather remarkable feat of leaving home, climbing Everest and returning home all within 14 days. Adventure-journal published an article about this.

Of the eight clients, five were also Seven Summiters – so a strong team.

By way of reminder, further background information on Mount Sidley and the Volcanic Seven Summits can be found in this blog.

I will post my list of those who I am aware have climbed the Volcanic Seven Summits in a week or so. Four names will be added. As ever if there is anyone who I have missed I am happy to correct the list.

* I would also say that it does not really matter and it is the getting down that counts….

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.

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.

For the previous blog on this trip see here.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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