Antarctica Archives – James Stone

Mount Sidley – December 2021 (updated)

22nd December 2021 by James Stone Leave a Comment

[Updated 1st January 2022 to include details of the guides, details of summits and updated list of Mount Sidley summits]

This blog looks at ALE’s expedition to Mount Sidley in December 2021. ALE had to cancel its January 2021 trip because of Covid. So ALE proposes to run two trips this season with a further one departing in January 2022 (though I have heard a rumour that this will not in fact run – more on this later).

The group of seven left Punta Arenas, as scheduled, on 18 December. I understand that the weather was good enough that the group was able to fly straight away to the mountain. When I went we waited two days and used one day to ascend Charles Peak on the opposite side of Union Glacier.

The team of seven comprises:

Jaime Viñals from Guatemala. This experienced mountaineer has climbed the seven summits. Sidley will be his final one of the Volcanic Seven Summits. Interestingly he has also climbed each of the highest peaks on the seven largest islands in the world.
James Allen from Australia. James is another Everest summiter and has also finished the seven summits. He has also climbed four of the Volcanic Seven Summits.
Stephan Jesinghaus from Germany. Mount Sidley will be his sixth of the Volcanic Seven Summits.
Yousef Alrefaie from Kuwait. For Yousef Mount Sidley will be his final one of the Volcanic Seven Summits. He will also be the first Middle Easterner and Arab to complete them.
Fahd Abu Aisha from Egypt. Mount Sidley will be his sixth of the Volcanic Seven Summits.
Delia and Iulia Zanoschi, twins from Romania though currently resident in the USA. They are also Everest summiters and have the ambition of becoming the youngest people to have completed both the seven summits and the Volcanic Seven Summits, so “beating” Satyarup Siddhanta’s current record.

At the moment I do not know the identities of the guides. [The guides were Tom Weston and Scott Webster, both UK based guides.]

With a team of this size they will almost certainly have travelled to the mountain in a Basler.

I will update this blog as and when I receive further information. [See below]

Here is a link to what I believe to be the current list of Sidley ascents prior to this trip. And here is a link to what I believe to be the current list of those who have completed the Volcanic Seven Summits again prior to this trip.

Best of luck to the Mount Sidley December 2021 team.

Update

The team summited on 22nd December 2021 in what looks to be perfect weather. I am told that all bar Jaime Viñals made it. So only Yousef Al Refaie is added to the list of V7S completers. At 24 he is the second youngest to achieve this feat.

***The two rope teams crossing the crater – (c) Yousef Al Refaie (reproduced with permission)***

***Yousef Al Refaie on Sidley’s summit with Mount Waesche in the background – (c) Yousef Al Refaie (reproduced with permission)***

Here is my updated list of Mount Sidley ascents.

	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)/IRE
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
60.	22/12/2021	Scott Webster	ALE #9	UK (Scotland)
61.	22/12/2021	Tom Weston	ALE #9	UK (England)
62.	22/12/2021	Fahd Abu Aisha	ALE #9	Egypt
63.	22/12/2021	James Allen	ALE #9	Australia
64.	22/12/2021	Stephan Jesinghaus	ALE #9	Germany
65.	22/12/2021	Yousef Al Refaie	ALE #9	Kuwait
66.	22/12/2021	Delia Zanoschi	ALE #9	Romania
67.	22/12/2021	Iulia Zanoschi	ALE #9	Romania

I will do a separate blog soon on V7S completers as there are two currently preparing for an ascent of Ojos del Salado. If they are successful, this will add two more to the list.

Deception in Antarctica?

13th November 2020 by James Stone Leave a Comment

Most Brits (certainly older ones) are familiar with the heroic and ultimately fateful endeavours of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his team. They lost the race to be the first to the South Pole, beaten by less than 5 weeks by Norwegian, Roald Amundsen’s party. In a sense Amundsen and his party set the first of the long-distance polar records.

Nonetheless Scott was hailed as a hero, at least within the UK. A proud nation erected memorials in his honour, and family members and survivors rewarded. In the eyes of British high society Scott and his team represented the values of the British empire – adventure, daring, bravery, verve and leadership. Reality was different. Although his legacy has since been questioned, the fact remains that exploration and feats of endurance are held up as a matter of national and personal honour.

As more and more of the world has been reached, national endeavour now focusses beyond the earth’s atmosphere. Instead it is now individuals who look for eye-catching adventure, none more so than in Polar regions. The “first”, the “youngest”, the “fastest”, the “whatever” person to achieve an objective transfixes the media and helps find content for it. The media rarely explores how noteworthy each objective really is. It rarely discerns the motivation behind the achievement.

A skier in Queen Maud Land — In Queen Maud Land (c) Christoph Höbenreich

I remember reading media reports earlier this year about the achievement of a so-called record – the first unassisted crossing of Antarctica. A race between an American, Colin O’Brady, and a Brit, Henry Rudd, gripped the tabloids. Two years before their “crossing”, another heroic failure by a Brit had occurred. Then, tragically, Henry Worsley died in a Chilean hospital. He had been taken ill whilst attempting a similar route to that of O’Brady and Rudd. He was just 120 miles or so from completing his crossing when ALE had to rescue him and transport him back to South America. So the “record” remained for the taking.

O’Brady beat Rudd and so “won” the race and set a “world first”. His PR machine went into overdrive. The media and his sponsors feted him. He had achieved “An Impossible First”.

That claim very much diminished much more worthy efforts such as that of Borge Ousland. Borge Ousland’s 1997 solo crossing was almost double the distance of O’Brady’s effort as shown by this map.

Comparing routes across Antarctica for polar record purposes

I then remember reading the article by Damian Gildea on the Explorersweb site, an excoriating critique of O’Brady’s claims. It also summarised the history of long distance travel in Antarctica and how people have sought to define their achievements in aid of glory and commercial gain. You will find the article via this link.

More recently experienced polar guides, Christoph Höbenreich and Eric Philips, have tried to make sense of what is going on. They ask the questions “What is still a pioneering achievement? Something never attempted? A risky adventure at the edge of the impossible? An extreme sporting challenge? And which among them are mock adventures?”. In so doing they seek to develop a classification system to describe what these trips actually involve.

They have published a series of blogs entitled “Circus Antarctica” to explore these issues, the first of which is here.

The blogs are well worth reading. You can then make your own assessment. Is the publicity spun by adventurers to polar regions and are their “polar records” really all that they claim to be? In the first of the blogs there is also a link to a good National Geographic article from earlier this year. This article discusses the O’Brady claims.

Mount Sidley ascents – update 2020

1st February 2020 by James Stone Leave a Comment

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.

The Sidley 2020 team and aircrew
(c) Andrew Hughes (used with permission)

	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)/IRE
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.

High camp on Mount Sidley — Sidley high camp
(c) Dave Roskelley (used with permission)

Final summit push on Mount Sidley — Final summit push
(c) Dave Roskelley (used with permission)

Crater rim on Mount Sidley — The Sidley crater rim
(c) Andrew Hughes (used with permission)

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….

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.