We had six days of skiing in Antarctica with 2-3 in Ushuaia, Argentina beforehand.  I kept a photo, gps and written log of where we went, which is available by clicking the photo below (2mb pdf file).

And, a 50 image set of my favorite photos…

On a personal level, I think I was almost as excited, if not more, about the return trip back across the Drake Passage as any of the skiing.  One of the great things about nature and being outdoors is witnessing weather events in all of their power and glory.  On a previous trip to Antarctica in 2003 (?) we hit 68 mph winds while sailing in a 50′ boat, which was pretty damn exciting.  This clocked in at a “Force 10″ on the Beaufort scale, which seemed like it would be hard to beat, but since the scale goes up to Force 12 (hurricane), it was like getting sooooo close, but not quite the ultimate ride.  On both legs in 2009 and the down-bound leg of 2011, we had Force 2 conditions, which are hardly worth waking up for.  However, the return leg on this trip delivered the holy grail of oceanic intensity – Force 12 in the Drake, aka The Drake Shake.  I was so happy.  :)  The waves were a bit undersized at 8-10 meters, but the wind was piping up to 100+ knots.  Yehaw! It was especially great to experience this on a 320′ ice reinforced, steel hulled boat that was built and designed for conditions like this and was being skippered by a very experienced Captain.

The trip is happening again in 2013 and Karyn Stanley of Ice Axe was already getting emails requesting reservations before the ship reached the dock.  It’s an incredible ride.
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Dinner will be sauteed Sea Bass with an iceberg on the side. The view out the cabin window during dinner.

One of the many things l love about this trip is that it takes place in November, so it’s a fantastic way to start the new ski season.  Unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere, once you get back back home, you’ve got your ski legs under you and are ready to begin the new year.  Aside from that, skiing in Antarctica is an amazing experience that never gets old.  It is one thing to read about it, but another to be shadowed by penguins and seals in the Zodiac, then get out and ski a line where the roller balls from your edges tumble down thousands of feet before plunging straight into the deepest of the deep blue seas.

The daily commute and trailhead access.

This trip accommodates a wide range of skiing abilities, but obviously the more comfortable you are ski touring, the more skiing you’ll get in.  The price includes guides, of which I am one.  Groups are divided into teams of four per guide, so if you and three friends sign up, we’ll have our own little posse.  If not, you might get me anyways. ;)

The skiing is almost anything you want to make it, including steeps if you happen to be into that sort of thing...

The trip is November 8-20th and once you are on the boat the price includes almost everything but your bar tab and personal charges.  For more information, call Karyn Stanley at 530-582-1246, email her at Karyn@iceaxeexpeditions.com or check out the IceAxe.tv website.
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http://straightchuter.com/am-content/2009_Ski_Cruise/index.html

If and when it happens again (and assuming I get invited back…), I’ll be there.  A big thanks to Doug Stoup and Karyn Stanley for making the magic happen.
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I started playing around with the SPOT device last spring and have slowly warmed up to it, to the point that I now think it is pretty damn cool.  It relies on three technologies – GPS, Satellite Phones and the Internet, so the potential for something not to work is always there.  The SPOT unit places a marker on a Google map, which just like all other Google maps can be switched to a variety of views and zoomed in and out.  I have no idea what the Google Earth resolution will be like in Antarctica, but is might be very cool.  The SPOT device only tracks the latest seven days, so it will start to delete the older waypoints as the trip progresses.

Tenative Schedule
Nov 2-5  Ushuaia, Argentina
Nov 6-7  Drake Passage
Nov 8  Deception Island
Nov 9-14 Skiing on the Antarctica Peninsula
Nov 15-16  Drake Passage
Nov 17 Ushuaia
Nov 18-21 Ripping Brown Trout lips in Terra del Fuego
Nov 23 – SLC

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Doug Stoup of Truckee, CA came up with the idea of chartering an entire 300+ foot ice-going cruise ship for ten days, filling it with skiers/boarders, crossing the Drake Passage twice and going skiing in Antarctica.  While this is a fairly common voyage for a cruise ship, what made it special was that instead of stopping at penguin rookeries and decaying whaling stations, we were going to stop at prime ski spots, spend the day skiing, then have a great meal on board, travel to a new spot over night and do it all again.

Unfortunately the ship had mechanical problems and although all 106 of us were packed on board, the trip was canceled.  This was a huge disappointment, but considering the boat’s sister ship had sunk in Antarctica the year before, nobody really doubted the wisdom of the inspectors.

The cruise has been rescheduled for 2009 and further information on it can be found at Iceaxe.tv, or perhaps skicruise2008.com   For a chance to ski in Antarctica, this is a very affordable once-in-a-lifetime type of trip. 

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It was amazing sending him off.  First, he mentioned how he packed a camera recharger.  They have power on the boat??   Duh, of course they do.  Then, seeing his bagage was a real eyeopener on how different of a trip this will be – his suitcase was insy-winsy.  No tent, sleeping bag, stove, or food.  Not even a towel (though I doubt that is on his normal packing list).   He should have made it down to Argentina by now, then they embark on October 30 and set off across the Drake passage.

Polly

The purpose of this trip was to make a NOVA film, which I think was called “Trapped in Ice.”  Conrad Anker was the main climber, Jon Krakauer was the historian and Dan Stone was the Glaciologist.  Dave Hahn and I were the field guides, so we got to double-haul lots of heavy loads, set up camps, cook and carry camera gear.  It was a blast.

Contrary to popular belief, Antarctica is not rip-ass cold 100% of the time, but when it is, it really is.  In this photo, we were skinning along a glacier, which was quite pleasant, but when we came within ten feet of a shadow, as Conrad said, we were entering “the steel glove of love” which meant the temps were going to drop a good 40-50 degrees once we left the sun.  Within a few feet, the temps went from casual to brutal.

Vinson, the highest point on Antarctica at right above 16,000′ is commonly referred to as the “Vinson Massif” instead of Mt. Vinson as it is kind of a huge dome with many wart-like peaklettes on top of it, which make it hard to tell exactly which one is the actual summit.

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In 2003, I had the good fortune of getting invited along for a trip to the Antarctic Peninsula to try and ski the Bull Ridge on Mt. Francis on Anvers Island.  We didn’t make it very far due to extended bad weather, but it was still one of my all time favorite trips in terms of adventure, scenery and wildlife.  My partner for the trip was Doug Stoup, aka “Mr. Antarctica” who is putting together an entire cruise ship to return to the peninsula this Oct/Nov for a two week ski mountaineering trip.  I’ll be going along and there are a few more berths available.  Check out SkiCruise2008.com for more info.

2003 Antarctic Peninsula

34 Photos

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Antarctica has to be one of the most exotic places you could ever imagine skiing.  This is not to say that the skiing itself is off the charts, but the location, scenery and experience of being there are unbeatable.  We arrived on Skip Novak’s 48′ steel-hulled boat ”Pelagic” and although the seas were calms for most of the trip, just as we decided to land the wind kicked up and we almost had to abort our plans.  At the last second, we were able to load a Zodiac up with all of our gear, get a ride to the one and only landing spot for miles around and get dropped off in the midst of a huge penguin rookery.

Throughout the trip, we were watching and hearing whales breach below us while we were skiing, seeing Fur Seals as we went to collect snow to melt, being squawked at by angry Skua’s and watching penguins come in from a hard day in the water as we were eating dinner.  It was like camping in the best zoo in the world.

Doug is putting together another trip down to this area this upcoming fall.  It is a two week trip, Nov 20th through Oct 10th and this time he has enlisted the luxuries of a cruise ship to help out.  For further details, see Ice Axe Expeditions.

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