Sunday Photo – Antarctic Peninsula
I just saw Doug Stoup (the skier in this photo) at the Outdoor Retailer Show the other day and it reminded me of this trip.
- Doug Stoup twisting his way down to the Lemaire Channel.
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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Category: Sunday Photo
Thanks for the reminder to buy a Lotto ticket tonight….
Sounds like an awesome trip. Usually when I go to unusual parts of the world it is to put my climbing abilities to the test …however I think I might have to dig out my skis.