The Vinson Massif

“Morale is waning, that’s clear,” Dominik Müller, head of the German expedition operator Amical alpin, tells me when I talk to him about the situation in Mount Vinson Base Camp. As reported, a total of 48 mountaineers, including a five-member Amical team, have been stuck there in bad weather for a week and a half now. Food is running out slowly but surely. “Our Christmas dinner was bizarre, sweet mashed potatoes with jam and cinnamon,” wrote Jürgen Landmann, one of the German climbers, on Facebook on Christmas Day. “We built a small chapel and a Christmas tree out of snow. We also took a group picture with all 48 mountaineers here in the base camp.”

No information about emergency plans

Vinson Base Camp in good weather

After all, an Ilyushin cargo plane was able to fly from Punta Arenas in southern Chile to Union Glacier Camp on the edge of Antarctica. However, the bad weather at Mount Vinson prevents airplanes from taking off and landing at the base camp. “We have been eating only one warm meal a day from rations of which the expiration date passed a year ago,” wrote Manuel Möller from the Amical team on Christmas Eve. “ALE (Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions – the US company that organizes the flights to and from Antarctica) apparently has no Plan B. And the atmosphere here in the camp is slowly getting more nervous.” It is unlikely to have improved over the holidays – especially as the meteorologists are predicting snowfall at Mount Vinson for the coming days. So the adjourned game continues. “Our expedition leader Willi Comploi says we’ll have to come up with something soon if the team can’t be taken out in the next few days,” says Dominik Müller, who, in his own words, tried several times in vain to get information from ALE about possible emergency plans.

O’Brady succeeds in solo crossing Antarctica

O’Brady at his destination

Meanwhile the US adventurer Colin O’Brady has successfully completed his solo crossing of Antarctica over a distance of almost 1500 kilometres, without any support. “Day 54: Finish line!!! I did it,” the 33-year-old wrote on Instagram and posted a picture which, according to him, showed him on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. Almost two months ago, O’Brady had started with his sled from Union Glacier – at the same time as British Louis Rudd, who is expected at the finish line in a day or two. The first unsupported solo crossing of Antarctica had been achieved by Norwegian Borge Ousland at the beginning of 1997. He had overcome a distance of 2845 kilometers (!), also using a kite to move faster.

Union Glacier Camp

Update 28 December: Breathe a sigh of relief! The climbers who were stuck for a week and a half at Mount Vinson could be flown out to the research station at Union Glacier. “The atmosphere is correspondingly cheerful,” writes Manuel Möller from the Amical alpin team to me.

Update 29 December: On Friday Lou Rudd completed his solo crossing too.

Thomas Ulrich some days ago

The man took me to the North Pole six years ago. Thus I owe Thomas Ulrich a lot. At the time of our last degree expedition, the 47-year-old adventurer from Switzerland proved to be a prudent and motivating expedition leader. Also this year, Thomy led a group on skis, pulling sledges, the last almost 120 kilometers from the 89th degree of latitude to the North Pole. A week ago they reached 90 degrees north. In contrast to 2009, Ulrich did not fly with the other expedition members by helicopter back to the Russian ice station “Barneo”.  Thomy wanted to ski towards Canada, solo and unsupported. His destination: Ward Hunt Island, 800 miles from the North Pole. Ulrich thought that it would take him 30 to 40 days to reach the island. Previously only his Norwegian friend and former expedition partner Borge Ousland had soloed the distance. But after a few days Ulrich turned around again.

Two meters between life and death

Despite whiteout and storm he initially made good progress, because he was able to use his kite, told Ulrichs Swiss friend and business partner Hans Ambühl. Thomy skied 80 km in the first three days. However, he had to survive several critical situations – like this: Over night suddenly a wide crack opened in the ice just two meters from his tent. Two meters between life and (most likely) death. Thomy became aware that in contrast to earlier expeditions he was no longer ready to take “an unlimited risk”. “The joy gained from overcoming difficulties and maybe even mental boundaries no longer outweighed for him the necessary physical and psychological pain inevitable”, writes Hans.

His dream: Solo across the Arctic

Thomy wants to return via the ice camp Barneo and Spitsbergen to Switzerland. Originally, he had seen this year’s solo expedition as a test run for an even bigger project in 2016: crossing the Arctic from Russia via the North Pole to Canada. Will he now, after the experiences he made last week, bury his great dream? In 2006, his first attempt had failed shortly after the start from the Russian mainland. Ulrich was then rescued by helicopter from an ice floe. “Failure is possible. I don’t want to fail”, Thomy writes about his project “Transarctic Solo 2016”. “And yet, a back-up rescue and emergency plan must exist. Everyone involved, including myself, must know what to do in the worst of all cases. Responsibility also means dealing with these scenarios as relentlessly and intensely as possible, in order to effectively prevent them.” Already a year earlier Thomas Ulrich has proved his ability to make responsible decisions.

“Young” ice near North Pole

The Olympic flame has to freeze. Not yet in Greece, where it will be inflamed for the Winter Games of Sochi 2014 at the ancient sites of Olympia on 6th October, but very soon after arriving in Russia. Mid of October a nuclear icebreaker will bring the torch to the North Pole. This and other stations of the torch would “showcase the beauty of Russia to Russians and to the rest of the world”, said Dmitry Chernyshenko, president of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee. According to Russia’s reading the North Pole seems already to be incorporated – even if under international law it is still disputed whether or which of the Arctic nations has the right to exploit the huge oil and gas reserves that are presumed below the North Pole.

Armed policemen in high camp

It’s not new that the Olympic torch relay is misused for political purposes. Before the Games 2008 in Beijing China brought the Olympic flame to the top of Mount Everest – to demonstrate that the highest mountain of the world and thus occupied Tibet too belong to China. During the action Everest was closed for climbers from abroad. Independent eyewitnesses were unwanted. To avoid trouble with China, Nepal sent armed policemen to its side of the mountain to ensure that nobody would climb higher than Camp 2 on 6400 metres as long as the Chinese torchbearers were on the mountain.

Two Everest climbers as torchbearer

The upcoming torch relay for Sochi 2014 will also lead to a mountain which however is free of any political explosiveness. In early February the flame will burn on 5642-metre-high Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain of Europe. Torchbearers will be two climbers from the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria: Abdul-Halim Olmezov and Karina Mezova. Both have reached the summit of Mount Everest: Olmezov in 2009 – and Mezova in 2011. The 30-year-old woman is a true eye-catcher on expedition images which are usually dominated by bearded men with greasy hair. And Karina has already lighted a flame on the Elbrus – for the Caucasus Games in 2012, as you can see here:

P.S. According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) arctic sea ice extent around the North Pole at the end of the summer melt season was 5.10 million square kilometers compared to the record low of 3,4 million in 2012. The new value was no “sign of turnaround”, said researchers of the German Alfred-Wegener-Institute, but confirmed “the long-term decline of arctic sea ice”.