Stuck on the Ice

Still stuck on the ice at the moment. I was meant to be back in the states
by now, but as of this moment I am still at Vinson base camp. Weather has
been touch and go here, worse at Patriot Hills. The forecast is grim for
Patriots, and thoughts of flying the IL76 to get people to Punta Arenas is
looking more and more bleak. As of now both Norwegian and Belgian weather
forecasts are calling for three more days of bad weather. A frontal low
coming off the Weddle sea is causing problems and is unlikely to break for a
few days. So at the moment, making Christmas in the states is looking poor.

Every day I wake up with the hope that I will fly to Patriots, putting me
one flight closer to Chile, and every day after multiple weather skeds,
nothing happens. Weather here gets better, then it worsens, weather at
Patriots becomes flyable, then they become socked in. It is in fact much
like a standby from Hell. Imagine flying standby on a commercial airline in
the states. The waiting, not knowing when you are going to get on with your
plans, one moment you are good to go, then you are bumped, then you wait,
and repeat. Now imagine the same situation, played out every hour on the
hour. Having the knowledge that planes are waiting to take you, whenever
the weather becomes flyable. Watching the weather go from good, to
moderate, to poor in a matter of minutes. Flights take over an hour to get
from Patriots to Vinson and even when weather becomes good here, will it be
good by the time the plane arrives? What if they can't land and have to
turn around? That's a $10,000 flight, who will be responsible for that
error? Each time you go out to make a weather observation, and you record
wind speed, cloud type and height, points visible, barometric pressure,
tendency, contrast, and horizon, all of this knowing that pilots are
listening and basing some of their decisions off climbers, not
meteorologists. It's a tough job, and becomes very frustrating. Moments it
is sunny and hot here, -10, no down jacket, no wind, NO PLANE, weather in
Patriots is
F-ed. So we wait. Next weather sked in an hour. The hopes of flying soon
dwindling. I mine as well be on the moon.

Chris

Vinson Base Camp
Antarctic Logistics and Expeditions
vinson.base@antarctic-logistics.com

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