Preparing to fly to Patriot Hills

There is a weather system that has been blowing hard at Patriot Hills for the past few days. The forecast is calling for a break in the winds tomorrow, followed by cloud cover. If the visibility is good and the cloud cover not so server, we will try and fly to Patriot Hills tomorrow. It seems to be a 50/50 shot as to wether or no that will actually happen?

Life in Punta has been busy. Many thing to get accomplished in a short amount of time. Briefings on medical protocol and weather observations have been the most time consuming. Mixed in we have been occupied with smaller tasks like preparing packing labels for baggage, doing gear checks for clients, and helping the kitchen staff cooking prepackaged meals. After many meetings and discussions among various higher ups, the four guides going into Vinson Base camp now have a clear idea as to the tasks and the order in which things are going to be prioritized this season. Although we are well organized there is a feeling of stress among the four of us. While this is my 3rd season and Darren, Pachi, and Namgya's 2nd, we all have our reservations about the systems and tasks in front of us that we only little knowledge of. For example, while i have seen our energy system and solar lay out for Vinson Base camp, I have never actually installed it. Same goes for the comms antennas. We all know what we need to do in theory and I am sure we will have little problems executing, I think we are just a bit anxious. If any of you remember last season we arrived at VBC to find our Weather-haven tent half buried in snow and spend the better part of a week clearing snow. With estimated high winds through the winter this season I am a bit concerned we will find more of the same. With an additional Weather-haven tent and half the staff, we may spend the first week or two just digging out camp.

The tasks on the hill are all very much within our comfort zones. Establishing the route, camps, and fixed lines are all easy projects for us to tackle, just time consuming. As of now, myself and Pachi will guide 4 clients on the first rotation. Namgya Sherpa will be helping out a group guided by Phil Ershler, and Darren will act as Base Camp Manager on V1. There is no ALE clients on V2 so we will all be working on various projects including finishing the fixed lines, organizing base camp further, and potentially scouting an alternate and more challenging line to the summit. All and all it sounds like a fun season and we are all looking forward to getting things underway. I will keep you posted on when we actually fly to the ice. Possibly tomorrow? Stay tuned.