Located 600 miles from the South Pole in the Ellsworth range this is the highest mountain of the coldest continent on earth, Antarctica and one of the 7 summits. Only a about 600 hundred people have climbed it so far, mainly due to the high cost. It is comparable with Denali with regards to weather and technical difficulties, but the problem is getting there. Harsh conditions abound including extreme cold and ferocious winds. In 1966 The American Alpine Club sponsored by the National Geographic Society placed the first team on the summit. This was the last of the seven summits to be reached. The massif is named after a US congressman for Georgia, Carl. G. Vinson, who promoted Antartic exploration in the 1930's. On a recent expedition from the east, using GPS measurements, Vinson's corrected height was noted to be 16,077 feet. Of note, the expedition included Conrad Anker, Jon Krakauer, and Dave Hahn and was recently a NOVA feature on PBS.

Getting There

Getting to Vinson is the major difficulty of the climb due to the costs involved in the logistics of making it to the base of the mountain. The stepping off point is Punta Arenas (South America) and then on to Anarctica with a 6 hour flight to Patriot hills, the base for Vinson climbs. From there it is a 1 hour flight by Twin Otter to the Vinson Massif basecamp (7,000 ft). You then ascend the Branscomb Glacier for about 2 miles to Camp 1 (9,100 ft.) The next step is 1,000 ft higher at Camp 2 (10,100 ft.) at the foot of a large headwall. Camp 3 (12,300 ft.) is reached by climbing moderate snow slopes to the col between Vinson Massif and Shinn (15,311 ft.) After 1 or 2 days for acclimatizaton summit day begins with a 3 mile traverse overs now slopes to gain the summit ridge and then the summit 3,000 ft. higher. Most guided trips cost nearly thirty thousand dollars.

Red Tape

Perfect monopoly with regards to flights, so the steep price is the only red tape here

When To Climb

Antarctic summer: December - February. You don't want to be there any other time of year...

Camping

You can camp anywhere on or near the mountain. Always clean up! Pack in and out what you bring in.

Mountain Conditions

the 7 summits pages
The average temperature during the climbing months is -20 degrees fahrenheit. The lowest temperature on earth was recorded at Vostok Research Station on July 21st, 1983 at -128.60 degrees fahrenheit. Although Antartica receives less than 2 inches of preciptation per year, base camp can get up to 18 inches per year due to the high winds.

Miscellaneous Info

1. Only two camps are set on the route. Camp 1 is just below the old camp 2 and the new camp 2 is the old camp 3.

2. The cold times for Camp 1 is when it is in the shadow from 4AM to 11AM. Camp 2 is in the shadow from midnight to 6AM.

3. Bathroom facilities.
- Patriot Hills still has tented outhouses that you can easily stand and move around in.
- Vinson Base Camp has a seated styrafoam bench with a bag underneath.
- For camp 1 and 2 you need to haul everything back out.

4. Non-ALE (ALE took over operations of ANI) guided climbers are not allow access to any food or beverage in the mess tents at Patriot Hills.

5. The flight from Punta Arenas to Patriot Hills is flown on a Ilyushin jet. The flight time is approximately 4.5 hours.