South Pole – Day 2

Sms just received ‘We are in Punta Arenas – it’s very windy.  We are waiting for the others to arrive.  The weather is marginal for the passage to Antarctica’. 

The plan is to depart Punta Arenas on Saturday and fly for 4 hrs over the continent to Union Glacier.  The crew will no doubt want to depart windy Punta Arenas as soon as possible as the town is not known for its attractions and mostly serves as a transportation hub and departure point. But as usual it all depends on the weather.

From Sean’s book ‘Freeze Frame’ on climbing Mt Vinson (the highest mountain in Antarctica) – ‘As I rapidly learnt, even in full summer, with literally 24-hour daylight in Antarctica, when the sun is predominant at the ‘bottom’ of the globe, access is still extraordinarily difficult.  Indeed, even with all this glorious light you are in the hands of God when attempting to fly…  There is no air traffic control tower or radio beacon to guide the pilot.  The landing is done visually and sufficient fuel has to be carried to get in and out.  In short, condition need to be perfect, the runway groomed, wind speeds minimal, the skies clear…’   

The team consists of: Waleed Zahid and his sons Mohamed and Haytham; 4 Adventure Consultants guides – Guy Cotter, Ronny Finsas, Tim Hewette and Rob Smith; a doctor Jeff Lunt, Duncan Paul and Sean.