Trip Reports

Vinson Massif - 16 Nov to 4 Dec '06

Written by Leader Ian Barker, January 2007

I awoke about 05:30 hrs on the morning of 2 December. The wind had got up and the tent was beginning to shake with strong gusts. The temperature was around -12 degrees inside the tent. I got dressed in my outdoor clothing and with the help of Kevin, we went outside to clear drifting snow from the back of the tents and to add another snow block layer to our snow block wall.

The weather had been seriously deteriorating for the last 24 hours and it now looked as though we were in for a blow. Camping alongside us at High Camp were groups from other organisations – these were IMG, Berg Adventures and AAI. All groups had been involved in ascents or attempts on Mt Vinson the previous day.

In the early afternoon the weather started to improve somewhat. I talked with Wally Berg and Eric Murphy from AAI and we all agreed that if the weather continued to improve we would attempt to leave the camp as soon as possible. By late afternoon the weather had improved enough for us to start preparations to start leaving High Camp. The group took some time to pack its’ bags – I told everyone to leave tents up until the very last moment and kit up in their outdoor clothing inside the tent. Once outside, it took some time for the group to put on crampons and harnesses. As we were about to take the tents down I talked to Eric from AAI, commenting that I thought the weather had turned and was now deteriorating and that I was thinking about holding here at High Camp. Eric conceded I had a point, but mentioned that if I was to stay and the storm lasted several days, we would be left on the mountain by ourselves as all descending groups would surely try to get to Base Camp as soon as possible. I thought about our predicament for a minute and decided our best course of action would be to follow the other groups down (even though my gut feeling was to stay put). At this point in time I estimated we had enough food and fuel to stretch 2 more days.

The tents were well drifted in and it took some time and effort to get to the snow pegs and take them down. Eric’s group left 10-15 minutes before us – he asked if I expected him to wait for us, I said no and asked him to keep an eye out for us. As he was about to leave I thrust a handful of marker wands into his hand and asked if he could mark any dodgy points along the route.

I roped the group up with Fredrick, the strongest team member with a good mountaineering sense and ability to pick out the route, out in front. I put the second strongest member, Kevin, next, then Richard.

We set off in deteriorating weather with visibility down to about 100m. Sign of other people’s tracks had started to disappear under drifting snow. After about 5 minutes Fredrick went into a crevasse up to his waist – fortunately Kevin was on the ball and had him on a tight rope.

Less than a kilometre further on we entered the steepest and most heavily crevassed part of the headwall. I’d pulled Jon up on a tight rope on several occasions, yelling at him to keep his rope between Richard and himself taut and off the ground. I watched the first 2 members of the team exiting a snow bridge over the largest crevasse on the route (the bridge was clearly marked by crossed wands) – suddenly my rope was taut and Jon was on the ground. Once he had got himself into a brace position, I moved up to him and placed 2 snow stakes and secured Richard’s rope. I moved to the edge of the crevasse and could see Richard upright in a v-hang. I shouted down to Richard that we would have him out in no time – I estimated he was less than 10 foot (3m) down into the crevasse. I rigged a pulley system quickly, but my big problem was getting slack into Kevin’s side of the rope so I could start to pull Richard out.

Once you exited the snow bridge, the route dropped away downhill, so I had no visual contact with Kevin and could only just make out Fredrick periodically through the drifting snow. Kevin had done exactly what I’d told him to do in our crevasse rescue training sessions and had got into a bracing position and Fredrick had even managed to put in a snow stake. Now I needed them to slacken off the rope so I could get Richard out.

After much gesticulating, Fredrick finally got the message (the wind was now too strong for him to hear me shouting). Jon and I started to pull Richard out, but after only a few pulls, Jon said he couldn’t pull any more. I had to get Fredrick to come over the bridge and help me finish off pulling Richard out.

When Richard eventually emerged from the crevasse, I was horrified to see that he wasn’t wearing any gloves and his hands were unmistakably frost bitten. I estimated it had taken us about 15mins to get Richard out of the crevasse. It transpired that whilst Richard was in the crevasse hanging in the V, he had started to be pulled upside down by his rucksack. He decided his best course of action was to cut his rucksack straps allowing it to fall into the crevasse. It was whilst attempting this manoeuvre that he dropped both his gloves.

Jon was now laid on the ground shivering and not responding to commands. I asked Fredrick to get a pair of gloves for Richard whilst I sorted out Jon and de-rigged the belay. With the help of Fredrick I got everyone over the snow bridge and down the slope a little way into some shelter. Before crossing the bridge I used the Sat Phone and tried to ring Vinson Base Camp - the batteries died within seconds. The only part of the message that they received was that we were at the top of the headwall needing urgent assistance. They logged the call at 22.00hrs. I also tried the radio to no avail. The weather had really taken off by now and was starting to develop into a full-blown blizzard – you could feel the heat being sucked out of you. I fetched the bivvy sack from one of the rucksacks and we all climbed inside. Richard, Jon and Kevin were all shivering – Jon violently. We got Richard into a duvet jacket – Jon was already wearing his.

Despite the cold, Fredrick’s Sat phone worked and we were able to call Vinson Base Camp and tell them of our predicament. Whilst this was happening, I was busy working the radio, trying to make contact with other groups. I decided our best option was to try and dig some sort of snow shelter to get out of the appalling weather. Leaving the others in the bivvy bag, I tied myself to a snow stake and went looking for soft snow. I started digging below and to the left of the group – at first things looked promising, but after about 10 minutes or so I broke into a crevasse. I stuck my head inside to see if we could use it in some way, but it just dropped away below me. I moved to the right of the group and further down the slope and started digging again – the same story ending in yet another crevasse. I went back to the bivvy sack to find everyone covered in snow and still shivering. It was now so cold that the plastic see-through windows in the bivvy bag had appeared to shrink and crack, leaving snow pouring in over everyone.

I dropped straight down the slope and started digging like crazy – the snow was much more solid here and after a while I had to resort to using my ice-axe with both hands. I realised this was going to take ages by myself, so I went back to the bivvy to get Fredrick. After some time (I can’t say for sure how long but we were both exhausted), we managed to fashion a ledge in the slope about 6 feet long by 3 feet wide and 2.5 feet deep. I lined the ledge with foam mats and had Fredrick lie on them whilst I brought the rest of the team down to the ledge. We put Richard and Jon in the middle with Kevin and Fredrick at each end. I pulled a fly-sheet from one of the tents and turned it inside out so we could hold onto the guide lines, tuck the fly-sheet behind our backs and pull the rest over the top of us. I stayed outside to collect rucksacks, which I placed at the back and on top of the ledge to give us some protection. I then collected all the ice-axes and put them next to the bivvy site. Whilst doing all this I managed to put a leg through yet another crevasse. It wasn’t until I crawled into the bivvy myself that I realised how tired I was and that I had also now started shivering.

I tried the radio again, hoping to make contact with one of the other groups who may be able to turn round to give us some assistance. But no-one seemed to have their radios switched on – I found out later that the other guides had their hands full with just trying to get their own teams off the mountain. After trying the radio again for a while, I went back outside and grabbed 2 vacuum flasks and a tent inner from the rucksacks. I also managed to get my duvet jacket out. Once back in the bivvy, the tent inner thrown over the top of us and some hot water made a big difference.

At 00:20hrs on 3 December, we got our first radio call from David Hamilton. He told us that two Swedes, Olaf Sundstrom and Martin Letzter had set off from base camp on ski’s moving quickly, followed by David Hamilton (regular Jagged Globe guide, working for ALE for the whole season this year – Ed) and Tim from ALE and supported by Paul Aubry and Guy Cotter from Adventure Consultants. David estimated the Swede’s should be with us within 4-5 hours. After the radio call I went outside for a 2nd time and by now the visibility was down to a couple of metres and the wind was so strong I had to crawl on my hands and knees. My goggles had iced up and my gloves set like concrete – I couldn’t see a thing. I tried taking my goggles off, but the snow and wind was so painful on my face I had to put them back on. I managed to locate Kevin’s and my rucksack by feel as much as anything else and dragged them into the bivvy with us.

We got out Kevin’s sleeping bag and spread it across the team lengthways so it covered us below the armpits and down to our knees. With the inner tent on top of the bag, this too made a big difference. We packed a thermo-rest behind Fredrick and more clothing and a foam mat behind Kevin, who were both on the outside of the group.

I was also able to get some snack food out of my rucksack and more water for the group. I located my down mitts for Richard and was also able to start treating his frost-bite with the aid of the medical kit that was also in my rucksack. I sat in front of Richard and Jon and we all shared as much body heat as possible – all these things made a big contribution to easing our discomfort and people even stopped shivering for a while.

From my experience of just going outside the bivvy for a short while, I knew that if we were to move from this spot without an improvement in the visibility or the weather we would be finished.

At 04:30 hrs, the Swedes had made remarkable progress and were now at the base of the head wall, but had to dig in. David and Guy’s team had been constantly blown over by the wind trying to get to Camp 1, but were now safely there. It became clear that no-one was moving until the weather improved.

We sat there wiggling our fingers and toes, trying to be positive – at times people started to drift off to sleep or break out in a fit of shivering. A flapping tent nylon would snap you back into reality as the wind tried to whip the fly-sheet from our grasp.

We tried to keep an hourly radio schedule with Camp 1. At times I was being urged by those at Camp 1 for the people who could walk, to make an attempt to get down the head wall. But I was absolutely sure that our only real chance was a dramatic change in the weather or assistance from below and at this stage I was definitely not going to leave anyone behind.

On the evening of 3 December, at around 17:00 hrs, I noticed a change in the wind and radioed this to Camp 1. A short time later, I got a message from below that the Swedes, Tim and David were setting off up the head wall towards us. The weather continued to improve for a while, then started to deteriorate again.

I started to fasten on the team’s crampons and get the group ready to move. The Swedes arrived at 18:30 hrs and were we happy to see them! As the weather was deteriorating, the Swedes were understandably reluctant to let us pack any gear as like us they wanted to get off the mountain as quickly as possible.

I instructed the group to ditch anything heavy and leave it at the bivvy site and helped Olaf tie in the team members whilst Martin supported Richard. Our clothing and mitts froze instantly on leaving the bivvy. I tied in Jon on a short rope in front of me and we set off down the head wall. After a while we met David and Tim who helped with Richard – Paul and Guy met us at the base of the head wall with food and hot drinks, then we set off under our own steam towards Camp 1.

Richard was taken to the Swedes’ tent at the base of the head wall and then quickly whisked off to Camp 1. We arrived at Camp 1 at 21:00 hrs on the evening of the 3 December. The AAI group were still there and had erected tents for us and provided us with warm food and drink. People lent the team foam mats and a sleeping bag for Richard. It was hoped that my group would be able to move after a few hours, but they were too exhausted and after the food and water collapsed into the tent.

By the early hours of the morning, the wind had picked up again and it was clear that we were going nowhere. The weather continued to deteriorate throughout the day to the point it became impossible to light a stove in the tent. It was hoped that we would only be at Camp 1 for a few hours and that we would be able to get Richard down to Base Camp to re-warm his hands. But in this new storm, it just wasn’t possible to move him. I had started to treat Richard with antibiotics as soon as we’d got to Camp 1 and now I decided I needed to clean and dress his hands (it was impossible to re-warm them in these conditions). I washed them in iodine solution and packed his fingers and hands with melanin and bandaged them.

The storm just didn’t let up and we almost lost the tent on 3 occasions – I had to go outside more than once to throw snow blocks onto the tent to prevent it from blowing away. David and Tim’s tent had already started to shred. I was so concerned, I dressed Richard in his outdoor clothing and placed him in his sleeping bag – the amazing thing was that Richard bore all this without a word of complaint. In this time I managed to speak to the doctor at Patriot Hills and he confirmed that I should continue with the Jagged Globe medical protocol that I had started Richard on.

The storm finally abated and we were able to leave Camp 1 at 19:45 hrs on 5 December, almost 46 hrs after we’d arrived.

This had been a taxing experience for all concerned and there were times when the outlook was very bleak indeed. Everyone had talked a lot about how cold it was and the wind chill temperatures. All I can really say is that they had recorded temperatures of minus 28 at Base Camp, so minus 30-35 on the mountain would seem logical. The wind speed was around 60 knots.

Our survival is due in no small part to the thermal properties of modern mountaineering clothing, in particular the high altitude mountaineering boots we were all wearing. When we needed assistance, everyone gave their time and resources willingly and some placed themselves in dangerous and exposed positions to come to our aid. David and Tim from ALE and the 2 Swedes, Olaf and Martin who came up the head wall deserve particular mention – the avalanche risk was considerable. Eric Murphy and his AAI group, together with Mike, the guide from IMG, stayed behind at Camp 1 to help us on our return and consequently had to bear the brunt of the storm at Camp 1. Paul & Guy from Adventure Consultants came from Vinson Base Camp to Camp 1 in the storm and met us at the foot of the head wall and did a sterling job of manning the radios and encouraging us throughout our ordeal.

Other groups (Wally Berg) lent tents and equipment and all the ALE staff were particularly supportive – Steve Jones did an excellent job co-ordinating the rescue from Base Camp.

Fredrick Strang’s mountain knowledge and experience was invaluable to us and I really appreciated his help. Kevin, Jon and especially Richard did a great job of holding it together whilst we were in the bivvy – remarkable considering the situation. We received a warm and emotional welcome from all the guides and team members at Base Camp. The realisation and relief that we would see our family and friends again was overwhelming.

Ian Barker MIC, Expedition Leader
December 2006 « | »

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