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Bernard
Voyer: Vinson 2001
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After
standing at the Earth's three polesthe North
Pole, the South Pole and Mount
EverestBernard Voyer has taken on a new
challenge: A world tour via the highest mountain
on each continent. |
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Starting
November 8, 2001, Bernard
Voyer will complete the last stop on his World
Tour of the highest mountains, by climbing Mount
Vinson (4897 meters), the highest peak in the Antarctic,
with climbing partner Nathalie Tremblay.
Update
12/1/2001: We left this afternoon at 2:00 pm because
we were waiting for the sun at the base camp. The base
camp is located at an altitude of 2,280 (nearly 3,000)
meters. We left when it was at its warmest because it
is already very, very cold, especially at night and
when the sun is behind or hidden by a mountain. Luck
was on our side and we advanced for 4 hours and 20
minutes and we arrived at camp I, where we decided to
set up camp. We have just passed an area of crevasses,
then an area of seracs. We then found a place we
thought safe and we set up our tent there. We are at
an altitude of approximately 2,500 meters (2,917)
according to our altimeter.
Nathalie
Tremblay
When
Nathalie talks about seracs falling, these are blocks
of ice from glaciers that are very strained and
trigger large blocks of ice that can fall at any time.
When Nathalie talks about our punkas, she is referring
to the small sleds we pull. They are about 180 centimeters
long and are like the plastic sleds used by children.
We put a lot of our gear on them and in our rucksacks
and then we move forward like that tied together. In
other words, the climbers are tied together by a rope
approximately every 5 to 10 meters, so if a climber
falls into a crevasse or the snow collapses under our
feet, one or two climbers can hold on to him. We
continue on this glacier that rises steadily, but
there are some sections with very deep crevasses. We
always move tied together with rope.
The
weather was extremely beautiful today. It was cold,
but there were no clouds. However, in the late
afternoon, around 5:00 pm, the clouds moved in, and in
Antarctica, under the midnight sun, when the sun is
behind clouds or you are in the shade or another
mountain is blocking the sun, the temperature falls
dramatically. It is, of course, very, very cold; the
snow is very dry and it can get extremely cold. So, we
are hoping the fine weather will return so we can
continue.
So
this is what awaits us. Our tent is up. We cook using
a small stove. We melt snow and we often eat
dehydrated or freeze-dried meals. It cooks very
quickly and is also extremely light and
non-perishable, of course. In any case, with this
cold, nothing is perishable-except us.
Bernard Voyer
Update:
Here
we are at camp II at an altitude of 2,935 meters and
we wanted to go a little further today. This is how
the day unfolded.
We
left when the sun reached the mountain sides. We still
have our sleds, our full load. We crossed a large
glacial field with quite a few crevasses. We still had
to be tied together. Then there were quite a few
gentle slopes, not too steep, that took us to a much
steeper place where the mountains are much closer
together and you have to go through much narrower
passages, with more crevasses and it is a little
steeper. At an altitude of 3,000 meters, we turned
toward the very steep glacier that takes us to camp
III, which is called an ice fall. When we turned
toward this narrow valley where this glacier rose up,
there were terrible, extremely strong gusts of wind
that almost stopped us from moving on. We advanced
very slowly, with a few small chilblains on our faces,
but nothing serious. We reached an altitude of
approximately 3,125 meters and we absolutely had to
return to 3,050 meters. Once at this level, we had to
set up camp III, but it was impossible because of the
gusts of wind and snow. So, we had to turn back,
retrace our steps and go down a little further. We
left this very narrow corridor between the mountains
to find shelter at an altitude of 2,935 meters.
A
storm came up and gusts were shaking the tent quite
violently a few minutes ago. The good weather we had
yesterday appears to be over. From the rocky ridges
above come howling sounds-Antarctica is speaking
loudly to us once again.
So
tomorrow, we will watch what the weather is like. If
the storm is still raging, we have no choice but to
stay here. There is nothing to be gained from going
higher. It would be too dangerous to take on this ice
fall, since it is a very steep slope that will take us
600-700 meters higher than camp III. It would be very
dangerous to do this in a storm.
Bye.
Until next time, Bernard Voyer
Dispatches
Check
his
web site for more up to date dispatches in French.
For
more on Bernard on EverestNews.com including his
interview after Everest see
here.
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