The Team is:
Tap Richards – LeaderWe expect the climb to the summit to take 6 - 12 days and we will use the traditional route.
Heidi Richards
Chris Balsiger
When we leave Punta Arenas we will land at Patriot Hills on a blue-ice runway in a wheeled Hercules Aircraft. We will then transfer to a ski-equipped Twin Otter and fly to base camp at 6,870 feet on the Branscomb Glacier. We plan to establish three camps above base camp. Above Camp two we will negotiate a 1000 ft. fairly stable icefall and will face some steep terrain on fixed rope above Camp three. Crevasse danger is present but manageable.
This will be the entire team's first attempt on Vinson Massif. If successful, all three of us will have six of the seven continental summits. We feel that we have the right balance of optimism, energy, talent and caution to be successful. As always we thank everyone for their support and prayers.
 | We're four hours ahead of El Paso time. We went through the orientation today and now we're scheduled to fly onto Patriot Hills, about a four and a half hour flight, tomorrow. Our bags are loaded on the plane and now we can just sit and wait for a phone call to say "get over to the airport" and they take off. They've changed the Hercules we're now going to fly over on a four-jet powered Russian Illusion airline that these guys picked up from the Russian military during the collapse, flown by Russian pilots. It's huge, you can actually carry vehicles in it and the rear-end folds down so it looks like it will be quite exciting. Again, at every climb we're, at this point, nervous. You don't want to go through all this and fail. But we're also looking forward to getting started. Now it's like McKinley. You're all packed up and ready and you just wait for a weather break to get out on to the ice. I'll call tomorrow and let you know where we are, if we're still in Punta Arenas or if we're on the ice and beginning the climb. |
 | It’s morning here on the 10th. Apparently there was bad weather at the landing strip in Antarctica so we stayed here all day yesterday. We got a call that the winds are still bad, so we hope to fly out today but we don’t know. It actually worked out well for me because I woke up the morning on the 9th very sick with a real bad bout of the flu, throwing up and with a high fever. So if we had to fly yesterday I doubt I would have been able to go and that would have cancelled the trip for me. So it was good luck for me once again. Today I’m improving. I don’t know that I’m well enough to climb, but I am well enough to travel and get some strength back. It’s beautiful down here, very interesting. We’re trying to go and I know, having flown on McKinley and experienced the winds and having been cancelled a few times, if the pilots don’t want to fly, I don’t want to go either. We’re primed, ready to go and my health is improving. I’ll give you an update tomorrow. Hopefully by then I’ll be well and we’ll be on the ice. |
 | It’s the end of the day here on Wednesday the 11th. Here it is 9:30 PM. The weather broke and we’re at the base of Vinson. We’re putting in our camp here. Tomorrow, regardless of weather, unless it’s something out of hell, we’ll move at least to camp one, if not camp two. We’re debating now on what our plan is. We can put three camps in above base here or we could put two in and do some carries. I think what we plan to do is break camp here, move to camp one, see how we feel and move the load to camp two on the same day. Camp three is the high camp, which you still can’t get too high here because of the exposure; camp three is only about 12,500 ft, making it about a 3,800 ft summit day.
My health is still a little weak. I hope to eat a bit more tonight and get some strength back. Tomorrow will tell the tale. We have enough days here that if the health is not there we can take a rest day. We have about two rest days if we need them and we’ve had two weather days, so we can swing with four maybe five days if we have to. It’s unreal how remote we are. We launched from Punta Arenas, which until a couple of years ago, I had never heard of. Then five hours out to a place which is a camp called Patriot Hills in a jet. Then we went a 100 or so miles more on a Twin Otter to the mountain. I’ll tell you what, the feeling of aloneness and remoteness is about as big as it gets. Sometimes I tell you I actually think, “I’ve got to be nuts.” But sometimes I think, “Hey this has got to be fun.” Tonight we’ll eat and hopefully our luck from last year will hold out and we’ll proceed up the mountain and put us in a position to at least have a good shot. What’s great, which you can’t on a lot of mountains, is that we can see the peak from base. That’s nice. It’s about 9,000 feet above us, but that’s not too far. It’s hard to believe that 9,000 feet is about 3 - 5 days away. |
 | It’s very late, early morning on Friday. We pulled into camp two, sometimes called here camp one. We’re a little confused, we were thinking that there were three camps above base and we just bypassed the first. I guess from Vinson's perspective we’re at camp two. We’re going to take a rest day tomorrow. I think my guys could go on, but I’m going to need a rest. Every climb I acclimatize a bit. Even though this camp is only at 9,500 you have to add about 30% more for a normal equivalence. Still need to get some strength.
Conditions were rough and the weather was a bit dicey. And we got a break late in the day, which is why we decided to skip the first camp and take advantage. Today is not again a summit day, which is good. Good weather always follows bad. So if it’s bad on top now and we can still move down below, that’s always best. It’s real depressing to try and travel down below on good summit day, cause you know it won’t last. We have to be a mule, carry sleds and big loads for one more day. It will probably be your Saturday {call cut off} |
 | It’s the end of the day Friday. We did rest today. Everyone feels real good. We restored some energy as well as calories. Drank a lot. All this helps aid in the acclimatization. Weather was sketchy, but not so bad. Very, very cold. Our plan tomorrow is to move to high camp. We’re going to tear down our loads. We decided not to carry. We’re going to make a move at one time. We think it will take anywhere from five to eight hours. It will be cold, hard and heavy but we think it’ll put us in summit position Saturday night. Our plan is, if we get an ideal day and we feel pretty good, we’ll go for the summit on Sunday. That’s only the 10 percent scenario. The most likely scenario is that we’ll take a rest day on Sunday and see what Monday has in store. We’re going to high camp before getting some more food, with an emergency ration served to extend a good for four and a half days up. We’re feeling good and strong. Things are very cold. The feel of remoteness has not left; this is way out there. For those of your following on the map, I’m told we’re climbing somewhere between the 80 and 81st latitude. What that means, the sun doesn’t rise here until probably 11:00, but it’s very light (24 hours light) mid-day very light. We’ll gain about 3,000 feet tomorrow. We’ll camp at a saddle putting us within 3,500 feet of the summit. Then we’ll go light, we’ll go warm, we’ll get in down suits from there and we’ll go warm and light up to the summit and back. Again, most likely summit day will be Monday. But we are going to put ourselves in a position that depends on two things; our own health first, how strong we are and the weather. Like on McKinley we pushed ourselves; we got a window and we took it. So we’re going with the same plan here. We’re going a little more aggressively than the other teams, but we’re a lot smaller and can move quicker. Appreciate everyone’s support. Trust me, you don’t want to be here—it’s cold and rough. |
 | We are here up at high camp. It’s cold, but not too, too cold. We’re just going to rest up today. If we get any type of weather window tomorrow we’re going to make a break for the summit. It will be anywhere from 12 to 16 hours depends on a whole lot of things. It will be a hard day. We’re not carrying big loads and we’re excited. We hope we get a little bit of sun and not as much wind. I’ve got a little frost nip bit on my face. It’s not too bad, just a little scab. Everyone else is extremely strong and I think I’m holding in there. So we’ll see if we get our chance tomorrow and we’ll see what we do with it. |
 | Not much to report today. It’s the end of Sunday here and it was a good rest day. The weather improved during the day. It’s gorgeous now as we go to sleep and we hope that holds and even warms up a bit. We’re looking forward to a good day tomorrow, if we’re so lucky to have one. As it is planned now, if we do get the opening mountain time, we’ll be departing at 4:00 a.m. We expect a long day; around 12 to 16 hours and if it’s quicker than that then great. We will take a phone, I will try to call in. If we are so fortunate enough to get to the top, I will call in from the top as I did a couple of other times. |
 | (Summit has been achieved!) We got back here (high camp) about 9:30 our time and the down was pretty easy. I ate some food, which was good and got some liquid in. We’re going right to bed and get our 12 hours of sleep, at least. We’re pretty hammered. The plan is to get up tomorrow and around noon, if there is good weather, we’ll do a carry all the way down to base. Here there are two bases; you’ve got to get from Vinson base to Patriot Hills, you’ve got to wait for that plane to come in, and then you’ve got to wait for the plane to come into Patriot Hills from Punta Arenas. So climbing the mountain may be the easy part. The mountain was hard; it’s been a very hard expedition. Once again we were a small group and moved fast. We had great guides and they did a great job taking care of me. The move to high camp was about the most brutal day of mountaineering I have ever had. In fact, in a lot of other camps, people are off the mountain with frost bit and just horrible things. It’s very, very cold here. Next call will be tomorrow night. Hopefully we’ll have pulled off of high camp. The other teams have now moved on to progress their schedule. You get to be friends with them so…{static} |
 | Sorry I didn’t call last night, I couldn’t get through. We traveled down from high camp, it took us about 10 hours. We pulled into Vinson base camp. Hard day - it was steep at first, then it flattened out and then it was just a long haul. We had to haul big loads down. And then at camp one, we had to attach more loads in our sleds. It took a lot of hours to pull down here to base. We’re the first down today, so we’ll just wait our chance to fly from base here to Patriot Hills and then wait for the big jetliner to take us from Patriot Hills back to Punta Arenas and try to work our way back home. Tired a little bit, beat up a little bit. But we’re safe down here at base and happy to be here. We’ll wait our turn to try and get off the ice. I’ll update as events occur. |
 | (Message relayed) We are still at Vinson Base Camp waiting for an airplane to Patriot Hills. Great to have 6 out of the 7 summits. Now we have to get Everest in the spring. |
 | (Message relayed) We met our transport plane at Vinson Base Camp and have arrived at Patriot Hills. The team is headed home and I plan to return to El Paso tomorrow. |