The all-star team of climbers sponsored by First Ascent have sent back word of a successful summit of Mt. Vinson yesterday. The team consisting of Peter Whittaker, Ed Viesturs, Seth Waterfall, Caroline George, Jake Norton, and Kent Harvey have been on the frozen continent since New Year's Day and thanks to good weather, not to mention plenty of climbing experience and talent, were able to make a relatively quickascent of the mountain.
Below you'll find the audio dispatch, sent back by Whittaker, with some details on the final climb to the top of the 16,050 foot tall mountain, which is the tallest in Antarctica. The team completed the climb at 5PM local time yesterday amidst -30ºF temperatures and howling winds in the neighborhood of 20 knots. But aside from that, the sky was clear and the sun was shining bright.
As noted on the Born Out There Blog, the official blog of FA Gear, it took this crew just nine days to summit the mountain after they departed from the U.S. Pretty amazing feat really, but the great weather contributed to that success for sure.
More info on the climb will be posted soon.