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2009-10 Ellsworth Mountains summary.
By Damien Gildea, Australia
Around 120 people summited Mt. Vinson (4,892m), somewhat fewer than in recent years, presumably due to economic conditions in many nations. At the end of November Austrian Christian Stangl returned for another attempt on Antarctica’s second-highest mountain, Tyree (4,852m). Having decided the previous season that the original route up the northwest ridge was too long and complicated for the fast, light style he prefers, Stangl attempted the 1997 French Grand Couloir on the east face. On November 29 he flew onto the Patton Glacier with fellow Austrian Thomas Strausz and Ingrid Schittich of Germany. The three established an advanced base camp beneath the east face. Two days later Stangl and Strausz climbed to 4,000m on the northeast ridge for acclimatization. On December 3 they set off up the lower section of the northeast ridge and traversed left into the upper couloir.
The pair made excellent time, climbing 2,000m in six-and-a-half hours, mostly unroped, though they belayed a 350m section due to extremely hard ice. Above, they moved together using a running belay when, without warning, at 4,500m and the top in sight, Strausz was hit by a rock, breaking his arm and badly bruising his thigh. He could not continue, so Stangl helped him rappel the route, reaching the bottom 11 hours later. All three were flown to Vinson base camp, from where Stangl and Schittich climbed the normal route on Vinson. Strausz was flown back to Patriot Hills for medical care and a return flight to Chile.
The only other interesting activity on the high peaks was the second ascent of Mt. Rutford (4,477m), probably the ninth highest mountain in Antarctica. Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE) guide David Hamilton and friend Patrick Bird left Vinson base camp on January 8 and skied up the normal route on Vinson to Low Camp. They then made two trips to High Camp, detouring to climb Shinn on January 11, then resting at High Camp for two days in poor weather. From here they hauled sleds up the normal Vinson summit-day route, but camped just left of the final ridge, in a notch that separates the summit pyramid from slightly lower Sublime Peak to the east. After summiting Vinson the next day, January 15, they descended the high plateau south of the main summit and made camp at 3,850m on Hammer Col, which separates Vinson Massif from the lower Craddock Massif to the south. The following day they set off on skis up the gently angled northern flank of Rutford.
After five-and-a-half hours, they took off their skis 70m below the summit and climbed to the top, noting the unique split in the summit rock. Descent was via the same route to Hammer Col. Next day proved a cold, windy test, as they ascended back toward Vinson. After struggling to set up camp, they spent a windy night near Clinch Peak and reached Vinson High Camp the next day. The pair finished their trip with another ascent of Vinson the following day, this time using the right-hand variation on the summit pyramid, climbing from west to east. This route was popular more than a decade ago, but now nearly all climbers follow the eastern ridge of the summit pyramid and descend the same way.
In the southern section of the Ellsworth Mountains several parties did numerous small climbs. Several people from ALE climbed minor peaks around the Union Glacier, in the vicinity of Connell Canyon and Henderson Valley. British climber Dominic Spicer and ALE guide Robin Jarvis also climbed in this area and farther south, toward Patriot Hills. The duo made two ascents above the Henderson Glacier—one a subpeak of Hoinkes Peak, overlooking Connell Canyon, and another overlooking the Union Glacier. They also climbed farther south in the range, making the second ascent of Gliozzi Peak (1,477m), via the northwest ridge. This summit lies in the Douglas Peaks, a small massif on the eastern side of Horseshoe Valley. Across the valley, in the Independence Hills (behind the Patriot Hills), they made an ascent of the west summit of Simmons, climbed a minor 1,356m summit south of Geissel Peak, and made the first ascent of Beitzel Peak, just south of the impressive marble pyramid of Minaret Peak.
