The team have flown out today on the amazing Ilyushin landing on a naturally occurring blue-ice runway at Union Glacier Camp.

The camp is located in the spectacular and remote southern Ellsworth Mountains and is only accessible by air.  They’ll be 1,859 miles (2991 km) from the southern tip of Chile and a short flight to Mount Vinson base camp. The South Pole is just over 600 nautical miles (1138 km) away.

Even though it is summer, (and therefore 24hr daylight!) generally it’s below freezing, dry, and windy with temperatures ranging between -12° to 30°F (-24° to -1°C). They will be on the same time zone as Punta Arenas in Chile.

They had a total of 450kg between them, (which is actually quite light considering their baggage allowance was 550kg or so!) Nice packing team. They have everything they will need to stay safe, well fed and warm on the journey ahead.

Usually the team spend a night at the Union Glacier camp, which is amazingly well equipped with full facilities including showers and toilets that are erected and dismantled every season (including all human waste being completely removed from the ice) – it’s a very impressive operation considering how remote they are and they’ll be mingling with adventurers from all over the world, some who are skiing to the South Pole, climbing Vinson or visiting the Emperor Penguin colonies.

After a night in relative luxury, they’ll be boarding twin otter planes on skis in the morning to set out to Vinson Base Camp.

Stay tuned
CTSS Team