Marion’s Antarctic Adventure

In November this year, I arranged for Charlotte from Adelaide and Dennis, Laraine and Lynne from Jindabyne as well as myself to join Ice Axe Expeditions leader Doug Stoup, his colleague Karyn Stanley and a team of 120 keen alpinists at the southern tip of Argentina in the quaint "end of the world" town of Ushuaia,"Fin del Mundo", to embark on an incredible two-week ski adventure in Antarctica.

After a tense 24 hours whilst we waited for the Qantas Industrial Action decision, our QF flights Sydney-Buenos Aires were cancelled; however we were lucky to find seats with Aerolineas Argentinas. This disruption meant that we missed 2 days of our scheduled stopover in Buenos Aries but we still had our 5 days in Ushuaia where we had a great time shopping for penguin souvenirs and general sightseeing ... the rugged scenery of glaciers, mountains and lakes was spectacular. Thank you to all in our group for the photos supplied for this report.

One of the last frontiers on earth, Antarctica is a remote ski destination. After cruising through the calm Beagle channel it took us two days to cross the infamous Drake Passage and reach the shelter of the South Shetland Islands, a chain that protects the Antarctic Peninsula from the big seas. These islands were an introduction to the spectacular scenery, wildlife and easily accessible ski terrain that we were to experience over the following days.

Speaking to friends before leaving Australia we answered questions such as:
"Are there ski lifts down there?" ...No, this was a trip for Alpine ski tourers using climbing skins and touring bindings to reach chosen heights...and some went very high and skied some very radical descents.
"What about the skiing standard?"... With a 1-to-4-guide/client ratio, the groups could be tailored to suit the average ability of each group and stay well within safe limits.
"Does one have to be a very good skier?" No, Charlotte and a small number of passengers chose to snow shoe and saw just as much as we did. Charlotte, recovering from a spinal injury, also spent much more time wildlife spotting and cruising in the Zodiacs which were at our disposition most of each day, as the really hardy skiers were all off conquering peaks!

Wherever we looked we were confronted with spectacular scenery: massive icebergs, towering peaks (of up to 3,000 metres) rising straight up from the ocean and exciting descents. This region is a backcountry skier's dream, but it also comes with some harsh realities: Antarctic conditions are constantly changing and our tentative itineraries needed to be modified several times due to weather and ice conditions.

There were challenging obstacles that had to be carefully navigated: abrupt weather changes, tricky, small boat, (Zodiac) landings, pack ice movement that can trap a ship, crevasses lurking in glaciers, unstable ice shelves and other hazards.These conditions changed hourly; presenting a challenge not to only Doug and Karyn of Ice Axe Expeditions but also to Laurie and his team from Quark Expeditions who were in charge of our ship, the Clipper Adventurer.

Our fellow adventurers included some of the world's best ski and expedition guides as well as some extreme skiers and Olympic athletes (Google some of these names: Doug Stoup, Walter Laserer, Kristoffer Erickson, Chris Davenport, Todd Offenbacher, Andrew McLean, Kevin Quinn, Seth Westcott and Kevin Bibby).

Seeking new routes, towering peaks and good conditions, our ship moved up and down the coastline of both the Antarctic mainland and the islands. Flexibility was necessary as locations and objectives shifted daily with our observations. We were able to ski first descents and witness wildlife in the form of penguins, seals, birds, and whales, often all within a mere arms length of us. The general rule in Antarctica that we should keep a distance of 5 metres from any wildlife, but try telling the penguins that! They can't measure and showed absolutely no fear, waddling past or even over our feet and skis!

Our group enjoys the onboard BBQ in freezing conditions

Clipper Adventurer in the far distance and a zodiac in the foreground through the iceberg tunnel

Lynne, the walking sleeping bag and a native more used to the conditions

Our group landing and skinning up ready for ski touring

Locals farewelling several groups of ski tourers

Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins

Dennis was left to take many of the photos but sometimes he managed to get in-shot as well

You had the choice of gentle or less gentle runs
but you had to climb for what you wanted

Every trip ashore was filled with excitement
including hungry Orcas (killer whales)

And if the wildlife wasn't thrilling enough,
there was extreme skiing for those willing to put in the effort

In addition to daily ski exploration, we visited Port Lockroy, a natural harbour on the Antarctic Peninsula, once a British outpost it has been renovated and is now a museum and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Antarctica. Proceeds from the small souvenir shop fund the upkeep of the site and other historic sites and monuments in Antarctica. Other activities included a "Polar Plunge" swim (count me out!) and some speed wing ski flights, with our own personal guide Kevin Bibby (Points North Heliadventures) possibly being the first ever to speed wing in Antarctica. Living on the ship was a 4 star experience with a wide choice of wine and food, informative lectures and films. We even had a barbeque evening and a Black & White Party that left little to the imagination and had many feeling not so active the next morning.

The trip back from the Antarctic Peninsula was even more exciting that the outgoing one. Over a 12-hour period, the Clipper Adventurer withstood a Drake "Shake-Down". Force 12 on the Beaufort scale with hurricane level conditions, eight meter swells, 30-degree plus tilts, and 100-knot plus winds however unlike many 100 + years ago we made it safely back to terraferma in Ushuaia where we took leave of newly acquired friends, vowing to meet again for the 2013 expedition.

This trip was definitely one of the highlights of my life and I look forward to the next Antarctic adventure in 2 years time!

Marion

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