Christmas Eve at Vinson Base Camp

Here's a holiday message from Paul & Denise live from Vinson Base Camp!
They're having a white Christmas!




A champagne toast with the members of the other teams, all of whom made it to the summit as well! Look closely at the hands of the Japanese man in the blue jacket (top row left). He lost all ten fingers climbing Mt. Everest seven months ago, reminding all of us about the dangers of the extreme cold and the consequences of mistakes during any high altitude pursuits. Calling in by satellite phone with our periodic updates:

In adition to hiking the hill to take a ski run, here's a video of another way we passed the time waiting for the weather to clear. Although you can't see their faces, the person in front is Krushnaa Patil who is the youngest Indian woman to summit Mt. Everest (age 19 at the time - May 2009), followed by Helga Hengge who was the first American woman to summit Everest from the North side, followed by us. Quite an impressive bobsled team! This wasn't in the ALE Vinson brochure but it should be - watch the video!!