Antarctica From "Above": Ski touring the frozen continent
Nov 29, 2015, 7:21 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 95
Antarctica From "Above": Ski touring the frozen continent
This is my first trip report.
I say from above since all the other trip reports I've seen from Antarctica the guests haven't gotten as high or as far inland as this particular expedition.
From November 8th-19th we were on the Sea Adventurer which is part of the Quark Expeditions family of ships chartered by Ice Axe to take 60+ guests and 16 guides on a 6-day, which ended up being 5 due to weather, ski trip around the Antarctic Peninsula.
The ship itself wasn't the fanciest or have many amenities but it got through the ice and the staff more than made up for any shortcomings. I was pleased that like any other cruise food was plentiful and basically all you can eat, by the end we were ordering 1.5-2 entrees served on one plate. Stabilizers made the journey down relatively calm but even they couldn't prevent most guests from feeling the Drake Shake on the way back, the Quark staff rated it a 7 or 8 out of 10.
At Half Moon Island
As for the skiing, we were really at the mercy of the weather. There was a day where we went to sleep in calm seas expecting for the first zodiac to launch at 6am but didn't go anywhere until after lunch. Being able to ski high into the mountains near shore really let us appreciate the beauty and remoteness of Antarctica. To get there we had to land wherever the zodiacs could then tour (we have special bindings that release the heel so you can move like on cross country skis) or hike inland.
Of course we had to get back to the landing zone which sometimes felt more intimidating than heading back to a lift knowing that not stopping in time means you end up in the drink.
All of this hard work to go up was worth it for the views and the relatively good snow conditions.
When we were done skiing we listened to talks by the Quark and IceAxe teams and did visit a few penguin rookeries.
In summary this was an amazing trip to see such untouched wilderness, wildlife in their natural habitat, and to get some nice turns in too.
I say from above since all the other trip reports I've seen from Antarctica the guests haven't gotten as high or as far inland as this particular expedition.
From November 8th-19th we were on the Sea Adventurer which is part of the Quark Expeditions family of ships chartered by Ice Axe to take 60+ guests and 16 guides on a 6-day, which ended up being 5 due to weather, ski trip around the Antarctic Peninsula.
The ship itself wasn't the fanciest or have many amenities but it got through the ice and the staff more than made up for any shortcomings. I was pleased that like any other cruise food was plentiful and basically all you can eat, by the end we were ordering 1.5-2 entrees served on one plate. Stabilizers made the journey down relatively calm but even they couldn't prevent most guests from feeling the Drake Shake on the way back, the Quark staff rated it a 7 or 8 out of 10.
At Half Moon Island
As for the skiing, we were really at the mercy of the weather. There was a day where we went to sleep in calm seas expecting for the first zodiac to launch at 6am but didn't go anywhere until after lunch. Being able to ski high into the mountains near shore really let us appreciate the beauty and remoteness of Antarctica. To get there we had to land wherever the zodiacs could then tour (we have special bindings that release the heel so you can move like on cross country skis) or hike inland.
Of course we had to get back to the landing zone which sometimes felt more intimidating than heading back to a lift knowing that not stopping in time means you end up in the drink.
All of this hard work to go up was worth it for the views and the relatively good snow conditions.
When we were done skiing we listened to talks by the Quark and IceAxe teams and did visit a few penguin rookeries.
In summary this was an amazing trip to see such untouched wilderness, wildlife in their natural habitat, and to get some nice turns in too.
Last edited by skitraveler; Dec 12, 2015 at 10:43 pm
!
Nov 30, 2015, 2:00 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 95
The best was about 1100m for four runs on the sunny day. Second most was close to 1000m over two runs. The rest were shorter days mainly due to weather giving us less time out, even though so much daylight they wanted us back on the ship at 18:00.
Dec 1, 2015, 8:48 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 95
Price is expensive, but I heli in BC a fair bit and heli+IceAxe is about this.
Dec 1, 2015, 9:30 am
#7
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: BWI
Posts: 1,782
This is freaking awesome. A lot of incentive to do good hockey stops at the end of your run.
Were people ok to handle the hiking involved? That is, did you have to be in very good shape and did anyone have overestimate their ability to hike?
Your next to last picture (pano) is fantastic.
This ranks up there with this trip report http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...win-otter.html
Were people ok to handle the hiking involved? That is, did you have to be in very good shape and did anyone have overestimate their ability to hike?
Your next to last picture (pano) is fantastic.
This ranks up there with this trip report http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...win-otter.html
Dec 1, 2015, 10:13 am
#8
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 297
I just searched and found this: http://www.ifonly.com/adventure/prod...-in-antarctica
Price is expensive, but I heli in BC a fair bit and heli+IceAxe is about this.
Price is expensive, but I heli in BC a fair bit and heli+IceAxe is about this.
Dec 1, 2015, 11:04 am
#9
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 95
This is freaking awesome. A lot of incentive to do good hockey stops at the end of your run.
Were people ok to handle the hiking involved? That is, did you have to be in very good shape and did anyone have overestimate their ability to hike?
Your next to last picture (pano) is fantastic.
This ranks up there with this trip report http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...win-otter.html
Were people ok to handle the hiking involved? That is, did you have to be in very good shape and did anyone have overestimate their ability to hike?
Your next to last picture (pano) is fantastic.
This ranks up there with this trip report http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...win-otter.html
It was mostly four guests with one guide on a rope team. I was in a group of 8 with 2 guides so didn't interact with other guide groups while out. If you didn't come as a team IceAxe placed you in a group of similar ability so there were some slower ones who didn't have a lot of experience touring. Everyone had fun even if some covered less distance and no one felt pushed too hard. I trained very hard for two months knowing how difficult it would be and except for the ending of one day I was perfectly fine handling the terrain.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the pictures.
Last edited by skitraveler; Dec 1, 2015 at 11:12 am
Dec 1, 2015, 11:06 am
#10
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 95
Another dangerous aspect of the trip was the guides giving presentations on where else they take tours so now added Gulmarg, Greenland, Morocco, NZ to my bucket list.
