Scaling Antartica's Vertical Limit

With an all-female team, CHRISTINE AMOUR-LEVAR sets out in search of new routes and peaks in one of the most inhospitable places on earth.

 Goaded by a mighty tailwind the massive Ilyushin IL-76 TD aircraft hurtles southwards at a velocity approaching 800 kilometres an hour. Below us, the Drake Passage sparkles to a far horizon as we make our way westward from Punta Arenas in Chile, to the Antarctic Peninsula and finally to Union Glacier, a private base operated by Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions (ALE), located in the Heritage Range, below the Ellsworth Mountains.

After more than four hours in the air, we prepare to land on the Blue Ice Runway, a rare and naturally occurring ice strip that’s solid enough to support the weight of this monstrous Soviet military aircraft. It’s minus 15 degrees Celsius as we get off the plane and take our first steps on Antarctica.

The vast ocean of white unfolding before my eyes is simply magnificent. I look up to see the sun ablaze in the blue polar sky while the fierce wind makes me literally moonwalk on the frozen runway as I try to move from the plane to the four-wheel drive waiting to take us to the main camp.

“January is the heart of summer in Antarctica,” we’re told by one of the ALE staff. “It’s the best time to visit, because the weather is the least hostile.” Indeed, man has never permanently inhabited this remote landmass. Accessible only during its warmest months, from November to March, it has no metropolis or village to speak of, no habitat except perhaps the odd expedition shed or research station. It’s all just massive, desolate, glacial emptiness and bone-chilling temperatures that can range anywhere from -10 to -80°C during the colder months.

Acclimatising & Preparing