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ANTARCTICA 2000
With the satellite link not working properly yesterday evening, the usual night-time contact between the expedition and HQ in Brussels lasted no more than two minutes. There was just time for Dixie to reassure everyone about Julie who had remained on her own in the tent at camp So the group of Belgians is now resting. In any event, there is nothing else they can do in view of the fact that the weather has closed in again. According to Dansercoer, it's not really a white-out, but the weather is overcast and the clouds are very low again. So any landing by the Twin Otter from Patriot Hills is currently out of the question. So the travellers will have to wait again. We did not have an opportunity to ask Dansercoer whether he has decided to wait until Julie boards a plane before starting off on the second part of his expedition - after all the tourists are there with her, as well as the ANI representative at the Mount Vinson base camp, which should set everyone's mind at rest - or whether they intend setting out again as soon as possible - i.e. on Saturday 8th January - so that they can make up for any time they have lost.
It was 9.10 pm at expedition HQ yesterday evening - 5.10 pm at Patriot Hills - when we received a call from Dixie Dansercoer telling us that he had just placed his crampons at the top of Mount Vinson. In a rare and understandably high state of euphoria, the Flemish cabin crew steward's conversation went more or less as follows (recording) :
Tuesday evening, 8.30 pm, somewhere at around 3800 metres up on the slopes of Mount Vinson. Outside temperature: - 30°C. Weather: the few days of fine weather that have lit up the mountain have disappeared. There are clouds now - big, fat, long, grey clouds - which significantly reduce the dimensions of the Antarctic.
And then, there was this incident with the mountaineering tourist who, in mid-climb, suddenly slipped on the rock face - but was fortunately caught at the last minute by his climbing companion. Weather allowing, they should reach the summit during the day on Thursday, or Friday at the latest. Everyone is aware that Mount Vinson is a relatively "climbable" mountain, with a fairly low level of technical difficulty. The main danger is posed by the weather conditions. Talking of which, here is some interesting information: speaking on the telephone with Denis Dupont (the person in charge of logistics and communication) on Monday evening, Dixie was explaining that when the sun shines during the day, the temperature was rising to + 35°C, while at night, the mercury could easily plummet below - 30°C. As you can imagine, that sort of temperature range is quite hard to put up with.
The force of events has slowed down communications somewhat between the Antarctic and HQ during the first two days of the year 2000, with everyone too busy concentrating on the festivities. It also has to be said that our pair of lovebirds has been very busy giving interviews to a variety of Belgian media (VRT, Radio 1, le Soir, VTM, etc.) But despite all that, thanks to our various sources of information - and before we even had Dixie on the line for a few minutes - we have a pretty good idea of the way the Millennium Eve was celebrated at the Patriot Hills base. It goes without saying that like everywhere else in the world, there was quite a party to welcome in the Year 2000, which ran three hours later than UT (universal time). So it was 4 o'clock in the morning our time when the people from the base - the Antarctica 2000 team, plus the tourists - raised their glasses to celebrate the great event. But there was a surprise of some significance that no doubt made the festivities unforgettable for those who were there: at around 11.30 pm, so about half an hour before midnight, an Ilyushin 76 dropped thirty of so parachutists from the four corners of the globe, before landing on the ice at Patriot. What was it all about? Broadly speaking, it was all part of an official Russian expedition with a variety of objectives, such as the application of new technology in the way that equipment is carried and parachuted in the Antarctic (they will be parachuting in more than 20 tons of equipment above the Vostok base. They are also going to be making an attempt, using versatile ice vehicles - snob buses - to cross the whole of the 6th continent from one side to another, making all sorts of scientific observations throughout the journey as part of the Russian "Ecology of the Planet" research programme, which is being run by experts from the State University and Institute of the Earth's Geography from Moscow. Just a little reminder that the Soviets have always been closely involved in affairs in Antarctica. But the funniest thing about the Millennium Eve festivities was the noise that woke people up at around four in the morning. One of the Russian scientists thought it would be a good idea to inflate a balloon (a weather balloon maybe), attach a gas bottle to it and then climb aboard and ride the thing 30 or more feet into the air! This scene, worthy of a Walt Disney film, brought the curtain down on the festivities at Patriot Hills. But to return to Antarctica 2000, the team was finally able to fly off to Mount Vinson, where they arrived yesterday, Sunday, at 11.30 am. Shortly after they landed, Dixie and Julie headed off for their ascent under an azure blue sky and with beautiful weather, leaving the conqueror of Everest to make his final checks along with his three clients. At 00.30 hours this morning, the Hurldenberg couple called HQ to announce that they had just arrived at their first camp at an altitude of some 3000 metres - what Dixie called camp 1 1/2. The thing was, not wanting to bivouac in the usual place, where blocks of ice have already been stacked up to form something resembling igloos and hence make life easier for any tourists passing that way, the two opted to climb a little higher and pitch their tent in virgin snow - which is really the reason why Dixie and Julie have come here.
Last Saturday at around 2 pm, Dixie, Julie, Rudy and some of his clients were in the process of celebrating Christmas in a fish restaurant in Punta - enjoying some giant mussels and royal crab - when the barman in the establishment announced that Julie was wanted on the phone. It was Faye from ANI with the news they had been wanting to hear for so long: "Hi Julie, it's a Go!.." So on Saturday 25 December, at 6 pm (9 pm GMT), the members of the Antarctica 2000 expedition were finally able to board the Hercules C130 that was to take them to the white continent. "We'll still have a bit of a Christmas party in Antarctica," said Dixie during his final call from Punta Arenas. "Suffice it to say that we are happy to be on our way!" As it was Julie's first time aboard the legendary Hercules, she sent us an e-mail (the IRIS system is operating perfectly) to let us have her first impressions: "The Hercules is like an enormous beast. And while it may be a beast that is not pretty to look at, or comfortable, it is certainly more than good at doing the work required of it. The belly of the plane - the cabin - is an entirely open space, with the freight travelling alongside the passengers. The seats appear to have been placed higgledy-piggledy right in the middle of the fuselage. Some passengers are lucky enough to be seated next to the few tiny windows in the plane. Elsewhere, there are cables and complicated mechanics running the whole length of the 5 and a half hours later, at 11.40 pm, the C130 landed on the blue ice of Patriot Hills. The weather there was splendid: deep blue sky, no clouds and not a breath of wind. There was one small disappointment, though: they would, of course, have like to see Alain, who had also been waiting for better weather to be able to proceed with his reconnaissance assignment in Queen Maud Land. But making the most of the favourable conditions, he had left two days previously. "But he did leave me a billet doux," explained Dixie wryly in the e-mail he sent us on Sunday, "and it's always nice to receive mail like that …" However, the expedition will not be able to go to Mount Vinson immediately, which is the first stage of their expedition. Because while the weather may be fine at Patriot, the cloud base is too low in the Ellsworth mountains to enable to Twin Otter to land safely. So it looks like they may have another wait on their hands.
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2 with temperatures in the region of - 40°C (she was in the process of laughing when Dixie telephoned) and to tell us that everyone had returned safe and sound to base camp. "There was another little incident with the wall," said Dixie. "One of Rudy's clients fell again, but with no serious consequences." 
There are a number of tents here, clinging to the rock face. Inside, preparations for the evening meal are going on before the time comes to slip into the sleeping bags. One of the tents contains 5 Belgians: Dixie, Rudy and three of his clients. They have just arrived at camp 3, without encountering the slightest technical problem or fatigue. Well, almost. Because Julie Brown, Dixie's young wife, has opted not to go any further. Yet yesterday evening, she had made it to camp 2 in fine shape; but this morning, faced with the wall of ice soaring above her head and her crampons - a really steep slope, but technically feasible, according to climbers familiar with Mount Vinson - she felt obliged to give up. 
metal body… When I think that some people are paying first-class fares to travel on this plane..!"