Sat 25 Nov '06 – Vinson Base Camp 2200mts

I didn’t sleep well & only got about 3/4 hrs, but is that any surprise when I didn’t go to bed ‘til 4.00am! My body clock is all screwed up already & I can see that in another day or so I’m going to lose all concept of what day it is & what time of day it is. It’s impossible to be any other way because there can be no routine or normal day here so you just stumble on. But I must be conscious of it because to perform properly I’m going to need some quality sleep on a regular basis.

We finally got up about 10.30 am & set about the various tasks that needed to be done. Ian & Fredrik built the kitchen/dining area (the nosh house) & prepared a meal whilst Richard, Jon & myself reinforced the walls around the tents area (the posh house) & generally started sorting out our gear. The afternoon was spent dividing the food supplies between what we needed at VBC & the 8 day supply that had to be taken up the mountain later on. The snow walls around the tents have to be about 1.5mts high & are essential to keep the winds off the tents otherwise we’d freeze inside & the tents could get blown away or badly damaged. Similarly the kitchen/dining area is dug out of the ground & head height protective walls built. The blocks of snow are very easy to cut out of the ground with a saw because the snow is very dry & light & half metre blocks are easy to lift into place. This process has to be done at base camp & camp 1, whilst at high camp we will manage with just walls protecting the tents because we’ll probably cook & eat in the tents.
Fredrik is suffering from a bad cold/flu & is not well at all & unable to do a lot of the heavy work which is fair enough.

Most people are curious but not inclined to ask about the toilet facilities here, so I’ll fill you in on that aspect now. They are as I expected them to be & you must remember that there is a very strictly enforced ‘leave no trace’ policy here & everything & I mean everything, has to be taken back out on the Twin Otters to Patriot & then back to Punta Arenas in Sth America for disposal. You cannot just bury your waste here because when the winds come & sweep away the top layer of snow any buried waste would be exposed & the place would be like an open dump site in no time. Outside of the Patriot camp urine is disposed of down a communal bore hole which is drilled out at each camp. So you simply use your personal ‘pee’ bottle & then empty it down the deep hole. At Patriot all urine is tanked & removed to Sth America for disposal. At VBC, for your other functions there is a sheltered communal throne which ALE maintain, empty & remove back to Patriot etc. Once out of VBC & on the mountain each person is given a supply of handy sized black refuse bags which you use once or re-use if you wish, seal, store & remove back to VBC on the retreat. All other waste, food waste, packaging etc. etc. has to be bagged, sealed & taken back to VBC & onward to Patriot & Sth America. These things have to be dealt with & when you have to go, you have to go & it’s no big deal. The bonus is that the loo at VBC has the most incredible view down the glacier & one could easily sit here for an hour or more, if it wasn’t so cold. I must suggest that they put in a magazine rack. Anyway, you wondered & were curious & now you know.

With the day’s work done, we had dinner at 20.30 & were ready for an early night at 23.00.