The odds of finding another skier on the Antarctic Peninsula are fairly low … though you may get a first descent.
The odds of finding another skier on the Antarctic Peninsula are fairly low … though you may get a first descent.
ANTARCTIC PENINSULA
RECOMMENDED BY Doug Stoup
“Antarctica is like a rose,” adventurer Doug Stoup ventured. “There are many thorns, but its inner beauty is just insane. You can have forty-knot winds and temperatures of forty degrees below zero. But then again, where else can you ski down an empty mountain right to the sea and be greeted by scores of whales, hundreds of seals, and thousands of penguins? Over twenty-seven expeditions [to date], I’ve really fallen in love with the continent.”
Antarctica is not one of the world’s most welcoming places. This is evidenced by the fact that there are no indigenous people on the continent, despite the fact that it encompasses more than 5.5 million square miles, roughly 1.5 times the size of the United States! (A contingent of five thousand scientists from the twenty-seven nations that are signatories of the Antarctic Treaty maintain a year-round presence on the continent; another twenty-five thousand or so tourists visit each season.) A great majority of the landmass—an estimated 98 percent—consists of ice and snow that has an average thickness of seven thousand feet; scientists believe that up to 70 percent of the world’s freshwater is contained here. Put another way: If the ice stored in Antarctica were to melt, the world’s oceans would rise two hundred feet. While precipitation can reach the equivalent of thirty-six inches of water on the Antarctic Peninsula, the continent’s wettest region, only an inch of precipitation reaches the South Pole. During the winter months, when temperatures hover in the balmy range of –40°F to –90°F, seawater surrounding the continent freezes up to two hundred miles offshore, covering an area even larger than Antarctica’s landmass. In the summer (December through March), the freeze recedes, and a brief window opens for sailing to the more northerly portions of Antarctica. The continent is quite mountainous, with peaks (like Vinson Massif) more than sixteen thousand feet high; the lure of scaling a never-before-climbed peak has attracted many adventurers.
Given its location and inhospitable terrain, it’s not surprising that the Antarctic continent went undiscovered until fairly recent times. Captain James Cook, in his relentless search for the “southern continent,” crossed the Antarctic Circle in 1773 and again in 1774, though ice prevented him from ever reaching the landmass itself. (He did, however, come upon New Zealand and Tahiti on this voyage.) Sealers and whalers worked the icy waters around Antarctica in the early 1800s, and subsequent national expeditions sponsored by Britain and Russia confirmed that the landmass was indeed a continent and not merely a collection of islands. Over the next one hundred years, many expeditions were led to Antarctica. One of the most scientifically productive was the Belgica expedition, conducted by the Royal Geographical Society of Brussels in 1897–9; certainly the most famous was Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 attempt to cross the Antarctic continent on foot. (Despite having their ship Endurance crushed by pack ice some eighty miles offshore, Shackleton and his crew emerged after a twenty-month ordeal—including an eight-hundred-mile crossing in an open boat—with no loss of life.)
Suffice it to say, a ski trip to Antarctica is not well suited for the occasional traveler or casual alpinist. First, there’s the crossing of the Drake Passage—almost five hundred miles, from Cape Horn to the Shetland Islands, at the northern tip of the continent. Whether you’re on a larger, expedition cruise ship or the seventy-five-foot Australis, there’s a sense of exploration as you pass through the Roaring Forties, the Furious Fifties, and the Screaming Sixties—the unobstructed winds that howl through the passage, where waves can reach heights of sixty-five feet. As you push farther south, you’ll pass through alleys of icebergs— cracking, rolling, with massive chunks calving off. Upon reaching the islands surrounding the peninsula, you’ll begin to encounter Antarctica’s wondrous wildlife en masse. “Sometimes we’ll stop on Livingston Island to visit an elephant seal, a gentoo penguin, and a giant petrel colony,” Doug continued. “It’s one of the few elephant seal colonies on the peninsula. There are thousands of the animals. The males can grow to be sixteen feet in length and weigh eight thousand pounds. The females can get to be ten feet long and seventeen thousand pounds in weight. The pups were just being born and it was amazing to watch.” The seals, birds, and cetacean life are all fueled by incomprehensible amounts of krill, a tiny shrimplike crustacean that thrives in Antarctica’s chilly, nutrient-rich waters.
As for the penguins: One thing that the National Geographic specials don’t tell you is just how strong a colony of penguins smells!
“On a given trip, the boat will pull up at many different points along the Antarctic coast—sometimes islands, sometimes the mainland,” Doug continued. “Skiers will put on skins, snowboarders will strap on snowshoes. We’ll hike up a mountainside two thousand or three thousand feet. Oftentimes, there are descents on all sides, frequently right down to the water. Sitting atop that mountain, you’re not in a hurry to descend. There are all sorts of birds flying about, whales breaching in the sea, which is blue with icebergs. It’s so clean and pristine. Some of the descents have forty or fifty degrees of incline. It’s a very special experience. With twenty hours of daylight, we have plenty of time to explore.”
Over your week (or two weeks, depending on your trip), you will do some exploring. Each trip has a rough itinerary, but conditions—say, unexpectedly thick sea ice—require a level of flexibility.
One stop might include Wiencke Island. Here, you may ski a steep couloir named Wintervention; it was featured in the Warren Miller film of the same name. Another option on Wiencke is Noble Peak and the Sex Troll face (it’s a long story). There’s always the chance of a first descent. “On a 2010 trip, we found a beautiful couloir on the east side of Rongé Island, elevation seventeen thousand feet. We named it ‘Directissima’ (as we could see the Aurora Australis [Australia’s Antarctic supply ship] at the bottom of the run), and it offered great snow conditions on a forty-five-degree sustained pitch all the way to the water.” At the end of the day, you can toast your achievements with a libation cooled by ten-thousand-year-old glacial ice.
In a place as remote and unforgiving as the Antarctic Peninsula, visitors may face small hardships. Beyond plummeting temperatures, there’s a decent chance you’ll spend a few days stormbound in anchorage. And the snow may not always be the best. But how often can you make first tracks as you hear minke whales spouting in the near distance?
“I love leading trips to Antarctica, taking people to remote places that haven’t been skied before,” Doug added. “It’s exciting to push the limits of human endurance. Most of the people who’ve gone consider it the trip of a lifetime. But I have many repeat clients. It makes that kind of impression.”
DOUG STOUP is an expedition leader, polar guide, cinematographer, filmmaker, aerial rigger, ski and snowboard mountaineer, climber, motivational speaker, environmentalist, and educator. For more than ten years, he has been guiding teams across the frozen Arctic Ocean and Antarctica, from numerous “Last Degree” treks to his most recent 660-mile epic journey to the South Pole. Doug has received media coverage from CNN, the BBC, Time magazine, Sports Illustrated Adventure, and National Geographic Traveler. He was also featured in Warren Miller’s film Storm. He is a member of the International Polar Guides Association, and is the owner of Ice Axe Expeditions (www.iceaxe.tv).
If You Go
Getting There: Many ships heading for the Antarctic Peninsula depart from Ushuaia. Service is available via Buenos Aires on Aerolíneas Argentinas (800-333-0276; www.aerolineas.com.ar) and LAN (866-435-9526; www.lan.com).
Season: Expeditions are generally planned for the early part of the austral summer—November, December, and January.
Lift Tickets: Several companies lead ski/snowboard-oriented trips to Antarctica, including Ice Axe Expeditions (530-582-1246; www.iceaxe.tv). A berth in a lower-deck twin for a thirteen-day/twelve-night cruise begins at $8,990 per person. Longer itineraries are available.
Level of Difficulty: The backcountry terrain is best suited for more experienced skiers/boarders, though it’s within the ability level of advanced intermediates.
