Author Bryan Osoro

So it begins…

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Just sitting on my flight to Los Angeles where I’ll then head to Bangkok for a couple days before ultimately I get to Kathmandu on the 1st. Should be a super exciting set of flights back to Asia for the second time in a few weeks.

I’m pumped for the experience, but also nervous about leaving for two months, and thinking about everyone cheering me on. I’m a pretty lucky dude. Not everyone gets the opportunity in their lives to do some of the cool shit I’ve gotten to do and continue to do.

Giddeyup, it’s time to go.

Until BKK, see ya!

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Here’s a pretty cool 3D video of the SouthEast Ridge route on Everest that I’ll be following here in a few weeks.

It’s looking like our flights from Kathmandu to Lukla, in Nepal, where we’ll start our trek in are scheduled for the 5th of April.  We could be at basecamp by the 13th or 14th!

Everest 3D – Classic southeast ridge route from 3D RealityMaps on Vimeo.

Final Trip Report – Vinson Massif, Antarctica 2012 – Part 4 (Final)

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Of course, the night wasn’t complete as we learned that the ANI (Adventure Network International – whom runs the guiding on Vinson & elsewhere on Antarctica) group was having a party in their heated tent just across camp from us.   Naturally, we obliged, and joined in for a fun night of drinks and getting to know some incredible people, some of whom held speed ascent records of Mt Everest (Lhakpa Gelu) and other whom had been climbing in the Himalaya for 20+yrs but were simply doing the weather reports on Vinson (although we waited for these twice a day, and planned accordingly).  It’s a pretty small community down there, full of a wide range of experts (Dave Hahn with nearly 30 ascents of Vinson & 14 summits of Everest) all of whom are humble, friendly and gracious people that enjoy everyone else’s company.  
The next day, with not too many people having sore heads, we got the news that we had the chance to fly back to Union Glacier.   Of course we jumped at the opportunity, almost literally given that we had one hour to pack everything up and be ready to be boarding the twin otter plane.  
Back at Union, we set our Hilleberg tents one last time, and settled in  for the next few days while we waited for the Ilyushian flight back to Punta Arenas.  Life at Union isn’t rough at all.  They have heated tents which are large enough for 10-12 dining tables, plus a full kitchen & cook staff.   Three cooked meals a day, and all the books about Antarctica you could ever (or never) want to read.   The first day back was great, and it was a relief to have somewhere else to go other than your tent and the dining tent.  
After 24hrs, the place does get extremely small, and you look to do anything to keep yourself occupied while you wait.  The second day, the group went on a walk to “the beach” which was about an hour’s walk from Union Glacier where we could see a point where two glaciers were slamming into one another.  We also got walk around on the green rocks & quartz up the hill where we could see the wide expanse of ice beyond the horizon.   Again, trying to process the remoteness and uniqueness of the experience is very humbling and overwhelming.   I am extremely fortunate to be able to go on such an expedition, and I know that I’m of a few that have had the luxury of doing so.  Antarctica is so far from anything you experience in daily life that it’s difficult  to completely sink in and come to terms with where you are and what you’re experiencing.
Finally, the day to go home had come!  Given that the weather is so critical to the schedule of everything related to Antarctica, you can’t count on any flight happening until it’s in the air, en route and almost near by.  Fortunately though, the weather was solid and the Russian cargo jet made the flight from Punta Arenas to Antarctica and landed safely.  We were able to arrange with ALE (Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions – ANI’s logistics arm) to be near the runway to watch the plane come in and land.  It was pretty fun to be there when the next group of climbers landed all decked out in their down parkas, down suits & face masks.  Since we had grown accustomed to the cold, we were nearly all in our base layers, baseball caps & sunglasses.  Looks aside, I’m sure we smelled like roses to the new group.  I’m sure they were wondering, like we were, what to expect and if they’d look the same in a few weeks.
We boarded the flight, and got ready to head back to civilization, or the closest thing to it that we’d seen in weeks.   We’d all been dreaming about what we’d do when we got back, whether it was a Pisco Hot, or just a shower, we all had our plans set in stone.  
Now that I’ve been back home for over a month, and starting to get in the mindset of another upcoming expedition, I’m appreciative of the opportunity to go down to Antarctica, and climb Vinson Massif with a great group of people and an outstanding set of guides.  With the prospect of Mt. Everest ahead, it’s starting to quickly sink in what a big journey it will be, both in terms of time and the height of the hill.  I’m anxious and excited for the experience, and needing to stay focused on training & gear prep to ensure I’m as ready as I possibly can be.
Until I start the next, this one has been another successful trip, to say the least!

Final Trip Report – Vinson Massif, Antarctica 2012 – Part 3

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Summit day!!!!! 24th of December 2012

With the weather looking like it’ll hold, we head off out of high camp for our summit push.  A super exciting breakfast of oatmeal and anything else you can stomach plus trying to drink as much water as you can gets you ready to head off for the day.  The going is slow, but steady and relatively easy straight out of camp.  The incline is fairly mellow, but we move at a steady pace to ensure no one burns out before the summit.

The weather was in our favor, and was extremely mild for the bulk of the day on our ascent.   Just prior to getting to the summit ridge, the wind picked up quite a bit which dropped the temperatures to an estimated -40ºC.   This was the first point in the trip where I actually used my huge down parka, summit mits & face mask.  Although I had been carrying them for days with not so much as pulling them out to use them as a pillow, I was sure glad I had them on summit day.  We also had been advised to open up hand warmers and throw them in the gloves in the morning.  That was a welcomed reprieve from the cold & wind when you threw on those gloves and had something warm to hold onto.  
At this point, all bundled up, we started up the last portion of the climb up the summit ridge with our objective close at hand.  
Moving up the ridge is fairly slow for a few reasons.  Notably, we’re freezing our asses off, but we also need to clip into and out of fixed protection (climbing anchors in the mountain) and doing so with mittens is a real hassle (damn near impossible). Fortunately, many of the protection points were shielded from the wind which meant you could at least take a mitten off to unclip & clip into the anchors which were backup safety in case someone lost their footing.
Finally, we could see the the summit itself, mostly due to the fact that another group was a bit ahead of us and were taking their celebratory pictures.  The bummer about the timing of our reaching the summit was that clouds had set in thereby limiting our view to about 20-30feet in front of us.  Never the less, everyone made it to the top!  
The summit of Mt. Vinson generally entails a corniced ridge that is fairly infamous in nearly every summit shot previously taken.   We were lucky enough to have -23ºC temperatures at the top which meant we could hang out for about a half an hour.   We made a bunch of satellite phone calls back home to let everyone know that we had made it, were safe and all super stoked to be on top after working for the last week or so.  
After we’d made our calls, everyone tried to stomach some kind of food & water at which point we began our descent.  Although the ridge line itself was semi-technical, the bulk of the mountain was pretty straight forward.  Considering we’d only be on the ridge itself for maybe 20 minutes, we still needed to be very cognizant of each step, but the majority of the difficulty lie behind us.  Now, the trick was making sure we kept up the energy to keep slogging it out back down to high camp.
Once back in high camp, elated, we pulled off our crampons, boots & packs to hop into our sleeping bags to recover from two long days.   Our summit day ended up being about 11hrs give or take.  Again, still not as long or as intense as Denali, but still one that isn’t completely a walk in the park.  We filled a few water bottles, had a final meal and zoned out for the night.  That -40ºF sleeping bag felt GREAT. 
While still running on the high post-summit, we packed up our high camp and headed down through the fixed lines back down to low camp.  The beauty of the Vinson trip, at least during this part, was that we could be unroped through the fixed lines, which meant we were free to move at our own pace.  The first time down the fixed lines, I nearly burnt a hole in my Black Diamond Guide Gloves due to arm-rapp’ing in addition to being clipped in (an arm rap is simply where you rap the route around your arm so that you can quickly arrest a fall should you lose your footing).   This second time through I didn’t run down the face, but I still did work up a serious sweat, fogging up my glasses and soaking through nearly everything I had on.   
When we got back to low camp, we made quick work of packing up anything we’d left behind, stuffing our duffels with extra gear and fixing the sleds to our packs to make the journey back to Vinson Base Camp.  
Again, unlike Denali, this time the sleds were not that bad.   The hills were mellow enough that it was extremely easy to manage the sleds.  Not to mention, that we’d only been carrying sleds for such a short time, everyone was quite tolerant of the inevitable smack into the feet when someone would zone out while staring at what we’d climbed up.   On the descent, we got lucky enough to have clear skies, so we could see the ice falls on the ridge up to high camp & the summit itself.   We also got to see the crevasses we had climbed earlier much more clearly!  Ignorance sure is bliss when you’re walking through a crevasse field where any given crevasse may be hundreds or thousands of feet deep.   
A low cloud bank had rolled into VBC, obstructing the view, and making it impossible to tell just how much further we really had.  It hid the camp, but we still had breathtaking views of Antarctica which is mind blowing when you try to comprehend just how remote you are and how far you truly are from ANYTHING.  
Now, back at VBC on Christmas Day, we were waiting eagerly for the steak & wine dinner we’d been promised early on in the trip.   Box wine has never tasted better than it did that night!  I don’t care what day of the week it was made, it was awesome.  The steak sure didn’t suck either.  Quite the meal to be had on a climbing expedition.   Definitely a first, that’s for sure.  Jacob & Seabass are badass guides/cooks/friends!

Final Trip Report – Vinson Massif, Antarctica 2012 – Part 2

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After settling in at VBC and filling up our “fuel reserves” by eating as much as we wanted, we did a carry about half-way between base camp and low camp (aka camp 1).  Given that we were expecting the weather to take a turn for the worse, we reasoned that we should just drop a cache of gear, food & fuel at the mid-camp and turn around.   The upside is we got to stretch the legs for a bit and didn’t have to pull sleds with gear for nearly as long as if we had gone all the way to low camp.  For most of the day, the clouds had set in, which took any views of higher on the mountain than we would have been able to otherwise see.  

After we carried our gear to mid-camp, we returned to basecamp for the night to chill out for the rest of the day.   An interesting effect of expeditions is that you end up getting a lot more sleep than you normally do at home.  Even though the days can be extended periods of exertion (upwards of 14-16hrs on summit day), after you get back to camp, there isn’t a whole lot else to do, but sleep.

On move day, we packed up all our gear and set out for low-camp.  We had the luxury of pulling sleds with the extra gear that we didn’t want on our backs, but that significantly changes how tedious the move itself becomes.   We made a pit-stop at mid-camp to pick up the cached gear and headed off for the rest of the day.   It took roughly 6hrs to get from basecamp to low camp, which we then had to clean up the camp sites (dig out the snow & ice from previous camps & wind that had blown it around) and start setting our Hilleberg tents again in addition to the cook/dining tent we’d have for the next few nights.

Since we were going to be staying at low camp for several nights, we were in no rush to do anything other than settle in, have dinner, and rest up.  One of the keys to staying happy on a trip like this is to take every chance to rest up, and fully take advantage of that.  There is plenty of time to suffer on move, carry & summit days, so why not just take that extra snooze when you get the opportunity?  
After resting up at low camp, we decided to do a carry up to high camp in preparation for our move.   This carry was much more enjoyable, mostly because we were not roped up to one another while moving up the fixed lines.  I think the fixed lines was roughly 1,200-1,500ft of walking on a stairmaster like hill.   The fixed lines are climbing ropes which are anchored to the mountain with things like pickets placed in the hill to aid in your ascent by clipping onto the rope with an ascender (basically it just clamps on to the rope and moves one-way) so that if you lose your footing & fall, you won’t go far.  

When we got nearly to the top of the fixed lines, Jacob noticed that the fresh snow which had come in over the last day or so had wind loaded the top of the hill and appeared to be ready to avalanche off at any moment.  Given that there were so many of us, and we couldn’t move as quickly as we’d need to in order to safely get beyond the hazard, we cached what we had brought with us, and turned around for low camp.
The nice part about not going all the way to high-camp is that it makes the day a bit shorter than it otherwise would have been. The downside is that now when we move to high camp, we have to carry that cache of gear/food/fuel even further, which is kind of a bummer.
Now, back at low camp, we were planning on taking at least one full rest day in anticipation of the move further up the hill.   Fortunately for us, the skies cleared up on our day off, and gave us the chance to play a little football after our late breakfast of pancakes.   This of course just worked up an appetite for quesadillas which we had in the late afternoon, just prior to dinner.   Rough life on the mountain.  
Fully rested, we set out for high camp with all of the remaining gear we’d need to be higher up on the mountain.   With having fixed lines in between us & the upper portion of the mountain, we didn’t get to use sleds to carry any of the gear we needed to bring.  Coupled with having our cache lower on the hill than originally planned, it meant having to carry even more on our packs.  All, in all, I still think it wasn’t nearly as torturous as the move from 14k camp to 17k camp on Denali, but it was still probably the hardest day on Vinson.  The beauty of having climbed Denali first is that Vinson seemed like a walk in the park and was quite enjoyable from a physical exertion perspective. 
The move up to high camp seemed to take longer than expected, and was still a pretty big day (roughly 8-9hrs) after all was said & done.  One of the mind games that high camp plays is that it is not in sight until you literally stumble into camp itself.   You just keep staring at what seems like a never ending hill, until finally you crest  the ridge and almost right smack dab in the middle of high camp.  Once there, we had to quickly start work on leveling out a campsite by chopping away at snow & ice which had formed after the last group had been up there.   High camp isn’t nearly as miserable as high camp on Denali, but it is similar in terms of being colder, more windy and generally desolate compared to other camps.  It’s not a place you want to spend a whole lot of time, given that it is far more exposed and subject to some pretty nasty winds when they kick up and roll through the area.  

Final Trip Report – Vinson Massif, Antarctica 2012 – Part 1

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After a few weeks back in the comfort of my own house, I think it’s about time to put up a trip report of some description.  I’ve been spoiled with the ability to take a warm shower every day and not go to sleep on a sheet of ice which happens to be several thousand feet thick.  With that, here’s my summary of the trip.

Getting to Antarctica is relatively straightforward, that is of course if you build in several days for delay at many points along the journey (that’s right, days).  Regardless of where you start, everyone ultimately converges in Punta Arenas which is the southern most city in Chile.  Once we were all in Punta Arenas, the team (Mitch, Steve, Greg, Nick, Vanessa, Fiona, Scott, Sebastian and myself) all had a chance to meet for the first time.   The cool thing about having extra time in Punta Arenas is that most of us got a chance to go on excursions to check out the Magellan penguins nearby.

One of the many things that Chile is famous for, and something I appreciated the most were the Pisco Sours.  In particular, Scott discovered the Pisco Hot varietal which had cayenne pepper in addition to the Pisco & egg white mix.   They were t-rubble as they were way too easy to drink.   Never mind that, we were preparing for a few weeks in sub-zero weather.

One of the requirements of going to Antarctica is that you attend a logistics briefing run by ALE whom operates the commercial operations for climbing Vinson, skiing to the South Pole or flying to see the Emperor penguins.  In that session they briefly cover what you’ll expect on the day you fly in the Ilyushin-76 Russian cargo jet and spend a fair bit of time reminding you how isolated you’ll be and to be extremely diligent about caring for yourself and your group.  Doc Martin, the resident medic, spent 10-15 minutes covering cold-related injuries and stressing the extreme temperatures which are to be expected on Antarctica and what can happen in virtually no time at all.

After sufficiently being scared about the prospect of serious frostbite, we were free to enjoy our last day on concrete with reasonably priced beers & empanadas (although they tasted like hot-pockets, not the good kind).

Finally, on Monday the 17th of December, we got the call that it was the day to fly to Antarctica!  Since we were all packed and had handed our gear off the day before, it was pretty straightforward getting out of town.  We booked it to the airport, and boarded the cargo jet for our 4.5hr flight further south.

Once en route we were treated with the deafening roar of those four engines blasting and virtually no insulation in the plane to dampen the sound at all.  The upside is that we did get meal service which included a $30 can of coke, Chilean pringles and a sandwich which left much to desire.

Fortunately, the flight was uneventful, and we made it to the Union Glacier runway which had been put in place only a few years prior.   Previously, the ALE compound had been near Patriot Hills, which given the location was subject to a lot more variable weather patterns which increased the likelihood of delays.  Now, at Union Glacier, the flights are able to land much more consistently but an incredible sight to see none the less.
ALE runs a pretty impressive operation down there, which include things like modified Econoline vans that shuttle you from the runway to their base of operations a mile or two away.  They also have a bunch of heated tents with a full staff ranging from cooks to medics to pilots and everything in between.  
 Lucky for us, the day we landed the weather was great, which meant we could take advantage of that and fly straight to Vinson basse camp, which was about another 40 minute flight on a twin otter plane (which flys down by way of Canada every season).  We had enough time to fill up on a warm lunch and then throw our bags aboard the plane.
The flight into Vinson Base Camp is pretty incredible with seemingly never-ending views of snow & ice. The glaciers turn into popcorn at times and on various peaks they are just slowly rolling down.   It took about 40 minutes to get into camp, but it seemed to go by pretty quickly, considering what you got to check out on the way in.
Life at VBC was super mellow, and a great way to ease into the trip.   We had a huge Mountain Hardwear Dome Tent to eat in, and spacious Hilleberg tents which are specifically built for the extreme conditions of the Antarctic & Arctic expeditions.  VBC life was great with three cooked meals a day which included everything from French Toast to hamburgers, pancakes & just about everything in between.   Given we were on an “expedition,” there was no reason to start counting calories.  In fact, you generally try to overcompensate on this front given that you start to burn more calories than you can consume due to the altitude, cold temperatures & exertion throughout the day.  You didn’t have to tell me twice.  Also, at VBC we had a “loo with a view” which gave you the chance to stare at hundreds of miles worth of glacier covered terrain whilst you had your morning constitution.

Back in civilization!!

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We made it back and now are in Punta Arenas again. It sure feels good to be able to take a shower, eat at a table and get a beer without knowing that it was flown in once every 10 days and cost $30/each based on weight. Although, knowing that made it taste a hell of a lot better.

I think everyone else is pretty psyched to be back in civilization, even if that means we are at the southern most point of Chile and still a long couple of flights from home.

I’ll update a trip report when I get back and have a normal keyboard to use instead of trying to pound it out on an iPhone.

Thank you to everyone for your support and following along. It was a great trip with a great group of people.

The other side of things

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After hiking around at Union Glacier, watching movies, and enjoying the company of other groups, Bryan will be headed off the ice tomorrow morning.

I have to say, I am very proud of him.  I have no concept whatsoever of what it takes to do the climbs he has done, but I imagine it is both physically and mentally challenging.  I also know that if I had to do something like climb Vinson, I would want a guy like Bryan on my team.  As I am sure he will blog about the logistics of his grand adventure, I am also sure he won’t brag about his patience with others and his willingness to help people out and not complain or whine about it.

There are plenty of people that do these kinds of climbs, or even more difficult physical feats, but Bryan’s humility regarding his adventures and how amazing he is as a person in general is what makes him so stellar.  I don’t think anyone reading this blog needs to be convinced Bryan is exceptional, nor do I think Bryan is doing the Seven Summits to convince others he is.  I know the point of this blog is to keep others informed of his progress and safety throughout his travels, not to brag

So because Bryan won’t brag about himself, I will.   Bryan, what you did on Christmas Eve was extraordinary.  You are a bad ass, for many reasons.  What is so cool is you would be a bad ass even if you never climbed a mountain in your life, but, being the bad ass that you are, you just do that kind of stuff.  You see something, you want to do it, and then you make it happen.  Not only that, you make it happen in the most humble way possible.  So maybe when you come back and tell us of your spectacular trip, you will include references to your amazingness.  Perhaps if you do, your girlfriend will stop writing this kind of stuff on your blog and keep to sarcastic posts about your pre-flight drink debacles.

They made it to the Summit 12/24!! (Sat phone)

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They made it to the Vinson summit (12/24)!!! They immediately started back to high camp to take advantage of the weather. Congratulations to all excellent climbers and thank you to the expert guides!!

Climbed to high camp (Sat phone)

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Climbed to high camp with equipment and returned to camp 1. (12/21) Rest day planned tomorrow and then up to high camp on Sunday (12/23). Snowed today. Hopefully, summit on Monday!!