the Adventure Lifestyle magazine

places in the Himalayas, South America, Alaska, Canada, and the other great ranges of the world, but Antarctica will have potential a hundred years from now. .- • - WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC SKILLS REQUIRED FOR A SKI -MOUNTAINEERING EXPEDITION IN ANTARCTICA? Anyone considering a ski-mountaineering expedition anywhere in the world needs to have serious experience in both mountaineering and skiing. Combining the two is a very serious proposition. If you're looking to slide down a mountain you want to be able to slide down it in control, as one wrong turn could be the end of your life. HOW WOULD SOMEONE ASSESS WHETHER THEY ARE CAPABLE OF UNDERTAKING SUCH AN EXPEDITION? That 's a difficult question to answer-almost a loaded question. I'm not in a position to evaluate anyone on a personal basis without knowing individually what mountaineering they've done. Anyone considering Antarctica would need to have the ability to look out on any particular terrain (mountains, faces, ridge lines or whatever the case may be), plan their route, and assess the objective danger. In ot her word s, you've got to be able to be your own guide in a remote mountain Iyilderness that you have never seen before. For most of what you're going to be There are no indigenous people-the only indigenous aspect of Antarctica is the wildlife that you find on the coast: the whales, the seals, the penguin colonies. HOW MANY PENGUINS DID YOU MEET? Well , imagine standing among 50,000. Or sitting on a little rock y space Iyith thousands and thousands of penguins surrounding you, all completely uninhibited. They're seemingly fearless of humans. They were so comfortable with people they'd come to me looking for food, as if I was their mother. Other times they didn't pay me any notice, as if I was a rock. And the grandeur you experience with whales is incredible. Imagine sitting in a Zodiac navigating around icebergs, Iyith mountains in the distance, and a humpback whale starts screeching and playing with you. They come up, wave their head, go back down and then throw up a flipper. It was like nothing I've experienced elsewhere in my life. YOU WERE ON A VERY TECHNICAL MOUNTAINEERING EXPEDITION. WOULD A MORE GENERAL TRAVELER HAVE A SIMILAR CHANCE TO EXPERIENCE THE WILDLIFE? I would think that every opportunity, if not more, would be available to them. General visitors can spend more time dedicating themselves to visiting the wildlife colonies. Whereas when you're there with a specific mountaineering objective you're often in areas, such as parts of the interior , that have no wildlife . ::: doing in Antarctica, you're going to have to make the call right there on the spot. HOW DID YOUR FIRST ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION (SKIING AND CLIMBING THE ANTARCTIC There isn't a lot of photography or information of previous ascents or descents to go on. PENINSULA IN 2000) EVOLVE? ARE YOU SAYING THERE'S NO ENTRY LEVEL IN ANTARCTICA? HOW WOULD IT COMPARE, LET'S SAY, TO NEPAL? In Nepal or any of the greater ranges of the world, you're going to be faced with a lot of climbing challenges similar to those of Antarctica, but with a lot more information. For example, there are countless books on Everest, telling you when to go, the safest routes, how many camps each route require s, what's needed in terms of equipment , etc. Alaska's Mount McKinley is another example-obviously a very prominent mountain, the highest peak in North America, volumes of information about it are accessible. You can read about routes, history, conditions, even find books that are specifically designed to help people plan their expedition. That doesn't exist with Antarctica. It takes ski lls and knowledge that have been developed in other ranges of the world to be able to go down and successfully negotiate Antarctica's logistical and terrain- related obstacles. That's why it is still a remote, wild, raw place-because it isn't handed to anyone on a silver platter. That particular trip was organized by Doug Stoup who had, just a month and a half prior, been on an expedition on Vinson Massif, the highest peak on the Antarctic continent. Another mountaineer was Stephen Koch, with whom I had done projects previously. Doug called me to ask if I was interested, as he needed someone capable of sk iing, climbing and photographing the expedition. WHAT WAS THE EXPEDITION BUDGET? The budget was somewhere between $50,000 and $70,000 for six people. So, it's about $10,000 each. AND HOW DID YOUR TEAM ORGANIZE THE SPONSORSHIP? Most of the sponsorship was taken care of by The North Face, and that was primarily because many of the mountaineers chosen by Doug Stoup-Stephen Koch, Rick Armstrong, Hans Saari, John Griber and myself- had a prior affiliation with The North Face. HOW WOULD YOU SAY AN EXPEDITION SPONSOR'S MOTIVE TODAY DIFFERS FROM THE PRIVATE, EXPLORATORY FUNDING OF EXPEDITIONS 100 YEARS AGO? YOU'VE BEEN ON MANY TECHNICAL EXPEDITIONS, FROM PERU TO ALASKA. HOW DOES Expedition funding in those days was primarily from wealthy famili es, businessmen, and ANTARCTICA COMPARE? governments motivated by national pride. Today, when there are so many people vy ing for In some ways, I would compare it to the greater Himalayas of Tibet or the Karakoram adventurous opportunities, there is very little national pride, at least in my experience mountains of Pak istan. Antarctica has the sca le and the grandeur of those mountains-but none of the culture of the local people. Antarctica is essentially an uninhabited continent. being an American, associated with doing exploratory climbing. You can't call the US government to help you out on your expedition expenses. There is still some state- / ABOVE LEFT: CLIMBING MT. DEMARIA IN A WHITEOUT. ABOVE RIGHT: STEPHEN KOCH CLIMBING POINT SHULEYKIN 38

• Cover