Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25245
.- region where the glaciers are so much more active than they are in the interior. Just walking around in the peninsula region, even to the general visitor, presents this real threat. It is not that uncommon to fa ll in a crevasse or two during a day out. To keep this kind of situation safe requires the attention and collaboration of the whole group and a sophisticated knowledge of ropes and equipment. You've got to recognize that down there it's not possible to get a rescue-you're looking at weeks on the outset to have help come in from South America or somewhere like that. If you've come down on a ship, you're stuck with the group-and that's it. You have to be very self-sufficient. ANTARCTICA HAS SOME OF THE STRONGEST WINDS ON THE PLANET, UP TO 180 MPH. DID YOU EXPERIENCE THAT? I think we only had wind up to 50 mph or so, which is still blowing pretty good. There were times the winds were so great, you could tell that had all our gear not been lashed down and structurally sound, there would have been nothing left. There are sections of Antarctica that are completely blown clean, and all that remains are large, long strips of blue ice, and those are actually used for airplanes to land on in severa l locations. HOW DO YOU BALANCE BEING A MOUNTAINEER, PART OF THE EXPEDITION AND THE EXPEDITION PHOTOGRAPHER? Hans Saari used to describe me as "the invisible man with the angry child. " I'm not the person people ordinar ily associate with a lot of the trips because I am the one taking the photographs, and therefore seldom in them. But, I've got to be as technically competent as the other guys I'm with. They're relying on the fact that I'm capable enough to pull them out of a crevasse if they fall in, to evaluate decisions regarding our route, and to be equally responsible for making sure we all get back safely. It's not an easy task. Being saddled with the additional 20-some pounds of camera gear doesn't make my job any easier. But it's kind of what I've signed up for in life. Doing these trips is what really gives me satisfaction v/hen I get back home, and I'm able to look through my film and see the memories unfold through the slides. WHAT'S IT LIKE BEING IN A, SUPPOSEDLY, APOLITICAL PLACE? No one country owns the cont inent, so you'll find various nationalities that have bases scattered throughout, most on the peninsula region or the coast region. There are very few bases in the interior because few nations have an air force that can access the interior. At the Ukrainian base, Vernadsky, on the Peninsula-there are incredibly friendly guys-they love to see the tourist ships. Probably up to 75 percent of the expedition ships down there are chartered under a Russian title, with Russian staff, all the housekeeping,- captain, mechanics-they're all Russians. For them, it's their comrades coming to visit. They make their own vodka and pass it out to everybody. They welcome you with open arms, show you their base, they want you to have a good time, play music and enjoy the surroundings of Antarctica. Because for them, the winter is going to be a very long, dark period where they 're not going to see many people. DO YOUR EXPEDITIONS HAVE ANY NEGATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT? Of course t hey do. We're human; we're using machines. We're going to a land where humans and machines don't belong, so we' re obviously impacting it in the most basic sense that every step we take makes an impact. Obviously we're very environmentally conscious, and 42 we're trying to limit our impact as much as possible. Adventure Network International (ANI), the group that flew our expedition down there, and the only private company flying expeditions to the interior, does a good job of minimizing their impact. They fly all waste products from their tr ips (garbage, human waste, etc.) off the continent. Paying for the fuel to fly the waste back off is a huge expense-it definitely cuts into their bottom line. But they're making a conscious effort to minimize the impact because that is where the value is in Antarctica. If Antarctica were all of a sudden ruined by oil derricks all over, it wouldn't be the same place. People wouldn't want to go visit the way they do now. HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY THE NEGATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT? Well, I admit it 's selfish. Going to Antarctica is impacting the continent, but at the same time the only other choice is to ignore it , pretend it isn't there and never visit it. And I'm not willing to consider that option. I think we can make a conscious effort to visit these areas, abide by standards and regulations that have been put in place to minimize human impact so it remains a wonderful and beautiful scenic place, unpolluted and unspoiled. WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR MOUNTAINEERS WITH THEIR EYES SET ON ANTARCTICA? Put a second mortgage on the house, rent the kids ... no, I'm kidding .. . don't do that. But seriously, do whatever it takes. Make it possible. It's an amazing place. Until you've actually been there you can't really understand the power it will have on your life. WHAT'S YOUR MOST POWERFUL MEMORY OF YOUR EXPEDITIONS? Feeling lost on the polar plateau. During the South Pole Marathon we spent an extra six days or so acclimatizing. We flew the plane out 26.2 miles from the Pole, landed and camped on the polar plateau. From that point we had to set the course back to the Pole. But as soon as you were a few miles away from camp just with the general curvature of the earth and the fact that you were on this flat plain, it became very difficult to see camp and at some point you couldn't see anything at al l. All you would see was white snow in every direction with the sun just spinning overhead. I remember closing my eyes, not knowing what time it was, spi nning around and opening them again and having no idea where [ was; no idea which direction was south or north. Obviously compasses become very difficult to use because the closer you are to the South Pole everything is north at some pOint. So you rely upon a GPS unit to guide you. But say for some reason the GPS unit dies, you would have no idea which way to go. You could follow tracks but the snow is constantly blowing over the tracks. So, I am looking down at this little gizmo and my gut's telling me ['m going the wrong way. The GPS says to go to the right but I want to go to the left. For the first time in a long, long time-since I was a small boy and having my first experiences in the wilderness-I had a feeling that [ was lost; that I was relying on this piece of technology to tell me where [ was going. The chance to feel lost is not something I have found in too many places. Antarctica was able to deliver that to me. • ~BLUE.COM Read about Kristoffer Erickson's other expeditions online, Nike Karakoram Environmental Clean Up Expedition. Pakistan. www.blue.com/vln4/peaks Peruvian Steep Expedition. Peru. www.blue.com/v2n6/perusnow