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First, the ship: the Akademik Shuleykin and eight sister ships were built in Finland around 1983 and used as floating labs for Russian scientists doing polar research during the Cold War. After the collapse of the Russian economy there was little money for science, so the ships were chartered to private companies for cruises like ours. The ship is a class one ice vessel, which means it can slam through heavy pack ice much like an ice breaker, although it’s not designed for that so much as simply cruising through polar waters. After refurbishment it takes up to 50 passengers and about 30 crew, and because it’s designed to be out for months at a time with the scientists it would take, it has vast stores for water and food, so we were never at a loss for a hot shower or a great meal. Finally, and very importantly, because it was made in Finland, a sauna could be found near the engine room, in which I hopefully made my ancestors proud by using nearly every day (see section: Polar Dip). The ship’s charterees were a company out of Toronto called Marine Expeditions Inc. who normally take people on cruises to South Georgia Island, the Faulklands, and the Antarctic Peninsula. MEI normally supplies cruisers with wildlife biologists and geologists who lecture on areas which they are then taken to by Zodiac to hike around on for a few hours at a time. This cruise was to be a departure for them, as the goal was to look for mountains to climb and ski on, so we were in need of someone who knew the peninsula well, and could tell the climbers and skiers where among the many islands and mountains around might there be places which had the combination of being good places to ski or climb and accessibility from the coast, which included having a good landing site. We were lucky to have not only a ship captain who was willing to take the ship wherever we wanted to go, which included some narrow, iceberg-choked areas that were difficult to navigate; but also an expedition leader, Dave German, who knew the area extremely well, and could work with the skiing and climbing guides to find the best places to do their thing.

This area, as you can imagine, is totally wild, and the attraction of being the first to scale some of its peaks can also be its curse in that you will necessarily spend a lot of time figuring out logistics and assessing risks, time you could have to actually climb if you were going somewhere where routes had already been established. Antarctica throws another couple of wild cards in there for the adventurer, because the constantly cavitating glaciers and icebergs combine with the whims of the winds to cause pack ice to make landing sites inaccessible that might have been perfect places to take the Zodiac only a few days before. On top of that, even in the summer the weather down there is rather squirrelly. Dave G. definitely had his work cut out for him! Fortunately, the clients and guides on the trip were also committed to being flexible to change, and when Dave G. and the captain said things just couldn’t be done, then even the sight of that gorgeous, unclimbed mountain or unskied couloir in the distance wasn’t enough to make anyone argue that there just HAD to be another way. So there was harmony.

Our cruise was to have 38 passengers. About 12 of them were there to climb with Dave Hahn and his guides. Most of these people were forty- and fifty-somethings from the UK, where ANI is headquartered, although there were two younger guys who had bought the trip at the last minute from a Mountainzone auction, where ANI had offered it when it was clear the trip would be undersold. All of the climbers had pretty impressive climbing backgrounds – many had climbed big mountains before like Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua, and nearly all had at least trekked in the Himalayas if not scaled a peak or two. Most of them had technical backgrounds, too, and had ice and rock climbed in difficult places, so Dave H. and his guides didn’t have to worry about anyone there not knowing how to swing an ice axe or strap on crampons. Seven more, as I said before, were there to film a movie about skiing the peninsula. They were led by Doug Stoup, a filmmaker from LA, who has recently become enthusiastic about ski mountaineering. Doug had just gotten back from filming himself and another member of this team, Stephen Koch, doing the first snowboard ascent of Vinson Massif. Doug was crazy about Antarctica after that trip, and now, only three weeks after getting back from Vinson, he and this team were going back to the continent for some more. Along with Stephen and Doug’s sister Natalie, who joined the group to help out with logistics, there was Rick Hunt, an adventure cinematographer; Kris Erickson, a ski mountaineer and still photographer; Hans Saari and Rick Armstrong, who were there to ski. This was an interesting group with a ton of past experience – Rick Armstrong has been in about 30 ski movies over the years, and Stephen has made first ascents on his snowboard all over the world. Hans and Kris had been on the expedition to Shishapangma with Alex and Dave Bridges when those two were killed, and since this trip had originally been Alex’s thing, it was to be a sad but cathartic experience for them.

Four Chilean climbers also joined the group, led by Aldo Boitano. Aldo was the only person on the ship who had actually climbed in the peninsula before – in 1992, he and some friends convinced the Chilean navy to drop them off on Anvers Island, where they scaled a peak which had only been climbed twice before. Mt. Francais, which neighbors the peak he had climbed back then, was one of the peaks our climbers hoped to scale, so although Aldo and his group were independent from the ANI clients, his input and experience were valuable in assessing that climb. Since his 1992 experience, Aldo and Marcello Griferros, who was also with us, had founded an outdoor education and leadership school which brought in underprivileged children from Chile and Argentina, and in some cases as far away as Queens, NY, to teach them mountaineering skills in the Andes.

The trip was rounded out with people like me, who came along on short notice and hoped to make shore landings, see wildlife, and hike. Because the Zodiacs pull up to gravelly shores, we had been warned to bring rubber boots, like Wellingtons, along so that our feet didn’t get wet as we disembarked. Most of the hiking wasn’t too strenuous, so more often than not we’d leave our real hiking boots on the ship and just hike in the rubber boots. For that reason, we were known as “The Wellie Gang.” Although there were a few relatives like me and Ron there, most of the Wellie gang were ANI employees who had just returned from spending the austral summer working at Patriot Hills, which is in the interior of Antarctica, and is the landing spot for people who are going to the Ellsworth Range or the South Pole. From Patriot Hills came the camp doctor, Kate Brown; the cooks, Jane Morris and Rosalind Cooper (who brought to us her sister, Alison Rodda); the radio operators, Jason Whiting and Ken Everard (who brought his wife, Jean); and Warwick Taylor, who “washed up” down there (he brought his cousin, Dave Willis. Are you keeping track of the Daves on this trip?). So, in addition to the Chilean climbers and the Russian crew, we had people from just about every English-speaking country: the UK, the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It was quite the floating UN.

After a day in Ushuaia, during which Ron and I hiked to the chairlift which runs up Ushuaia’s local ski area and then had the best squash soup I’ve ever had at a little ski hut up there, we embarked on our journey. We watched Ushuaia recede in the distance as we steamed eastward on the Beagle Channel, and after a briefing about the ship and emergency procedures, we all got down to the serious task of getting to know each other. Our first meal set the tone for how we were going to be treated for the next two weeks – our choice between Argentine strip steak filets with the creamy peppercorn sauce or the Chilean sea bass served with homemade chimmi churri (kind of an Argentine salsa), followed by dulce de leche flan. Not too shabby, this trip my family has given to me! The chefs, Steve Allen and Chris Flinn, were both from Nova Scotia, and had worked in some famous restaurants in the past, but now use their chef skills to get them jobs at resorts and cruise ships so they can travel all over. Not a bad gig, and we were psyched to have them cooking our meals!