Samantha Larson - www.samanthalarson.com

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Mt. Vinson

In December, many high school seniors feel the pressure and stress caused by rapidly approaching college application deadlines. December 2005 was no different for me, except that I was cut a couple of weeks short by the plan my father and I had cooked up to attempt Antarctica’s highest mountain, 16,065-foot Mt. Vinson-Massif (4892 meter). I was trying to smooth out the details of my applications up to the minute that my dad and I had to leave for the airport. I left with the feeling that there were still a million little things that I’d like to tweak, though once at LAX, I knew my applications had all already been sent out, and I was able to let it go and focus on the present adventure: Antarctica.

We flew to Punta Arenas, Chile, where we met up with the rest of the group, and after a couple of days waiting for the right weather, we flew on a Russian Ilyushin to Patriot Hills, Antarctica. From there, we flew in a Twin Otter to Vinson’s base-camp.

We spent Christmas at camp I, completely exhausted after a equipment carry up to Camp II, or High Camp, and called our families back at home with a satellite phone.

Because our flight to Patriot Hills had been delayed by the weather, we had less time to climb the mountain, so we had less time to spend acclimatizing. By the time we got to high camp, I felt some symptoms of acute mountain sickness; I felt nauseated and had a complete loss of appetite. However, on summit day I managed to push through this. It was a very long, painful day, but getting to the summit made it more than worth it.