Vinson Massif
NASA image of Vinson Massif from space
Elevation	4,892 metres (16,050 ft)
Location	Antarctica
Range	Sentinel Range
Prominence	4,892 m Ranked 8th
Coordinates	78°31′31.74″S, 85°37′01.73″WCoordinates: 78°31′31.74″S, 85°37′01.73″W[1]
First ascent	1966 by Nicholas Clinch and party
Easiest route	snow/ice climb

Vinson Massif is the highest mountain of Antarctica, located about 1,200 km (750 mi) from the South Pole. The mountain is about 21 km (13 mi) long and 13 km (8 mi) wide. The southern end of the massif is capped by Mount Craddock (4,650 m). Image File history File links Size of this preview: 725 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (2900 × 2400 pixels, file size: 3. ... This article is about the American space agency. ... A topographical summit is a point on a surface which is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. ... This article is about the unit of length. ... A foot (plural: feet or foot;[1] symbol or abbreviation: ft or, sometimes, ′ – a prime) is a unit of length, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... For exotic financial options, see Mountain range (options). ... The Sentinel Range is a major mountain range situated northward of Minnesota Glacier and forming the northern half of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. ... In topography, prominence, also known as autonomous height, relative height or shoulder drop (in America) or prime factor (in Europe), is a concept used in the categorization of hills and mountains, also known as peaks. ... This is a list of mountains ordered by their topographic prominence. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... In climbing, a first ascent (FA) is the first climb to reach the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route. ... Southern and northern Mount Everest climbing routes as seen from the International Space Station. ... Extremes on Land See also List of mountains. ... For other uses, see Mountain (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see South Pole (disambiguation). ... In geology, a massif is a section of a planets crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. ... Mount Craddock is a large, bold mountain that marks the highest point on the southern end of Vinson Massif. ...

It is in the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains, which stand above the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The Sentinel Range is a major mountain range situated northward of Minnesota Glacier and forming the northern half of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. ... The Ellsworth Mountains are the highest mountain ranges in Antarctica, forming a 360 km (200 mi) long and 48 km (30 mi) chain of mountains in a north to south configuration on the western margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf. ... The calving of A-38 off Ronne ice shelf The Filchner-Ronne ice shelf is in Antarctica bordering the Weddell Sea. ... Antarctic Peninsula map Booth Island and Mount Scott flank the narrow Lemaire Channel on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula. ...

The massif's existence was unsuspected until 1957, when it was spotted by US Navy aircraft. It was named after Carl Vinson (also the namesake of an aircraft carrier), a United States Georgia Congressman who was a key supporter of funding for Antarctic research. The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... Carl Vinson Carl Vinson (November 18, 1883 – June 1, 1981) was a Democratic United States Congressman from Georgia. ... The USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) is a United States Navy Nimitz class supercarrier named after Carl Vinson, a Congressman from Georgia. ...

First ascent

In 1963, two groups within the American Alpine Club, one led by Charles Hollister and Samuel C. Silverstein, M.D., then in New York, and the other led by Peter Schoening of Seattle Washington, began lobbying the National Science Foundation to support an expedition to climb Vinson. The two groups merged in spring 1966 at the urging of the National Science Foundation and the American Alpine Club, and Nicholas Clinch (Pasadena, CA) was recruited by the American Alpine Club to lead the merged expeditions. Named officially the American Antarctic Mountaineering Expedition 1966/67, the expedition was sponsored by the American Alpine Club and the National Geographic Society, and supported in the field by the U.S. Navy and the National Science Foundation Office of Antarctic Programs. the event, 10 scientists and mountaineers participated in AAME 1966/67. In addition to Clinch they were Barry Corbet (Jackson Hole, WY), John Evans (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN), Eiichi Fukushima (University of Washington, Seattle, WA), Charles Hollister, Ph.D. (Columbia University, New York, NY), William Long, Ph.D. (Alaska Methodist University, Anchorage, AK), Brian Marts (Seattle, WA), Peter Schoening (Seattle, WA), Samuel Silverstein, M.D. (Rockefeller University, New York, NY) and Richard Wahstrom (Seattle, WA). The American Alpine Club was founded in 1902 and is the leading national organization in the United States devoted to mountaineering, climbing, and the multitude of issues facing climbers. ... The logo of the National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. ...

In the months prior to its departure for Antarctica the expedition received considerable press attention, primarily because of the reports that Woodrow Wilson Sayre was planning to fly in a Piper Apache piloted by Max Conrad, the "flying Grandfather", with four companions into the Sentinel Range to climb the Vinson Massif. Sayre had a reputation for problematic trips as a result of his unauthorized, unsuccessful, and nearly fatal attempt to climb Mt. Everest from the North in 1962. His unauthorized incursion into Tibet led China to file an official protest with the U.S. State Department. In the event, the purported race did not materialize. Conrad had difficulties with his plane. According to press reports, he and Sayre were still in Buenos Aires on the day the first four members of AAME 1966/67 reached Vinson's summit.

In December of 1966 the Navy transported the expedition and its supplies from Christchurch, New Zealand to the U.S. base at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, and from there in a ski-equipped C-130 Hercules to the sentinel range. All members of the expedition reached the summit of the Vinson Massif. The first group of four climbers summited on December 18, 1966, four more on December 19, and the last three on December 20. The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop cargo aircraft and the main tactical airlifter for many military forces worldwide. ... is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ...

Later ascents

Sentinel Range with Vinson Massif, USGS Map

The climb of Vinson offers little technical difficulty beyond the usual hazards of travel in Antarctica, and as one of the Seven Summits, it has received much attention from well-funded climbers in recent years. Between 1985 and 2000 Adventure Network International, the only private guide to Vinson Massif, brought over 450 climbers to the summit. Several companies now guide clients up Vinson Massif. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 626 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (3207 × 3070 pixels, file size: 5. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 626 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (3207 × 3070 pixels, file size: 5. ... The Seven Summits on an Elevation World Map. ...

The new height (4,892 m) of Vinson Massif resulted from a GPS survey by the 2004 Omega Foundation team comprising Damien Gildea of Australia (leader), and Rodrigo Fica and Camilo Rada of Chile; it is 5 m lower than the previous figure.

The first Welsh man to climb Vinson Massiff was Mark Lewis in 1997 (aged 22 - the youngest person to have done so at the time) Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... For the band, see 1997 (band). ...

First ascent from East Face

While the vast majority of prior climbs to the summit have used the western side of the massif from the Branscomb Glacier, the first ascent from the east side was successfully completed by an eight-person team sponsored by NOVA in January 2001.^[2] The team consisted of: The Branscomb Glacier (78º32´S 86º05´W) is an Antarctic glacier, 9. ... Nova is a popular science television series from the USA produced by WGBH and can be seen on PBS and in more than 100 countries. ...

• Conrad Anker - expedition leader
• Jon Krakauer - mountaineer and author
• Dave Hahn - mountain guide with 19 ascents from the established route
• Andrew Mclean - extreme skier
• Dan Stone - glaciologist
• Lisel Clark - producer (who also became the first woman to make an ascent from this side)
• John Armstrong - cameraman
• Rob Raker - assistant cameraman and sound recording

The team not only made the first ascent from the east side but also performed scientific research into snow accumulation at different elevations as well as taking the first ground based GPS reading from the summit. The GPS reading gave the elevation of the highest point in Antarctica as 4,897 m (16,066 ft), eclipsing the earlier established heights recorded in 1959 and 1979. Conrad Anker (born in 1963) is an American rock climber, mountaineer, and author famous for his challenging ascents in the high Himalaya and in Antarctica. ... Jon Krakauer Jon Krakauer (born April 12, 1954), is an American non-fiction author and mountaineer, well-known for outdoor and mountain-climbing writing. ... Lateral moraine on a glacier joining the Gorner Glacier, Zermatt, Switzerland. ... GPS redirects here. ...

Another first was the successful aircraft landing of a Twin Otter on the Upper Dater Glacier on the eastern slopes of Vinson Massif. The DHC-6 Twin Otter is a 20-passenger STOL feederliner and utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada. ... The Dater Glacier (78º17´S 84º35´W) is a steep valley glacier in Antarctica, 38 km (24 mi) long and from 1. ...

NOVA named the production "Mountain of Ice", which first aired on PBS in February 2003. PBS redirects here. ...

On nomination by Damien Gildea of the Omega Foundation, USGS Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN) on August 18th, 2006 approved naming the subsidiary peaklets south of Mt. Vinson for the AAME 1966/67 members Nicholas Clinch, Barry Corbet, Eiichi Fukushima, Charles Hollister, Brian Marts, Samuel Silverstein, Peter Schoening and Richard Wahlstrom. Other peaks in the Sentinel Range had previously been named for John Evans and William Long.

References

External links

• Vinson Massif on TierraWiki.org