‘Antarctics’ of mountaineer from Pune beats the cold

Back in Pune after scaling the peak in December, Singh described in “cold detail” of the arduous climb, though it’s not graded too high in scale as far as climbing skills and techniques are concerned. Vinson Massif, just short of South Pole, is a little below 5 kilometre in height (4,892 metre) and the climb is described as “moderately difficult”. Taking temperature into account, the climb is no less “Everestian”.

Temperature in winter is too forbidding. The mercury in summer – December in Southern hemisphere – is a tad higher but chilling enough to kill. The wind can cut like ice and exposure without adequate equipment and clothes to such conditions for even a short while can cause frostbite, Singh said at a press conference.

Singh scaled the southern part of the main ridge of the Sentinel Range where Vinson peak stands. It is named after Georgia Congressman G Vinson, who had urged the US government to support an Antarctic expedition in 1966 when the peak was scaled for the first time.

Winds can bite into exposed skin, and mean temperature can drop to even 40°C below zero. Rajeev Saumitra, friend and mountaineer from Delhi who first met Singh when they were at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Allied Sports and Mountaineering in Manali, accompanied Singh on the expedition.

Krushnaa Patil was the first woman from Maharashtra, and India as well, to scale Vinson Massif. Singh told reporters, “December is comparatively better to scale the peak as there is sunshine. Temperatures is at double digits below zero,” said Singh.

During the expedition, he fell and broke his little finger and the small hospital at south pole poved a saviour. “I trekked the Southern Himalayas when I was 17 years old. Vinson Massif was quite tough compared to these expeditions. For instance, in the Himalayas a trekker gets to drink water and take pictures. Drinking water is difficult at Vinson Massif. It just freezes. Taking out the camera is a risk as exposing a finger to cold can lead to frostbite,” he said.

Singh also visited the Amundsen-Scott research station along with scientists, Geographers and other explorers. The US scientific research station at the geographic South Pole was built in November 1956, ten years before man set his feet on Vinson Massif peak.

Singh said, “Mountaineering is the only sport where we get to compete with ourselves, unlike other sports where competition is with others. I wish to surprise people by doing something new and different in the coming years.”