Vinson solid mass

The massive Vinson (sometimes simply named mount Vinson ) is a Montagne of the the Antarctic, where the culminating point of this continent is.

Geography

The Vinson solid mass is located at approximately 1 200 km of the geographical South pole, in the Massive Sentinel of the Chain Ellsworth, at the base of the Peninsula the Antarctic. It is approximately 21 km long on 13 km broad and culminates with 4 892 m (2004), of altitude. The southern end of the solid mass is dominated by the Mont Craddock (4 650 m).

The existence of the solid mass was discovered in 1957, when it was located by a plane of the American air force. It was named according to Carl Vinson, a deputy of the State of Georgia (the United States) enthusiastic supportor of research in the Antarctic.

Rise

In 1963, the American Alpine Club started to make pressure on the the National Science Foundation in order to assemble a forwarding on the Vinson solid mass. The club obtained finally the authorization in 1966 and, with the assistance of the American navy which transported it directly on the Sentinel solid mass by plane, a team of four mountaineers led by Nicholas B. Clinch reaches the top the December 18th 1966.

The rise of the Vinson solid mass offers few technical difficulties, put aside the dangers inherent in any voyage in the Antarctic. As a more high summit of a continent, it received the attentions of many experienced mountaineers these last years: between 1985 and 2000, Adventure Network International (the only organization leading of the forwardings deprived on the solid mass at the time, recently acquired by Antarctic Logistics and Forwardings ) guided not less than 450 mountaineers until the top.

The large majority of the rises are carried out by the western face of the solid mass, since the Glacier Branscomb. The first successful rise of the slope was carried out in January 2001 by a team of eight people. This rise, coupled to a research program concerning the snow drift at various altitudes, made it possible to measure for the first time the height of the Vinson solid mass using a receiver GPS, establishing it with 4 897 Mr.

In December 2004, a team of the foundation Omega ( The Omega Foundation ), led by the Australian Damien Gildea, carried out a series of measurement by GPS, leading to the new height of 4.892 Mr.

See too

References

Random links: