Well I finally made it to Ushuaia after a terrible 48 hour travel down from the States.  Cancelled and delayed flight all over the place.  what a pain in the ass flying is these days.


Here are  few shots from Ushuaia and our welcome BBQ with the entire group:

I have always considered my self very fortunate to have had all the amazing travel opportunities that my career as a pro skier has offered.  I'll be the first to admit that I have experienced more than my share of epic trips and "trips of a lifetime".  In fact the coolest part of my job has been all the great destinations I have been able to visit, climb, explore and ski.  But this trip to Antarctica definitely ranks right up there with the best of the best, and I'm not even there yet.  This is the last of the seven continents that I have yet to visit, so it will be cool to cross it off my list.

I'm sitting in the airport in Denver after the first leg of a long couple days of flying.  Next in Denver-Dulles, then Dulles-Buenos Aires, and finally BA-Ushuaia, where I will meet the rest of the crew and board the Russian flagged ship Orlova.  The plan is to sail across the Drake Passage (two days) towards the Antarctic Peninsula and put into bays and inlets and islands that afford good anchorage and skiing opportunities.  Having never been there I'm really not sure what to expect, but I've done a bunch of research and the peaks look amazing, not to different than certain parts of the coast of BC or AK.  Elevations range from several thousand feet all the way up to 10,000'+ Mt. Andrew Jackson, and that comes right out of the water, so serious alpine environments rise straight out of the southern ocean and are battered by a maritime climate.

We have 10 days to explore the peninsula and I'm crossing my fingers as always for stable weather and favorable snow conditions.  A dream of mine has been to make turns on an iceberg, a "first and only" descent, but that may not be possible... we'll see.

So stay tuned to chrisdavenport.com for updates from the continent, if I can get them out.

Thanks,
chris

On Friday night I had the amazing opportunity to present my wonderful lecture and slideshow at the Royal Geographic Society in London.  This venue is perhaps the world's foremost stage for global explorers and adventurers to present their trips and findings and the stage had been graced by many of the most famous explorers of the last 300 years, from Nansen and Shackelton to Hillary, Washburn and Messner.  I was honored to be introduced my my good friend and noted British ski journalist Arnie Wilson, and I stepped on stage in front of 700 people, which was quite a rush to say the least.  The crowd was educated and engaged and this presentation was certainly one of my finest.  The event was hosted by the Ski Club of Great Britain, Snow and Rock, and Helly Hansen.
On Saturday I spent the morning with several ski journalists and visited two Snow and Rock stores to do book signings and meet with customers.  We enjoyed three amazing days with friends in London before heading to Norway and the Helly Hansen Global Sales Meeting.

September 12, 2008.

So I know this was over a month ago but I'm just getting going on my blogging here at the new chrisdavenport.com 

World famous alpinist and the first American to climb all 14 8000 meter peaks (he did it w/o oxygen) Ed Viesturs joined me for slideshows benefiting Everything Outdoors Steamboat, a group that provides amazing opportunities for kids in the valley there. 

It was the first time Ed and I had met, and he put on an inspiring show.  We sold out the space at 350 people and enjoyed talking and signing books for many of the folks who came out to hear our shows.  The event was sponsored by the Timbers Club, and swank and really cool group of resorts, that has their HQ in Carbodale, CO. check them out at www.timbersresorts.com   I have been doing a lot of public speaking and slidehshows lately but this was a particularly fun event.  Ed is a super guy and a super climber and everyone enjoyed his tales about climbing the worlds highest summits.

BTW there are 14 peaks in the world over 8000 meters, all of them in the Nepal/China and Indian/ Pakistan Himalaya.  Up to this point I think about 18 or 20 people have climbed them all.  Ed was the 14th to do so and first American.