Vinson GPS

Waypoints for Vinson

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Below are coordinates of the regular route up Mt Vinson as well as the summit of Mount Shinn, see the explanation beneath for details.

Submitted by:	Rob Milne	Scottish Mountaineering Club jan 2004
Grid	Lat/Lon hddd°mm.mmm'		Rob Milne's GPS	Damien Gildea's
Datum	WGS 84		Measurements (Not accurate)	Measurements:

Header	Name	Coordinates	Altitude	Altitude
Waypoint	Patriot Hills Camp and airstrip	S80 18.115 W81 21.011	2836 ft/ 864m	782m
Waypoint	Vinson Base Camp	S78 32.094 W86 00.932	6928 ft/2111m	2100m
Waypoint	Turn of glacier	S78 32.142 W85 49.455	8328 ft/ 2538m
Waypoint	New Camp 1	S78 30.042 W85 48.607	9145 ft/ 2787m
Waypoint	Old Camp 2	S78 29.177 W85 48.405	11089 ft/ 3380m
Waypoint	Start Headwall	S78 29.142 W85 45.269	11963 ft/ 3646m
Waypoint	High Camp	S78 29.279 W85 41.935	12368 ft/ 3770	3700m
Waypoint	Cache Poles	S78 31.529 W85 37.035	16587 ft/ 5056m
Waypoint	Vinson Summit	S78 31.449 W85 37.029*	17149 ft/ 5227m*	4892m*

Waypoint	Mount Shinn Summit	S78 27.812 W85 43.493	16457 ft/ 5016m	4661m

* Rob Milne used a simple GPS, likely using barometric pressure as well as satellites for altitude, which is not reliable at this latitude. Damien Gildea remeasured Vinson as well as Mt Shinn with a better unit (see below). The height for Vinson was 4892.17m. Full Lat/Long was 78 31 31.74 S 85 37 01.73 W, which is the only waypoint that is off from Rob Milne's.

Damiens GPS ran on the highest piece of solid rock, about 3m south of the snow mound with the pole in it. The crest of the mound is maybe 1m or less higher than the top of the rock.

In the words of Damien, from different publications and emails:

"But really this is within the +/-5m that the USGS put on such heights anyway, at least for Antarctica, so we are not claiming anything dramatic.

We also measured the sub-peaks of Vinson (9 of them, only one previously climbed) and found that 'Kershaw Peak' was only 27m lower than Vinson main summit. But those sub-peaks are not really individual mountains, just peaks, so Tyree is still the real #2."

"Mt. Shinn has long been considered Antarctica’s third highest mountain. The first surveys of the Ellsworth Mountains were done by US parties during the 1961-62 season, when the first ascents of mountains in the range were also done. The area was re-surveyed in the 1979-80 season, again by a US party. This expedition included, however, two German and one Soviet climber, who climbed to the summit of Vinson Massif in the course of their work. They placed a ski-pole and red flag on the summit, which assisted the ground parties in obtaining a height for Vinson that was more accurate than had previously been ascertained. Thus the height of Vinson’s main summit was reduced from 5140m to 4897m. The official height of Mt. Tyree was also reduced to 4852m, but no height was ever published for Mt. Shinn – either before or after the 1979 work." (from the Shinn report on the Omega foundation site)

In 2002 Shinn's height was 4660.508m. Full Lat/Long was 78 27 48.8 S 85 43 28.9 W

Note: All the camp readings were on snow/ice. Vinson Main Summit was on rock.

Our system is a lot more detailed than any handheld GPS, even when the handheld is using the satellites for altitude, let alone when it is going by barometer. Our unit is a Trimble 5700, an updated model of what was used on Everest a few years back by Bradford Washburn et al. Details at www.trimble.com and also in the older Shinn section of www.theomegafoundation.org"

Measuring Vinsons altitude at the summit (aboit one meter below the snow summit). Picture by Damien Gildea, the climber in the pic is Camilo Rada.

Damien Gildea is the author of ‘The Antarctic Mountaineering Chronology’ (1998), the only reference book dealing specifically with ascents of the peaks of Antarctica and South Georgia.