Patriot Hills Base Camp was a private seasonally occupied camp in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...
. It was located in the
Heritage Range
The Heritage Range is a major mountain range, long and wide, situated southward of Minnesota Glacier and forming the southern half of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. The range is complex, consisting of scattered ridges and peaks of mod ...
of the
Ellsworth Mountains
The Ellsworth Mountains are the highest mountain ranges in Antarctica, forming a long and wide chain of mountains in a north to south configuration on the western margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf in Marie Byrd Land. They are bisected by Minnesota ...
, next to the
Patriot Hills that gave it its name.
The camp was run by the private company Adventure Network International (now Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions LLC, known as ALE),
a company that provides expedition support and tours to the interior of Antarctica. It was constructed in 1987
[Adventure Network International: ]
Patriot Hills
'. Accessed March 25, 2010. and used during the summer months of November to January. Patriot Hills was for many adventurers and explorers a stop on the way from Chile's
Punta Arenas
Punta Arenas (; historically Sandy Point in English) is the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antarctica Chilena. The city was officially renamed as Magallanes in 1927, but in 1938 it was changed back to "Punta Are ...
into the interior of Antarctica. The flight time from Punta Arenas is about 4.5 hours.
As of November 2010 ALE has moved operations.
Union Glacier Camp
The Union Glacier Camp is the only private seasonally occupied camp site located in Ellsworth Land in Antarctica. The camp is located in the Heritage Range, below the Ellsworth Mountains, on Union Glacier, that gives the camp its name.
Locatio ...
is the new base of operations and
Union Glacier Blue-Ice Runway SCGC is the new runway, 70 kilometers from Patriot Hills. Patriot Hills is being retained as a backup runway.
In the summer months the temperature rises to −15 °C. The temperature in the winter months is estimated to be about −40 °C, but no one has yet overwintered in the Ellsworth Mountains.
History
In the Antarctic spring of 1988 Patriot Hills was the staging point for the first expedition from
Hercules Inlet
Hercules Inlet is a large, narrow, ice-filled inlet which forms a part of the southwestern margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf. It is bounded on the west by the south-eastern flank of the Heritage Range, and on the north by Skytrain Ice Rise. Hercules ...
to the South Pole, led by
Martyn S. Williams. This 50-day expedition opened up the doorway for South Pole overland journeys, and has become the classic route for most expeditions.
In 1989 Patriot Hills was the staging point of the continental crossing by
Reinhold Messner
Reinhold Andreas Messner (; born 17 September 1944) is an Italian mountaineer, explorer, and author from South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental ...
and
Arved Fuchs
Arved Fuchs (born 26 April 1953) is a German polar explorer and writer.
Polar exploration
On 30 December 1989, Fuchs and Reinhold Messner were the first to reach the South Pole with neither animal nor motorised help, using skis and a pa ...
that started at 82°S-72°W, crossed the
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...
to
McMurdo Station.
It has also been the starting point for many expeditions to
Mount Vinson
Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located a ...
, some 120 kilometers away.
In 1991, Patriot Hills was featured in episode eight of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
fields. A
was used as the takeoff and landing strip for large intercontinental aircraft including DC6, L-382, C130 and Ilyushin Il-76.
The heart of the camp was the communal tent that serves as a common lounge and dining room. In the communications tent, using devices powered by
, high-frequency radio equipment maintained contact with Punta Arenas and the traveling expeditions. The residents of the camp were housed in two-person tents.
* Swithinbank, C.W.M. 1991. Potential airfield sites in Antarctica for wheeled aircraft. Hanover, USA, CRREL Report 91–24.
* Murphy J. 1990. South to the Pole By Ski.