Jessica Sobolowski-Quinn on the cover of Snow World. In an interview promoting this seasons Warren Miller film, Dynasty, Jessica fills us in on a normal day in her life as a PNH guide.
Describe a day in the life of a PNH guide.
Day in my life as a PNH guide: Go to bed well after midnight as my husband, partner in crime, Kevin is still looking at weather for the next day. Wake up at 5pm, as once again, weather needs to be looked at. 6:30am guide meeting, 7am: get my group together and go over the day. 7:30: inhale an egg sandwich standing up. 7:30: get ready (the night before I have set everything out, and made sure I am ready for the next fly day!) 8am go to office and organize the radio duties for the day and make sure the PNH staff staying at base are set for the day. 8:30: meet my group, give them their lunch, go over order of loading once more, check their beacons (I have long since made sure their bindings, equipment and backpacks are ready for the day) and get ready for the best day ever. 9ish – 5ish work together with the other guides in the helicopter, access snow and snow-pack, dig snow-pits, test slopes, make sure every member in my group is safe, load and unload the helicopter 24 plus times, talk to the pilots, check in on base, make sure everything is going well, make sure my group is getting the terrain they came after, eat lunch on a peak, fly home to the most amazing sunset over Prince William Sound you will ever see, get out of the heli, high 5 everyone. 8-9ish: have dinner with the most energetic, electric group ever. 9-10ish: make sure the office is packed up for the day. Midnight: pass out with dreams of the Chugach and doing the same thing tomorrow!
Wow! We are totally speechless and in awe by the last week. Today is our last day in Antarctica and we were blessed with 6 sunny, beautiful days. Antarctica averages 30 sunny days per year so we are all feeling pretty darn lucky.
Yesterday was another full day of ski touring, starting in the am in Livingston Island then coming back to the boat for a great lunch, then heading back out to Admiralty Bay. Most groups stayed out until around 8pm, where we then headed back to the boat for a delicious dinner. The perfect day was ended with the “white party” where the entire boat dressed in white (I was an angel and Kevin was a snow wizard). This AM definitely came a bit too quickly for most everyone!
Today was an awesome day of a long zodiac ride with incredible wildlife, icebergs and scenics. We saw a ton of leopard seals (the ones that eat penguins); chin strap penguins, gentoos penguins, fur seals and even an elephant seal. When we got back to the boat Lauri, our boats awesome expedition leader, announced that people could jump into the water for the polar swim if they so desired. Enjoy the pictures of Tal and JMack!
We are headed to the Drake tonight and start our 2-day journey back to Ushuaia. We are expecting calm seas but it can change at a moments notice. This has truly been a dream come true experience. Antarctica is a magical place and we are honored to be a guest in a place that reminds me of what life and living is all about!
So another day in Antarctica that words just cannot describe. The scale of this place is out of this world! When looking at the mountains in the following photos, please take note that the big peak, Mt. Francois, behind the boat is just over 9,500 feet!!! We were skiing “mini” peaks today that ranged in the 2,800 foot range. Also note that the face of the glacier that comes into the ocean is around 300 feet tall making access to the given runs we chose to ski incredibly difficult. Everything here in this wild place is so much bigger than it looks, I just cannot put into words the scale.
To answer our little buddy Declan’s questions, yes we do have icebergs around the boat and almost everywhere we look. The captain of the boat is always on guard as we are traveling through and abundance of brash ice (broken up sea ice) daily. Anther blue bird day has been granted to us again today and we are traveling to a new location to yet again ski where no man or woman ever has!
The wild life is also spectacular as whales are always passing by, the birds are endless in numbers. Being from Alaska, it was really cool to see the Arctic or down here, the Antarctic Turn. This is a bird that travels farther than any other bird in the world. It migrates from the far north to the Deep South each year! Incredible!
Today we skied and baked in the 40-degree sun while skiing incredible lines. All of our faces feel as though they are about to peel off. I personally have never had a face so sun scorched! Life is tough I guess…needless to say, we feel very lucky to be alive!!!
Please stay tuned, as we will yet again update our adventure as it motors along…
All we can say is wow!!! We are literally speechless….Antarctica is like no place I have ever seen in my life! Ocean and ice as far as the eye can see.
We have just returned from a day of skiing where we made two laps on a 2500 ft face that drops you back into the water where our zodiac were waiting. Our crew was awesome and included JMack, Tucker, photographer Adam Clarke, Skiing magazine editor, Sam Bass and the boys from the Unofficial Squaw. Snow was good and firm but made for epic turns! Our second run even turned to corn. Winds were light and temps held steady around the 35-degree mark.
We have added a few photos from the day, but after looking at them they don’t even come close to what it looks like here. We are currently just past Trinity Island and anchored in a small bay named Cierva. We are across from the Primavera scientific base station where a large penguin rookery is located. All of the 18 groups have just returned and we are about to set sail again as our journey heads along the coast. Our next stop is just around the corner in a small bay named Carlota. The ski mission continues…
The wildlife, which I have not even talked about as of yet is also…unreal!!! Penguins jumping out of the water, whales breaching and more birds than one can remember. When was the last time you saw a bird with a 140-inch wingspan? We have seen the mighty Albatross, the Giant Petrel along with many others. The photo of the birds you see here is a Giant Petrel and a Black Pitted Petrel.
We both hope that you are following along as the journey takes us south along the Antarctic Peninsula. Thanks and stay tuned…
Day 2 on the Drake Passage! We boarded the Clipper Adventure 2 days ago with huge smiles and an awesome sigh of relief. The boat is a beautiful vessel with a recent renovated interior costing 20 plus million dollars. It’s very spacious, clean with mahogany wood. The sun came out to greet us as the ropes were untied and she was set free. It was truly a magnificent day and made the year of waiting for this adventure well worth it!
After a good dinner and a few hours into sleep, the rocking and turning started, indicating we had entered the Drake! Most everyone on the boat had put on the patch for motion sickness, but there were still quit a few guests not feeling so hot. It was a big day of naps and just hanging low! The crew informed us that on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the worst) it was around a 3! Holy smokes, I would hate to see what a 5-10 felt like!
Today has much calmer seas and almost everyone is out and about and looking not so green. The birds that are following the boat are truly magnificent, some with a wingspan of 140 inches! We also were just able to see a huge pod of Fin Whales, the 2nd largest whale.
We are predicted to be in the Antarctica peninsula by 6pm tonight and skiing tomorrow! Stay tuned for our next journey of ski touring in Antarctica.
Today is a big day and one day we have waited an entire year for!
Not certain if we will be able to up load any photos from here on out but today we are heading for the Antarctic Penninsula!
We have spent the morning humping more gear around than I have seen in some time. We filled up two semi trailers full of ski bags and luggage from the guests and guides that have come from all points of the planet. Currently as I look around now we have maybe 60 of us all trying to log on and update blogs etc. Needless to say one can only imaine the speed of this connection.
Current weather is looking really good for our trip south. Seas are looking to be around 30 feet or so as we cross the Drake passage behind a 970mlb low presure system. Weather for the coming week is currently looking like there is a strong high pressure system inbound for the penninsula. If that holds true we will have more photos and stories than we could wish for.
If you have not already had a chance to see it, make certain to also follow our Facebook page as we are updating and connecting with all of those that are on this trip from there as well.
So much energy and we are ready to set sail in two hours from now. Odds are you will not see another post here from anyone for the next 3 days as we cross the mighty Drake Passage. Some call it to the Drake Shake. I am hoping its the Drake lake….we will see…
Thats all for now…please send us a comment as we often wonder if anyone is reading this.
We woke up to the sun shining and the mountains beaming. It was truly a beautiful site!
The Ice Axe crew assembled at 9am to have a guide meeting and go over protocols. It was a great start to the day and again, I cannot stress enough what a stellar crew we have.
We all went our separate ways afterward as there are were many different ski tours to embark upon. Our group consisted of myself, Kevin, Jmack, CJ, Ben, Keoki, Tucker and Tal. It was an awesome crew as these are all PNH guides and we all have such a solid bond of friendship and trust.
We had a beautiful skin, and the highlight was having a huge condor (I think it was a pterodactyl) fly right over our heads. Time literally stood still as this powerful bird circled us and continued to soar up a couloir. We definitely knew that Shane and MC were following us on our journey. We found an awesome area and were able to spread some of their ashes so now they are soaring in the beautiful Martial Mountain Range, the most southern city of the world, Fin del mundo!!!!
