Meet Guy.

I was listening to the sound of his voice, a British voice, as he spoke from his office in the Cayman Islands. "You think the answer is obvious," Guy began, "but then you don't know." I had asked him why he is doing this climb, and though he had been considering the question since I emailed it to him a few days earlier the answer still eluded him. This is typical of the altitude climbers I have met. While most people would require a clear rational motivation for undertaking a difficult and often dangerous task, the altitude climber does not. If anything, he seems that much the better for the lack of such encumbrances. "I love to travel," Guy offered in the tone of a man headed out on a fall foliage tour.

I will meet Guy for the first time when our team rendezvous' in Punta Arenas on December first. He is 36,and engaged to be married, having proposed to his fiancee on the summit of Kilimanjaro. Originally from the UK, Guy lived and worked for a number of years in Tokyo. It was during this time he took a love for Trekking to the next level. After attending a mountaineering course in the Swiss Alps, Guy set about an ambitious effort to climb the highest summit on each continent. Attempts on Denali and Elbrus were rebuffed by the horrific weather too typical of both. But Guy summitted Aconcagua (the high summit for South America, 22,841 ft) and Kilimanjaro. In 2004 he made a trip to climb some of the peaks on the Antarctic Penninsula. "It was the best trip ever," he told me. Guy spoke of the remoteness, the pristine nature, the solitude of Antarctica., and the reverence in his voice explained much of why he is returning.

"If you are successful and summit Vinson Massif, what will this experience mean to you thirty years from now," I asked.
"A sense of achievement. Something only a small number of people have done. An experience that will not fade," he answered.
I asked Guy if he was a bit of a novelty around Cayman, going to Antarctica, climbing these mountains. He told me that, ironically, two other people from Cayman will be in Antarctica the same time as he. One is working on a Scientific study, the other is going to attempt driving across the continent in some kind of experimental eco-car. I felt bad for Guy. Then it occurred to me that I know two climbers from my home town who have already been there and done that. "It's a good thing we aren't doing this for the fame," I offered. "Yes," he agreed.