Mount Vinson is a mountain in the Antarctic Peninsula. The mountain is located within Vinson Massif, which is part of the Ellsworth Mountains range. Mount Vinson rises to a height of 3,959 meters (13,656 ft) above sea level and has a prominence 4,892 metres.
Mount Vinson was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in 1989 after Richard S. Vinson, who served as a member of the United States Public Health Service at McMurdo Station from 1963 to 1973. The difficulty of the climb is moderate comparing to Everest, Elbrus, Manaslu and Aconcagua. Mount Vinson trek is easier compared to Everest base camp trek.
It is made up of a composite cone of basaltic rock and pyroclastic material. The volcano has erupted only once in the last two thousand years: in January 1900. This eruption was so large that it not only destroyed most of the mountain’s summit, but it also killed several people who were on the mountain at the time. Mount Vinson is surrounded by ice for most of its life and is located on a peninsula which extends into the Pacific Ocean. The climate is milder than other areas near Antarctica because it is protected from cold air masses from the high Antarctic plateau by a large mountain range. The climate on Mount Vinson is controlled by the polar ice cap’s high-pressure system, which creates predominantly stable conditions. However, as in any polar climate, high winds and snowfall are possible. Although the annual snowfall on Mount Vinson is low, high winds can cause base camp accumulations up to 46 centimeters (18 in) in a year; 24 hours of sunlight will be there during summer i.e. November- January. Though the average temperature during these months is −30 °C (−20 °F), intense solar heating will melt snow on dark objects.
