SNOW Alps 25-26 web - Flipbook - Page 112
both pages clockwise left to right
1. A curious Minke whale circles the
zodiacs to investigate.
2. Ice Axe Expeditions teams climb
toward the summit.
3. No lack of well-dressed locals to
mix with here.
4. Skiers ascend the remote glacier
slopes of Charlotte Bay.
from measuring plankton as citizen scientist
as penguins dip and dive around us; to waiters
who know each passenger’s name and my butler,
Midge, for whom no request was too tiny nor too
great; to the privilege of standing in silence with
a penguin, giving way as he gingerly negotiates
his penguin highway. One of a kind, in a sea of
firsts.
112
If you’re lucky enough to carve a turn off an
untouched Antarctic peak, watch a leopard seal
decapitate its lunch, or be side-eyed by a waddle
of overdressed penguins — you’ve joined the
rarest of clubs. It’s not easy. It’s not cheap. But
as Monsieur le capitaine Charcot would concur,
Antarctica is the detour of a lifetime.
