42 Mountain Profile: Sentinel Range, Antarctica

[Photo] Pat Morrow

Citadel of Seekers

Beyond the crowds on Vinson's normal route, the Sentinel Range is a quiet fortress of precise geometry and immense glittering faces, much of which remains scarcely visited. Yet despite the storms and bitter cold, a few climbers have ventured up big routes in this unearthly landscape, usually in alpine style, often unheralded and alone. And among the lesser-known peaks, legends like Mugs Stump and Erhard Loretan once encountered some of their most visionary alpine experiences. After years of mapping the region, Damien Gildea pieces together a history of this "citadel of seekers." John Evans, Patrick Degerman and Conrad Anker narrate their own journeys into mountains of madness under the midnight sun.