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We're as far as Santiago now and I just thought I'd give you another little quick little update.

On the way out to the airport, Mike Sharp, from ANI gave me a ride out there and confirmed that, in fact, it had begun to snow at Patriot Hills. As a matter of fact, it sounds like that flight that got those folks out last night probably was, indeed, in a window as I thought they might have been shooting for a day or so back. And they pulled it off, they got those Christmas Day turnaround people out.

And now, I am in the habit of checking weather daily in Punta Arenas, and I know I'm going to be doing exactly the same thing via e-mails, or maybe even calls down to ANI, just to see how it's going. In particular, Les Dewitt is committed to trying to get down there. And Dana Isherwood is going to be at the Explorers Club meeting in San Francisco, Friday, and is going to relay the news as to whether Les gets down to continue with his climb.

And then my old good friend, Bob Elias, is still onboard to go down as well, after a pretty full and complete Antarctic season so far. He's committing to see it through. It's his second trip down to the ice this year. Bob's an old friend from Everest Climbs, and through his Omega Foundation, supporter of a lot of the work on Everest last year.

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Speaking of which, maybe the other reason I didn't get down there this year was, I didn't bring Brad Washburn's muskrat belly hat, and if Brad is in tune with this dispatch I hope he'll get the hint that maybe that blessed hat that served me so well last year might just have a little bit of magic to it, as well. I'm going to find that hat. He needed it to go to Alaska, so I sent it back to him a couple months ago. But I think I want to get that muskrat belly hat before I undertake another trip to Antarctica.

—Wally Berg, Expedition Leader

DISPATCHES