While most students see winter break as a chance to take a vacation from the stresses of college and enjoy life as a couch potato, sophomore Peter Goransson was doing something a little bit different.
The New England native, who grew up in Eliot, Maine, was climbing to the summit of Mount Vinson Massif in Antarctica, which stands at 16,067 feet. By comparison, Mount Everest is 29,035 feet and New Hampshire's Mount Washington is 6,288 feet.
"I couldn't believe it - to be in the most remote place in the world, and climbing this mountain, it was unbelievable," Goransson said.
Goransson spent two weeks on the continent of Antarctica. Seven of those days were spent climbing the mountain with his father Paul, who is also an avid climber. The father-son pair, along with six other individuals, reached Mount Vinson's summit on Jan. 10 - an accomplishment only attained by 400 others in history.
Goransson's own history has been filled with climbing: "I've been climbing seriously since I was 14," he said. "In 2001, my whole family, including my sister and my mom, flew to Africa and climbed the tallest mountain there [Mount Kilimanjaro, which is 19,339 feet]."
Together, Goransson and his father have now completed three summits, including Mount Vinson, Mount Kilimanjaro, and Mount Kosciusko, a 7,310 feet and is in Australia.
Despite his extensive experience, Goransson calls this trip to Antarctica "by far the hardest climb" of his life. In order to prepare for the extreme physical challenge of the Mount Vinson climb, Goransson, who runs track and field at Tufts, scaled several mountains and competed in triathlons.
Goransson's trip began with a flight from Boston to Chile, where the group of climbers awaited a flight on the Cold War-era Russian cargo plane that would take them to Antarctica. "It was just an unbelievable sight," said Goransson, referring to the initial landing of the plane.
The group then had to fly in a smaller plane to the base of Mount Vinson. "It's the summer there right now, so even though the warmest temperature was only five or six degrees, the sun was really warm," he said, describing the conditions. "But the winds were gusting over 70 miles per hour, and the wind chill was probably 60 to 80 degrees below zero."
The freezing weather, extreme winds, frostbite, and excessive sun exposure posed a constant challenge to the climbers, often slowing them down during their ascent. The accommodations were just as taxing: the group slept in tents each night, and melted snow to get water for drinking.
After reaching the mountain's summit, there was none of the celebrating that might be expected after such an accomplishment. Because of the speed and volume of the winds, the climbers could not talk to one another, and movement was difficult.
Goransson even tried to get his picture taken with a Tufts flag, but it quickly flew away. "As soon as we reached the summit, all of our minds focused on getting off the continent immediately," he said. "But wind storms picked up so we couldn't leave for 10 more days. We just sat in this tent for what seemed like forever. I started to go a little stir crazy."
Having now returned to the normal life of a college student, Goransson, a computer engineering major, looks ahead to the future. "I'm going to keep trying to do each of the seven summits, one at a time," he said.
But when asked if this is his life's dream, Goransson - who seems to be someone who lives in the moment - shakes his head. "If I put climbing Everest as my lifelong goal, it would just be depressing if I never did it," he said. "I'm still trying to [soak in] this adventure."
