Wednesday, January 7, 1998 — 7pm PST
Berg reports that the entire team has been "stood down" for 12 to 18 hours as weather over the continent of Antarctica continues to make an attempted landing impossible. And a serious obstacle has presented itself: the potential doom of low winds but continued snowfall at the Patriot Hills base. Such a situation would mean that snow might accumulate on the blue ice runway there, which makes landing impossible. Usually, winds blow the make-shift strip free of snow, which permits departures and landings, so the Alpine Ascents International team is now actually hoping for more wind at Patriot Hills.

Thursday, January 8, 1998 — 6am PST
The AAI Vinson team continues to wait out impossible weather over Antarctica. Another depressing forecast was received at 9pm last night, indicating the expedition is in for a long wait for flying weather to Patriot Hills. Team leader Wally Berg reports that an adventurer on the continent now, attempting to ski to Patriot Hills, has been pinned down by bad weather and unable to make progress. It's shaping up to be a bad weather climbing season on Antarctica, but the team members are trying to maintain a positive attitude even though they are unable to even stray far from their hotel as they must be ready to leave at all times.