Damien Gildea (born 1969) is an Australian mountaineer and Antarctic explorer who has climbed extensively in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...
,
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
,
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
,
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
,
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
,
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and elsewhere.
Mountaineering
His Antarctic ascents include
Mount Vinson
Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located a ...
,
Mount Shinn
Mount Shinn is a mountain 4,661 meters in elevation, standing 6 km (4 miles) southeast of Mount Tyree in the Sentinel Range, Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. It surmounts Ramorino Glacier to the north, upper Crosswell Glacier to ...
,
Mount Craddock
Mount Craddock is a large, bold mountain forming the south extremity of Craddock Massif in Sentinel Range, the ninth highest mountain in Antarctica. It is linked by Karnare Col to Mount Strybing in the southern Sentinel Range. The ninth-highe ...
,
Mount Gardner
Mount Gardner () is a mountain, high, standing west of Mount Tyree in the west-central part of the Sentinel Range, in the Ellsworth Mountains of Antarctica. It surmounts Patton Glacier to the northeast.
The peak was discovered by the Mar ...
,
Mount Bentley
Mount Bentley () is a mountain (4,245 m) standing north of Mount Anderson in the main western ridge of the Sentinel Range, Antarctica. It was discovered by the Marie Byrd Land Traverse party, 1957–58, and named for Dr. Charles R. Bentle ...
, Mount Anderson (first ascent), Mount Ryan, and several other peaks in the
Vinson Massif
Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located ab ...
,
Craddock Massif
Craddock Massif is a mountain massif in the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains, in the Chilean claim of West Antarctica.
Location and highest point
Craddock Massif is located at the southeastern side of Vinson Massif, between Hammer C ...
and northern
Sentinel Range
The Sentinel Range is a major mountain range situated northward of Minnesota Glacier and forming the northern half of the Ellsworth Mountains in Antarctica. The range trends NNW-SSE for about and is 24 to 48 km (15 to 30 mi) wide. Man ...
between 2001 and 2007, as well as
Mount Friesland
Mount Friesland is a mountain rising to in the homonymous Friesland Ridge, the summit of Tangra Mountains and Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Its north rib is connected to Pliska Ridge by Nesebar Gap on the west, an ...
and
Mount Bowles
Mount Bowles is an ice-covered mountain high, the summit of Bowles Ridge in the central part of eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is situated south of Vidin Heights and north of Mount Friesland, Tangra Mounta ...
on
Livingston Island
Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...
in 2003. The high-precision GPS data collected by his team was used in subsequent American and Bulgarian mapping.
Antarctic Expeditions
In 2012 Gildea led a team following in the footsteps of
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the ''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated ''Terra Nov ...
, in order to raise money for charity. Gildea has collected data during his Antarctic expeditions for scientific analysis.
Publishing
Gildea is the author of ''The Antarctic Mountaineering Chronology.''
In 2007 Gildea published the new 1:50,000 color topographical map ''Vinson Massif & The Sentinel Range'', including a number of new features named by the
USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
.
In November 2010 published Gildea's new book ''Mountaineering in Antarctica: Climbing in the Frozen South''.
Honour
Gildea Glacier
Gildea Glacier is a glacier long and wide flowing southwestward from Craddock Massif between Mount Slaughter and Mount Atkinson into Nimitz Glacier, in the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica. The upper portion of the glac ...
in Craddock Massif, Antarctica is named after him.Gildea Glacier.
Geographic Names Information System
The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...
,
USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...