Holidays and hard work

First I should apologise for not having written a blog last week; the reason was my having gone on holiday. Rod, Hazel and I were meant to go to St Andrew’s Bay to stay in the midst of the penguin colony there. Unfortunately there was a slight hiccough with that plan. On the Sunday before we were meant to go I woke up with an incredibly bad back. I don’t get bad backs so this was really unpleasant. After a number of days on Tramadol and nights on Diazepam Hazel (the Doc) said that the holiday to St Andrew’s was out (I was not able to carry my pack the 5-7 hours that is needed to cross the Barff peninsula to get to St Andrew’s). She diagnosed a slightly slipped disc and prescribed rest. I am NOT good at resting! In the end Rod and Hazel decided that the weather wasn’t looking good for St Andrew’s anyway so they changed their mind to a hut holiday on the Greene Peninsula. I was allowed to come only if I promised to allow Hazel to carry the kit I would need for walks in her daysack. I take pride in not needing help and, being stubborn,  it took a fair amount for me to agree but I am incredibly glad I did. 

The morning we were meant to leave I opened my curtains not to the Greene Peninsula and the water between us and it, which is my usual view as I brush my teeth, but to a wall of white snow. It was fairly warm wet snow and not a problem for us to get to the Greene so we duly got into the RIB and Paula and Jo Cox took us over there. The navigation was a little tricky since we couldn’t see 3m in front of the bow but GPSs are wonderful things. 

We landed and quickly got settled into the hut with a cup of tea. Rod had decided not to brave the floor of the hut but to pitch a tent behind the hut so we helped him to do that and then we headed off along the beach to Dartmouth point. The Greene Peninsula makes up one half of Moraine Fjord which has formed through the retreat over the centuries of the Harker and Hamburg Glaciers. The entrance is protected by a line of moraine that runs across it with one gap for a safe entry. There are two wrecks on the moraine entrance, of fishing vessels that ran into difficulties on a stormy night. Dartmouth Point is opposite Penguin River and there is quite a swell that breaks on the unprotected side of it. Once we had rounded the point we came across a whalebone graveyard. Apparently there were only two or three years when the whaling industry didn’t process the whale bones and instead just discarded them and the bones that we see strewn around the beaches come from that. It is a very sobering thought considering that there are thousands of bones and sometimes the very ground you walk on is made up solely of whale bone. The scale of the operations that were here is just unbelievable. For three years, when the whalers first arrived in Grytviken in 1904, they could catch enough whales from the shore that they didn’t have to get into boats. That is a mindboggling thought. In modern times we have so few of these leviathans that to see one is a big event, and to think that there were once, not so long ago, enough to be caught from the beaches is very sobering. Anyway, enough of those grim thoughts; the whalebones are fascinating and Hazel was amazed at how similar to humans the spine was. We ventured a little further along the beach till we could see up East Cumberland Bay and to the Nordenskold and then we returned to the hut. 

The huts are very cosy (well most of them are, Corral hut is rather like a sieve). They generally have a porch for wet gear and then a single room with a workbench arrangement on which are the Tilly Lamp and Primus stove and all the utensils etc. Opposite that are the two bunks.  Once we had lit the Tilly lamp and some candles and put the Primus on for our pasta and to warm up the sauce I had premade the day before, the hut got very cosy. I have written before about the Primus stoves that we use and how archaic they are but they do work remarkably well and I have become fond of them. 

Cosy hut

The next day we awoke to the rain lashing down. Rod had woken up, rather cold, to find he was sleeping in a pond. We were pretty much hutbound the entire day while the heaviest rain we have experienced all year pounded the tin roof. We passed the time chatting, reading and playing Bananagrams and Pass the Pigs. It was very nice to just relax and do nothing. Even on our weekends Rod Hazel and I are usually off tramping the hills so to just sit and do nothing for a day was a real change. But  I think if it had been for much longer than a day we would have got a little bit of cabin fever. In order to make sure he was dry in his tent (which he stolidly persisted with even though we kept telling him to come into the hut) Rod took out his boatsuit and slept on that underneath his sleeping mat; apparently the boots made a comfortable pillow.

Daybreak

  

Early morning

 The next day dawned grey but dry so after our breakfast of tea and porridge we set out with a plan to traverse the peninsula. As we walked along we came across several streams which, with the heavy rainfall, had developed into raging torrents which were a little tricky to cross but cross we did. As we ventured closer to the glacier the earth became less and less green and more and more a land of rock and ice. Everything was monochrome except for the blue of the glaciers. It really was beautiful and awe inspiring. We had lunch in the moraine field and then decided not to traverse the peninsula but investigate the source of the many waterfalls running down the rock. The rock close to the glaciers is some of the most solid you will find on the island because cold and ice haven’t had enough time to work on it and turn it into loose scree. We wandered all the way up the waterfall and found that its source was the edge of the Paget glacier which comes down to meet both the Harker and the Nordenskold on either side of the Greene. It was incredibly humbling to think that we were the first people to ever walk were we stood, since the glaciers would never have been this far back before. Each pebble and rock still caught in the ice was exposed to air for the first time in a thousand years or more. It made me feel very small and insignificant to think how little time on this earth humans have had and how really tiny we are. Sometimes it is good to be put back in one’s place in the universe. 

Harker Glacier

Nordenskold Glacier

Ice in the Cove

The next day (Sunday 26th) we awoke to find that it had snowed and was snowing on and off. We decided to climb two peaks, Eosine and Peak 591. We made our way through terrain that felt remarkably like Scotland  in winter (Rod said that he kept expecting to see a snow hare leap from his feet) to the foot of 591. It was an easy climb till the last 300m which became steeper and covered in windscoured snow. Hazel trailblazed for most of it and my admiration for her fitness just increases every time I go walking with her. She kicked steps at a high rate for 200m vertically till she had to stop because her thighs were burning. I took over and continued till we reached the peak. We had to stay away from the edge due to the rather large cornices that were visible and once we were up there it suddenly started to snow and blow quite hard which meant that we got rather chilly. It was beautiful while we could see the view though and I felt on top of our little world. We descended and had a very chilly lunch before tackling Eosine. It was a wonderful day and we had really earned our cup of tea by the end of it. 

Our illustrious leader on Peak 591

View from the Peak

 

It got a bit chilly!

 The next day we got picked up and brought back to reality. Luckily my back had completely healed by that point so I was able to finally work in the boatshed again. The SGHT (South Georgia Heritage Trust) team, who've been eradicating rats, had been back for a week and dismantled all three of their helicopters which left us with the boatshed and enough high tides to get both of our boats out of the water to careen them (clean their bottoms) and complete the 3 monthly checks necessary. Paula had got ahead of the game and got one out on Sunday and then swapped them on Monday before coming out to get us so I had a very easy job on Monday. 

The rest of the week was taken up by cleaning bilges and reslipping the jetboats, working on gelcoating cracks on the hulls of both RIBs and helping SGHT pack up. I helped their doctor Jamie test one of the pilots’ survival suits. He got into the water while wearing one, in fairly benign conditions with no windchill and no waves, and stayed in there for 40 mins. It was very interesting. The water was probably around 3C and he was wearing gloves and warm clothing underneath his suit. By the end of 40 minutes he was having trouble tying knots and was slowing down in his recitation of his 7 times table. He was able to get out of the water by climbing up the jetty by himself but as soon as he stood up he felt dizzy. He was fine after a minute and warmed up rapidly. He determined that his temperature had fallen by 0.2’C every 10 minutes. It just goes to show how important it is not to fall in!

On Saturday we had a wonderful dinner cooked by Hazel of bruschetta followed by pumpkin risotto and then chocolate flan that was so rich you could feel your heart slowing down. It was the last night of having the SGHT team on base and it really was a nice evening. On Sunday we waved them off  on the Pharos but then Hazel and I saw them again much sooner than we expected  when we had to chase the Pharos in one of our boats, to take them one of their passports which had been left behind. It was very sad to say goodbye to some of them and I for one will miss them. Hazel and I then spent the rest of Sunday clearing Kelp from near Tajuka jetty (the jetty over at Grytviken). Pulling kelp up into a small boat is a tiring and slimy job and we very much deserved our cup of tea at the end of it. 

Next week is going to be incredibly busy so I will sign off now and go and prepare by having a little nap I think. Have a good week.

A Slightly More Eventful Week

After our uneventful last week this week turned out to be slightly more full. As I mentioned,  it was my birthday on the 13^th.  It was a great day. I worked most of the day, knocking off early to do gymnastic ring exercises with Hazel, Kalinka (a government scientist who was here observing the effect of rat baiting on the island’s avian population) and one of the rat team air mechs, Mark. After that I returned to Everson to find the kitchen a hive of activity. It turned out that everyone had been working very hard to make my dinner. It was a very special occasion. We had roast beef and all the trimmings then they produced a very large and delicious carrot cake. It was a triumph, especially since we only have frozen and tinned carrots on base at the moment. It was a really nice evening and I very much appreciated all the effort that everyone put in. It was apparently Joe (sparky)’s first ever attempt at decorating a cake and it went spectacularly well.

The rest of the week continued in much the same way as normal. The real excitement happened at 0500 on Thursday. The base was roused by the fire alarm being set off. There was a muster and all were informed that the base had been issued a tsunami warning. A 6.6 magnitude earthquake had occurred to the south east of the South Sandwich Islands and since that is not far away at all there was a warning issued and the base evacuated. 

There is a lot of tectonic activity in the area around here. There is also a thought that South Georgia may be its own tectonic plate which would be amazingly cool. Because of the possibility of a tsunami we have a tsunami shelter on the top of the hill by Gull Lake. There is stashed a cache of food, medical equipment, tents, sleeping bags etc to last the summer complement of the base (up to 40 people can be on the island at one time in the summer months) for enough time for a ship to come and relieve us if the base is wiped out. We take the threat seriously but there is very little chance of anything actually happening. However it did mean that the base members (including those of the rat team who were here) spent a couple of hours before sunrise up a hill above Hope Point. The idea is that we get to high ground with all the kit that we would need for a day walk and then if the base is wiped out we would make our way round to the tsunami shelter once the waters had receded. Before anyone starts thinking that is a real danger you have to remember that there are whaling stations dotted all around the island, at sea level, which have survived intact for 100 years or more.

As if to make up for the disruption she had caused, Mother Nature has been very kind for the rest of the week. On Saturday it was an incredibly beautiful day. Rod, Hazel and I walked across Penguin River and the Hestesletten to climb Osmic Hill.

Hestesletten

Crossing Hestesletten

It is not the most pleasant hill to walk up, the beginning was a mess of tussocky uneven steps when then led onto scree covered in just a thin enough layer of snow to make it very slippy. Once we had got over that, all we had to deal with were some very nice gentle slopes covered in snow so lit up by the sun that it looked like we were walking on diamonds. While Osmic is not a high hill, once we made the top (after several false peaks) we could see all the way down Morraine Fjord and all the way across to the base. It felt as if we were on top of the world. Crunching our way back down the slopes we had the sun on our backs and it felt warm. However as soon as we had waded Penguin River again (with slightly wet feet on all fronts) we were out of the sun and soon found that the salt water on our trousers had frozen. It was quite spectacular. 

 

Morraine Fjord

Hamburg Lake

 That evening Erny made curry for his Saturday cook and the base decided that it was time for a Fancy Dress night. We had everyone turn up, from Mother Teresa to Gandhi,  with everything in between. It was very colourful. 

On Sunday the weather was not quite as beautiful  but Jo (GO), Hazel and I still decided to walk over to Maiviken and after a cup of tea at the hut there we headed down to the beach to search for a cave other than the sealers cave. It was incredibly slippy since it was cold enough for the spray to have frozen on the rocks, making our traverse across them treacherous. 

We did find a tunnel though which was very impressive. It is amazing what a little change in light does to somewhere you know quite well. We all know the route to Maiviken very well but the snow which is now on the ground had transformed it into a completely different place. As we crested Deadman’s Pass there was an apocalyptic cloud hanging over West Cumberland Bay, making the whole world grey. The sun came through to light up the diamonds in the snow again and we also saw a corona - a ring around the sun that is only seen at high latitudes. It is created by ice crystals in the atmosphere which refract the light to create a halo. It really was beautiful. 

Cumberland Bay

 

The Apocalypse

The enjoyment of the evening was diminished slightly by having a power down that was so severe that they couldn’t start the hydro up from our end which meant that the generators had to go on. We lost the server and everyone had to spend a while wandering around in the dark trying to make things work again. However it was only for a short time and I spent a very enjoyable evening eating far too much pasta and watching Dirty Dancing. I always love films that leave you smiling. 

So I will leave you now dreaming of coronas and diamonds dancing in the snow.   

Corona

An Uneventful Week

I am going to apologise now for a short and rather boring blog post. This week has been remarkably uneventful. 

On Monday we took Joe (Sparky) and Daniel (Higher Predator Scientist) to Sorling for their St Andrews Holiday. Poor chaps had some awful weather and were hut bound for an afternoon but Daniel was in heaven living in the middle of the largest colony of King Penguins in the world. I think he took more photos in his 4 days there than in the rest of the 6 months. 

I spent my week inside engine bays or underneath RIBs doing 6 monthly services on the engines or, when the weather was just too poor, scraping the remains of the old keelguard off the bottom of Alert. The only excitement (well I am not entirely sure that is the right word) was when I was in Prion’s engine bay and slipped. To stop myself from falling in the bilges I stood up rapidly, unfortunately very hard into the engine bay doors support. I managed to gash my head and give myself a nice dose of concussion. At least it gave Hazel something medical to do when she cleaned me up and glued the cut closed. It was a stupid mistake and one that I have learnt my lesson from. I will NEVER be doing that again. 

The base as a whole had a lovely dinner at Carse House (Jo Cox’s house) on Wednesday. She taught us how to clean squid (they go inside out very easily and then the right way even easier, it is quite cool). Because we had some spare we then had Calimari for lunch which was a real treat. The dinner consisted of marinated squid stuffed with feta and paprika, lasagne made with mince that Hazel and I had to make from a huge chunk of meat (we have run out of mince) and then for dessert we had chocolate cake made by Sue. It was a real treat, especially since it came unexpectedly midweek. We talked about a whole range of things, from splicing two sorts of daffodils together to make a new type, to the political situation in Argentina and that effect on the Falkland Islands etc etc. It was really very nice. 

Unfortunately when we returned on Friday to pick up Joe and Daniel the conditions deteriorated fairly rapidly while we were out there so the trip home was slightly white knuckled to say the least. We all got home for tea and medals which was the main thing and boy was there a lot of tea drunk. 

RIB in the wake

Speedy Gonzales!

 The weather over the weekend was filthy so the only walking we did was rather close to home. Hazel and I took a quick walk over to Maiviken and then had a well earned cup of tea in the hut, steaming gently. We then almost couldn’t bear to go back out into the pouring rain but Hazel set a good pace and the return over Deadman’s Pass, via Cardiac Hill, was quicker than I thought it was going to be. On Sunday we had a sunnier and more leisurely walk to Penguin River where I spent a happy ¼ of an hour playing pebble tennis: you through a stone straight up (not on your head) into the air. Then as it comes down you throw a smaller stone at it and try to hit it. It sounds deadly dull but it has occupied me for hours and I was once not bad at it, I have obviously lost the knack now.

The only good thing about the changeable weather was that on Saturday evening we had the most incredible rainbow. I am including a picture but it can’t even begin to capture the beauty and grandeur of the drizzle and the sun on the mountains, all crowned by this glorious shock of light and colour The weather unfortunately looks rather like it is going to stay dismal for the rest of the week. Other than keeping an eye out for more fantastic rainbows I think it might be time to find some inside jobs!!

Rainbow

Today (13^th) is my birthday so I will sign off this short post by saying “Happy Birthday Me”. Have a good week.

Cols and a cave

I thought that I had done with indenting last week but it seems that it is not my destiny to get away with it so easily. I thought it was a little harsh for poor old Hazel to have to do her medical indent and the food indent all by herself so I volunteered to help her out with both of them. I am NOT looking forward to the food indent but the medical indent was actually OK. I was able to ask a lot of questions as to what the drugs and bits of kit did and Hazel, being the very good teacher that she is, explained their use to me very patiently. We did have to have quite a lot of loud music to push us through though. Also I got a lesson in unpronounceable drugs which will never be useful but it gave me something to do while she was finding the use by dates. I can also now say Sphygmomanometer (blood pressure cuff) which I have never been able to do before.

Yesterday was a perfect day. Every walk that we have done so far I have thought that we couldn’t top but yesterday I think was my favourite of all. Rod, Hazel Jo Cox (GO), Erny and I all set out into the bright, crisp, cold, almost painfully beautiful day to climb Glacier Col.

Breakfast view

Glacier Col

 It was a little windy but we arrived to just below the Col in good time. Once there we were meandering our way up when we spotted an ice cave. Or more to the point, an ice arch. It must be a relic of the glacier and is covered on the top by bits of moraine. However you can walk all the way through and when we did so we could see right through the ice. At eye level it was full of little bubbles of gas and at the bottom it was completely clear and you could see every single pebble trapped in it right back through to where the light no longer reached. It was absolutely incredible and made me feel so utterly tiny to think that I was looking at pebbles that had been trapped for thousands of years. It really was stunning.

Ice Cave 1

Ice Cave 2

Thinking that we couldn’t really top that we continued up to the Col and found a land of ice and snow. It is a bowl of wind sculpted snow and ice with a ridge at its back. Erny, who had lugged his skis all the way up just for this, promptly got into his ski boots and started skiing while we went up the ridge to have a look down the other side.                                                                                                                   

Crazy Skier

                      It was incredibly icy and slippery. It was so slippery that if you were on a bad bit when the wind gusted you had to make sure that you didn’t slide too far. We decided not to go too far because it wouldn’t be safe without crampons and an ice axe but we did manage to look down on the Lyell Glacier which had a very forbidding cloud hanging over it. I felt like I was on top of the world, it was glorious.

 

Looming over the Lyell

Today (Sunday) we decided that we would have a short walk. Unfortunately it turned into a bit of an epic one. We went up to Deadman’s Pass and then up to No Name Col. To get up the Col we had to put on our crampons and get out our ice axes (we had learned from Saturday) and make our way gingerly up what we have renamed Fear Gully.

 

Fear Gully

 It was Jo’s second ever time on crampons and I am not entirely sure how much she enjoyed it. I had been in crampons for a couple of weeks over the summer last year and was surprised how quickly I remembered how to walk in them. We didn’t need them for long though and once we were up in the Col we hurriedly sat down and had lunch looking over West Cumberland Bay. We decided that we didn’t have time to do Stenhouse Peak (luckily because I didn’t really like the look of it) and since going back down the way we had come up was not an option we traversed the valley and made our way back through Boulder Pass, thereby completing our weekend’s tour of cols.

The snow, except where it had been blown into sheet ice, was perfect, a real joy to walk on and I am looking forward to more of this type of walking. I know that everyone wants a big dump of snow but I am very happy like this. The snow will come though, at some point, it will come.