14 August 2009

It is now mid August and we are all repeatedly amazed at the speed with which the expedition has progressed. Time flies when you are having fun – and that is certainly the case for the whole expedition. As three fires will spend the next few days completing their science work one fire (Kuuk / Fluviology) are completing their time on the ice. On August 17th all fires will return to base camp for a cleaning and organising frenzy before starting the journey home. However, there is some time to pass before then and all of the fires have a busy schedule between now and August 17th. From my own perspective (as the chief leader) I have been thoroughly impressed with the young explorers and the way they have embraced the culture of the expedition and all of the learning opportunities presented to them. The young explorers have been a credit to themselves, families and friends and I suspect when they return will see the world and their lives in very different ways. Of course, all of this has happened as a result of the long and rich history of the society and of a dedicated leader team whom I am honoured to work with. All of these people have not only volunteered their time but have paid to be here during the summer. Of course, we (leaders and YE’s) are all eternally grateful for the support (in all ways shapes and forms) from people who have enabled us to be here. This speaks volumes regarding their commitment to learning in experiential ways in wild environments. Following is the text from Isuma (social science) fire who have just returned from a challenging time on the Greenland Ice cap.

The mountaineering section of our expedition began with the training of the fire. Rope work and knots were the primary aspect learnt on day one of the mountaineering stage with the whole fire becoming familiar with the main kit. Day two allowed the whole fire to try out the new kit on the snow, ably led by the chief mountaineer ‘Apricot’ Johannes. Here we learned ice axe arrest and self belay. The time on the snow was thoroughly enjoyable for the whole fire. Day three allowed the fire to travel on to the ice. Crampons, ice axes, harnesses, helmets and rope all at the ready. The fire learnt how to travel safely on the ice and how to respond if the worst happened. Crevasse rescue perfected, we made ready for adventure and were raring to go!

As this expedition would classify as part of our Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold award, all the YEs got together to plan out our own expedition. Our aim was to travel up glacier ‘three’ to the top of the ‘finger’; a really steep narrow and relatively unknown part of the glacier!

After a rest day we got up at 0500hrs and set off. The early start was necessary to make the most of the morning before the sun made the snow and ice to slushy. We had a great, though quite demanding trek and set up camp at the top of the finger. Putting up tents on rocky ground, surrounded by snow and hampered by a strong wind was quite an experience! We had decided to leave a tent behind to save weight, so we squashed four people into each three man tent. This resulted in quite a cramped, but cosy night for us all!

On Sunday we set off to climb one of the ridges next to the glacier and got to the 1339m summit. Even though the weather was not great, the view from the top was breathtaking. We could all see all the way to Tasermiut fjord on one side and further up the Greenland ice cap on the other side. We had fun playing in the snow and sliding down the hill, but it was nice to get back into the warm and dry tents! Everyone went to bed very early as we had planned a 0300hrs start. The wind picked up during the night though and the mist came down delaying our departure by nine hours! We spent a long morning waiting around in our tents until Johannes gave us the go ahead at midday.

The journey back down to MBC was quite steep and scary in parts, though it was exciting to see some amazing crevasses. We all set a good pace and got back to our campsite in the early evening, tired but happy after an exciting and adventurous expedition on the ice!

For our science we are looking at aspects of teamwork, group management, leadership and communication! We are split in to four groups and each one looks at one of the relevant topics. We are going to visit each individual fire and give them two tasks to carry out. One of these tasks is to stand on a rope which represents a very thin ridge and for them to reorganise themselves according to a give criteria, without falling of the ridge. The other is a selective task, where the group have to select 5 out of 20 (mountaineering equipment and stores) items that they would take with them if stranded on the mountains and had to get base camp. Finally, we observe them at a meal time to give an outline of the fires group dynamics. Our project looks at two main ideas, group dynamics and individual change