8 August 09

Life in Tasermiut Fjord has settled into a routine and it’s a stark reality that we are now more than half way through our stay. But routine is what we strive to leave behind as we continue to explore our own and Greenland’s boundaries. The later is well under way with an equal number of fires through their science and adventure programmes. The exploration of ourselves and each other continues and I don’t think that there is anyone who hasn’t recognised change in themselves and each other. These changes are divided into skills and virtues as defined in the BSES ethos and leadership model (for more detail see the BSES and expedition websites). There are nine of each and broadly the skills reflect the learning that is pertinent to us living here or on expeditions in general. The virtues reflect the attributes of character that are brought into sharper focus here in our simplified life devoid of the distractions.

Below is an account of life on the mountain from the Ghostbusters fire…….

On the 26th July we caught a boat across the serenely calm fjord to begin the trek up to Mountain Base Camp (MBC). After a lengthy 7 hour trek, including a hearty lunch and restful nap we finally arrived at our destination, ready to start the mountaineering training in various skills and techniques. The following day we walked about 3hours across a boulder field. On the other side of the boulder field was a perfect training slope for ice travel techniques, including the ice axe arrest ( a method of using an ice axe to slow and stop your fall when on steep snow and ice). At the end of the day we retuned to MBC and were rewarded with a mean boil in the bag meal. The next day we scrambled up to ‘glacier 3’, as we have named it, and resumed ice training. This time we learnt about crevasse rescue and crampon techniques. Alas, during the crevasse rescue training Josh Rhodes managed to defy the laws of physics and extract a ‘deadman’ (a metal plate with a wire strop attached which is buried in the snow to act as an anchor if belays positions are required) from a snow slope using only his body and whatever he had for breakfast that morning, however after further training we could all place a ‘bomb proof’ anchor which could be used to hold any fall if it was ever required.

The day of our expedition onto the glacier arrived in all its glory, and we set off up the steep scree slope until we reached the fixed lines the mountaineering leaders had previously set up. It was interesting to note that at some locations the lines were attached to iron pegs, placed there by the BSES 1997 expedition and which could not be removed without causing more damage. After reaching the glacier snout and roping up into teams we trudged ever higher up the ice until we reached our campsite for the night. Although gravel covered ice doesn’t sound very comfortable , most of us chose to bivi out while only five YE’s slept in tents. The next day we woke to a very strong and bitterly cold wind, yet we resolutely packed up camp and headed out up the glacier. Despite our intentions to reach the base of the next mountain the weather thwarted us as we were forced to trek across a crevasse field to reach shelter from what turned out to be a storm force wind. We found an old campsite complete with a wall as a wind break and competed against the wind and cold to pitch our tents.

After a very cramped night with four in a tent we summited 2 peaks which provided us with stunning views across the surrounding area. On 2nd August we had a 4 am start to get off the glacier whilst the ice and snow was still firm enough to walk on, after scrambling over boulders and sliding down scree we reached MBC after 5 hours and spent the rest of the day sunbathing, washing, sorting out kit and equipment and geneally relaxing, so our early start paid off! We were sad to see the last of our dehydrated ration packs which we were using for the mountaineering phase, as they contained meat in some form or another (apart from Kats vegiterean ration packs). Exhausted afgter our early start we were early to bed in preparatioin for the next days walking back to base camp.

Surprisingly the trial started 5 minutes in, when it took us half an hour to find a suitable crossing point over the 5 foot wide river which had swollen because of the increase in melt water flowing from the glacier we had crossed the day before. Thankfully we soon made up the time and did the walk in a speedy 2 hours. Setting aside half an hour to look for Pippa’s camera paid off, as one of our fire leaders, Jeff eventually found it. We eventually made it back to base camp and began a feeding frenzy to satisfy 8 days worth of munchies.