Thanks for joining us on our new website. Please let us know what you think of it and if there is any additional information that would be of interest. For the next 5 weeks we will update the website in the traditional text format. Once we have departed for Chile, this page will become an interactive map presenting daily audio podcasts. For those of you who don’t have speakers there will still be a standard transcript as well. Updates will come through every evening during the expedition, summing up the juicy details of the days events and how we are feeling about the situation.
A little over a week ago we returned from a fantastic 2 weeks training trip on the Mont Blanc Massif. As I have no previous glacier travel experience, it was a real eye opener as to the size of some of the crevasses and seracs and just how to get across them when carrying such heavy loads. Tarka with his wealth of alpine experience was, as ever, a thorough yet patient teacher.
There were numerous terrifying moments at the start of the fortnight, as everything felt completely alien. For example, I would spend 2 or 3 minutes (okay nearer 5) whimpering trying to pick up the courage to cross a 2ft wide snow bridge over a gaping chasm below, cross, look back with a mix of relief and pride as to what I had accomplished, only to see the bridge plummet to the depths below. On climbing the ice walls I would
weaken so quickly from the adrenaline and fear pumping through me as I tried to cling to the face with just one axe and the front 2 spikes of my crampons that I made falling an ever more likely possibility. Trusting your equipment is such an important part of ice climbing but something that took a while to get my head round. All in all I spent at least the first four days feeling completely inadequate and thoroughly doubting my ability to achieve our goal in Patagonia. But Tarka kept picking me up and telling me to stop being so hard on my self, I was learning new skills on an extremely difficult section of ice with a 35Kg bag on, it was never going to be easy!
One of the biggest lessons I leant during the training was the speed at which I must react if Tarka is to fall down a crevasse! We went over the routine of making your self safe, tying off the faller, descending the rope to put the faller into the safe position in the circumstance that they had become unconscious during the fall, ascend the rope, before finally hauling, using a set of pulleys, the casualty out! There was a large amount to remember, but after a few run-throughs I felt I had it, so next we were to practise for real. I stood a full 8m back from Tarka with the rope tort (you would always be roped together in a crevassed region), he stood at the edge and on the count of 3 was going to let himself fall in! The plan was, as soon as I felt the rope move, I should drop to the ground backwards so that my feet were facing the direction of the fall and that I could dig my crampons and axe into the ice and stop Tarka falling any further. Despite the 3, 2, 1 countdown (which Tarka described as being kind, incidentally) all didn’t go quite to plan! He was gone so quick and I shot forward at one hell of a speed, falling to the ground forwards smashing my knees on the ice, only coming to a stop by a fortunately placed, raised lip on the crevasse edge, which I lay over looking down at Tarka who was screaming up at me as to weather I was okay, despite the fact he was supposed to be the unconscious patient! I am now fully aware how heavy Tarka is with his full pack on, and how I need to increase the weight of the dumbbells back at home. Thankfully after a few painful and panicked moments I righted the situation and some considerable time later Tarka was hauled from the hole!
You will be pleased to here that as the days went on my skill level and confidence rose drastically and we are both fully back on track with confidence and enthusiasm as to our chances in Patagonia. In addition Mont Blanc provided us with an excellent opportunity to put nearly all our new expedition kit through its paces. There are a few alterations and modifications to be made but on the whole we are thrilled with everything and are completely happy that we have the best gear for the job. In the next day or two we will be out on the river putting the rafting/ kayak kit to the text and let you know how it goes asap.
